Negro Ensemble Company News

Audible has announced  its latest Emerging Playwrights Fund class.

The work features original music and sound design by Jordan Hall, text by Rebecca LeVine and direction by William Steinberger. 

Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation has named Seret Scott the 3rd annual Gordon Davidson Award recipient.

Roundabout Theatre Company just announced that the current theatrical season will resume in Spring 2021, and has added the Broadway debut of Alice Childress's Trouble in Mind, directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, to its roster of upcoming shows. Childress was a Founding Member of the American Negro Theatre and the first African-American woman to be produced professionally in New York (Gold Through The Trees in 1952); Randolph-Wright is a celebrated director and writer whose play Blue had an acclaimed run at Roundabout in 2001. Trouble in Mind will premiere on Broadway at the American Airlines Theatre in Winter 2021/22.

Broadway Black, the multimedia organization highlighting the achievements of Black theatre artists, will present the inaugural Antonyo Awards, a celebration of the Black Broadway and Off-Broadway community.

L.A. Theatre Works, the world's leading producer of audio theater, has chosen six titles by Black playwrights from its extensive collection of work to stream free on its website.

Karen Brown, Artistic Director of The Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. has penned an article exclusively for BroadwayWorld, discussing the current movement, 'Dear White American Theater,' and more. 

Thank you to all those who have written us today.

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that Walter Dallas, director, playwright, musician, teacher, and leader in African-American theater, has died at age 73.

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that Louis Johnson, dancer and choreographer, has died on March 31 at age 90.

In 'Grandma's Quilt' by Karen A. Brown, an elderly poor, unpretentious Black woman in rural Arkansas is sewing a quilt as the final act of her life. Each scrap of material is a prism into a chapter of her family's past. As she reflects on each period, she transforms into younger versions of herself to lead us through the history that she intends to pass on to her granddaughter. One actress portrays the old woman at six points in her life as well as the granddaughter. Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. will present the play's New York premiere March 11 to 21 at Theatre 80 St. Marks, 80 St. Marks Place. Two performers will share the unusual acting challenge of playing what is essentially seven characters: author Karen A. Brown from March 11 to 14 and actress Deidre Monique Benton from March 18 to 21. Director is Anthony Jay Hamilton.

From February 27 to April 5, Woodie King, Jr.'s New Federal Theatre will celebrate both Black History Month and Women's History Month with an Off-Broadway production of 'Two Can Play' by Trevor Rhone, directed by Clinton Turner Davis, at Castillo Theater, 543 West 42nd Street. 

Today's subject Marva Hicks is currently living her theatre life onstage at Signature Theatre in the World Premiere Musical Gun & Powder. The production runs through February 23rd in Signature's MAX Theatre space. You'll be able to see my review of the show on Broadway World soon. Trust me it will be worth the wait.

From February 27 to March 29, Woodie King, Jr.'s New Federal Theatre will celebrate both Black History Month and Women's History Month with an Off-Broadway production of 'Two Can Play' by Trevor Rhone, directed by Clinton Turner Davis, at Castillo Theater, 543 West 42nd Street. In this two-act comedy, Gloria and Jim, a lower middle-class couple in Kingston, try their wildest schemes to escape gun crime and establish residence in the United States. They survive because they learn to communicate and rediscover each other. Playwright Trevor Rhone was the artistic giant of Jamaican theater. The play celebrates the pent-up need for self-discovery and personal development in Jamaican women, a theme which is also universal. Director is Clinton Turner Davis, who helmed the comedy's New York premiere in 1985.

The United States Artists (USA) announced today that dancer/ choreographer Dianne McIntyre is one of fifty recipients of their 2020 USA Fellow award. Each of the fifty recipients will receive a $50,000 cash award of unrestricted funds.

A Soldier's Play officially opened on Broadway on January 21 for a limited engagement at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway (227 West 42nd Street).

The Old Globe presents August Wilson's Jitney, directed by one of Wilson's foremost interpreters, Ruben Santiago-Hudson (directed Jitney on Broadway, performed in Gem of the Ocean and Seven Guitars). The American master and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson (the American Century Cycle of 10 plays) had a close relationship with The Old Globe, where three of his plays premiered.

Today, AUDELCO (Audience Development Committee) President Jackie Jeffries, SeasonWalk Productions CEO Denise Gray, Marcia Pendelton, President of Walk Tall Girl Productions/Black Theater Online, and the Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts, LIU Brooklyn Campus (Rodney Hurley, Managing Director) announced THE THEATERMAKERS - A Black Theater Preview: Winter/Spring Edition.

Performances begin this Saturday, January 18, as The Old Globe presents August Wilson's Jitney, 2017 Tony Award winner for Best Revival of a Play, directed by one of Wilson's foremost interpreters, Ruben Santiago-Hudson (directed Jitney on Broadway, performed in Gem of the Ocean and Seven Guitars).

Congo Square Theatre Company, well known for its powerful portrayal of African American classics and gripping new works, commemorates its 20th Anniversary season with a rare production of the 1965 satirical fantasy Day of Absence at the Richard Christiansen Theatre (housed inside Victory Gardens Biograph Theatre, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave.), February 27-March 22, 2020. The official opening night is Monday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m.