New Federal Theatre

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Charles Reese (James Baldwin) and Forrest McClendon (Ethereal) in the original Off-Broadway production of James Baldwin: A Soul on Fire, New Federal Theatre, New York, c. 2000 Charles Reese (James Baldwin) and Forrest McClendon(Ethereal) in the original Off-Broadway production of James Baldwin- A Soul On Fire- New Federal Theatre, New York circa 2000- 2013-10-03 16-37 (cropped).jpg
Charles Reese (James Baldwin) and Forrest McClendon (Ethereal) in the original Off-Broadway production of James Baldwin: A Soul on Fire , New Federal Theatre, New York, c. 2000

The New Federal Theatre is a theatre company named after the African-American branch of the Federal Theatre Project, which was created in the United States during the Great Depression to provide resources for theatre and other artistic programs. The company has operated out of a few different locations on Henry Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Since 1970, the New Federal Theatre has provided its community with a stage and collection of talented performers to express the voices of numerous African-American playwrights. [1]

Contents

The New Federal Theatre boasts nationally known playwrights such as Ron Milner (Checkmates), Ed Bullins (The Taking of Miss Janie), and Ntozake Shange ( For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf ) as well as actors including Jackée Harry, Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, Debbie Allen, Phylicia Rashad, Dick Anthony Williams, Glynn Turman, Taurean Blacque, Samuel L. Jackson, and Laurence Fishburne. [2]

History

Through a Mobilization for Youth theatre program, [3] he New Federal Theatre was founded in 1970 by Woodie King Jr. in the multi-ethnic area of lower east side of Manhattan, New York City. The company received its original funding from a small grant by the New York State Council of Arts and by the Henry Street Settlement. While the first season was conducted in the St. Augustine Church basement, construction of the Louis Abrons Arts Center was completed in 1974 through the Henry Street Settlement.

The administrative offices of New Federal Theatre moved back to St. Augustine's Church in 1996 while the company continues to work out of the Louis Abrons Art Center where it holds productions and training programs. Today, the New Federal Theatre maintains acting and playwriting workshops for their students at the Dewey Cultural Center located on St. Nicholas Avenue in New York City. [2] The Department of Cultural Affairs recently cut its $15,000 funding to the New Heritage Theatre Group, the New Federal Theatre, and the Negro Ensemble Company, which the companies intend to appeal. [4]

Important individuals

Mission statement

The New Federal Theatre brings the enjoyment of live stage to minorities in the Lower East Side as well as in the greater Metropolitan surroundings. The companies existence has brought numerous up-and-coming actors, designers, directors and playwrights to national attention in their fields. [2] [6]

"New Federal Theatre's mission is to integrate minorities and women into the mainstream of American theatre by training artists for the profession, and by presenting plays by minorities and women to integrated, multicultural audiences-plays which evoke the truth through beautiful and artistic re-creations of ourselves." [2]

Playwrights

Playwrights developed their voices in African-American theatre through the Federal Theatre Company, including such notable playwrights as Ntozake Shange, Ron Milner, Richard Abrons, and others listed below. [1]

Productions

The playwrights listed above developed their voice with the assistance from the New Federal Theatre, yet not all plays written by them were performed by the company. The productions listed below were performed by the company at a few different locations in New York City. [1]

Critical reception

In the New York Times, David Dewitt described a 2000 production of James Baldwin: A Soul on Fire in the Abrons Art Center [7] that the as "...a technically modest production; a silk bedspread and scarf-covered lamp are the most telling set pieces". Despite minimal set production, Dewitt found the biographical play of Baldwin was acted out "...with humor, style and raw emotion, it embraces its chosen territory with enthusiasm." [8]

On February 16, 1997, Lawrence Van Gelder saw a production of Do Lord Remember Me [9] at the Kaye Playhouse between Lexington and Park Avenue. Noting all of the cast as "veterans of previous productions of [the play]", Gelder found of their performance: "Oral history may not be malleable into shapely and convenient drama, but it rings with unshakable truth". [10]

Related Research Articles

Ronald Milner was an American playwright. His play Checkmates, starring Paul Winfield and Denzel Washington, ran on Broadway in 1988. Milner also taught creative writing at the University of Southern California, Wayne State University, and Michigan State University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ntozake Shange</span> American playwright and poet (1948–2018)

Ntozake Shange was an American playwright and poet. As a Black feminist, she addressed issues relating to race and Black power in much of her work. She is best known for her Obie Award–winning play, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf (1975). She also penned novels including Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo (1982), Liliane (1994), and Betsey Brown (1985), about an African-American girl run away from home.

<i>For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf</i> 1976 theatre piece by Ntozake Shange

for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf is a 1976 work by Ntozake Shange. It consists of a series of poetic monologues to be accompanied by dance movements and music, a form which Shange coined the word choreopoem to describe. It tells the stories of seven women who have suffered oppression in a racist and sexist society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodie King Jr.</span> American director and producer (born 1937)

Woodie King Jr. is an American director and producer of stage and screen, as well as the founding director of the New Federal Theatre in New York City.

Wole Oguntokun was a Nigerian playwright, dramaturge, director and was the artistic director of Theatre Planet Studios and Renegade Theatre as well as a member of the board of Theaturtle, a Canadian theatre company. He was also a theatre administrator and newspaper columnist.

Crossroads Theatre is an American residence theater company in New Brunswick, New Jersey focused on the Black American experience and the African diaspora. It is in residence at the newly built New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, which opened in the city's Civic Square in 2019.

A choreopoem is a form of dramatic expression that combines poetry, dance, music, and song. The term was first coined in 1975 by American writer Ntozake Shange in a description of her work, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf. Shange's attempt to depart from traditional western poetry and storytelling resulted in a new art form that doesn't contain specific plot elements or characters, but instead focuses on creating an emotional response from the audience. In Shange's work, nontraditional spelling and African American Vernacular English are aspects of this genre that differ from traditional American literature. She emphasizes the importance of movement and nonverbal communication throughout the choreopoem so that it is able to function as a theatrical piece rather than being limited to poetry or dance.

Jamara Mychelle Wakefield is an American spoken word poet, community organizer and writer, previously known by her stage name London Bridgez. She founded Neo.logic Beatnik Assembly, an idea shop and creative arts production company, and organized the TEDxRoxburyWomen event featured on Basic Black, a TEDTalks event in Boston.

<i>Spell No. 7</i> Choreopoem first performed in 1979

spell #7, or spell #7: geechee jibara quik magic trance manual for technologically stressed third world people, is a choreopoem written for the stage by Ntozake Shange and first performed in 1979.

<i>nappy edges</i> 1978 book by Ntozake Shange

nappy edges is a collection of poetry and prose poetry written by Ntozake Shange and first published by St. Martin's Press in 1978. The poems, which vary in voice and style, explore themes of love, racism, sexism, and loneliness. Shange's third book of poetry, nappy edges, was met with positive reviews and praise from critics, like Holly Prado of the Los Angeles Times who said of it that "this collection of poems, prose poems and poetic essays merges personal passion and heightened language."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dianne McIntyre</span> American dancer, choreographer and teacher

Dianne McIntyre is an American dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Her notable works include Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Dance Adventure in Southern Blues , an adaptation of Zora Neal Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, as well as productions of why i had to dance,spell #7, and for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf, with text by Ntozake Shange. She has won numerous honors for her work including an Emmy nomination, three Bessie Awards, and a Helen Hayes Award. She is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, and the Dramatists Guild of America.

<i>Lost in language & sound</i> 2011 book of essays by Ntozake Shange

lost in language & sound: or how i found my way to the arts: essays (2011) is a collection of 25 personal essays written by Ntozake Shange. Explored in the collection are topics such as racism, sexism, jazz, dance, and writing. The essays function as autobiography, music and literary criticism, and social critique. While some pieces were written specifically for the collection, many were written over the span of over 30 years.

Judy Dearing was an American costume designer, dancer, and choreographer. She is best known for designing costumes for a wide range of theater and musical productions, including Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama A Soldier's Play and the 1976 stage adaptation of Ntozake Shange's book for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurie Carlos</span> American dramatist (1949–2016)

Laurie Dorothea Carlos was an American actress and avant-garde performance artist, playwright and theater director. She was also known for her work mentoring emerging artists in the theater.

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Ifa Bayeza is a playwright, producer, and conceptual theater artist. She wrote the play The Ballad of Emmett Till, which earned her the Edgar Award for Best Play in 2009. She is the sister of Ntozake Shange, and directed Shange's A Photograph: Lovers in Motion, which was a part of the Negro Ensemble Company's 2015 Year of the Woman Play Reading Series in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theater Alliance</span>

Theater Alliance is a non-profit professional theater in Washington, DC, professionally incorporated in 2000 with the goal of producing work that would illuminate the experiences, philosophies and interests of DC's diverse population. That goal was furthered in 2002, when Theater Alliance moved from its home at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop to become the sole theater-in-residence at the H Street Playhouse. Once the H Street Playhouse closed, Theater Alliance moved to Southeast DC, where it has been the theater-in-residence at the Anacostia Playhouse since 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Rose Vendryes</span> Jamaican American visual artist (1955–2022)

Margaret Rose Vendryes was a visual artist, curator, and art historian based in New York.

Aku Kadogo, born Karen Vest, is a choreographer, director, actress, and educator. She was one of the original cast members of Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf (1976), and acted in the 1990s Australian children's television series Lift Off. She has educated and performed in Australia, Senegal, Cuba, Brazil, and Hong Kong, and South Korea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dale Ricardo Shields</span> American actor

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Rhind-tutt, Stephen (2005). "North American Theatre Online". Alexander Street Press. Retrieved 2016-11-12.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "NFT History". New Federal Theatre. Retrieved 2016-11-12.
  3. "New Federal Theatre - NYC-ARTS". NYC-ARTS. Retrieved 2016-11-12.
  4. Russo, Amy (2016-02-04). "City cuts funding to 3 historic black theaters | The Villager Newspaper" . Retrieved 2016-11-14.
  5. Armstrong, Linda (2011). "New Federal Theatre's Star-Packed 40th Anniversary". Black Masks Summer. Retrieved 2016-11-12.
  6. New Federal Theatre Archive
  7. "New Federal Theatre". New Federal Theatre. Retrieved 2016-11-14.
  8. Reviews, New York Times Theater (2016-11-14). The New York Times Theatre Reviews 1999-2000. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   9780415936972.
  9. "Productions from 1994 - 1998". New Federal Theatre. Retrieved 2016-11-14.
  10. Smith, C. S. (2014-10-13). The New York Times Theater Reviews 1997-1998. Routledge. ISBN   9781136750335.