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The Providence Black Repertory Company (Black Rep) was a 501c3 non profit arts organization based in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. It offered programming inspired by the cultural traditions of the African Diaspora in Theater, Education, and Public Programs. It operated from 1996 till 2009.
Founded in 1996 by Artistic/Executive Director Donald W. King, and Chairman Michael S. Van Leesten, The Providence Black Repertory Company grew from a public program at AS220 called Xxodus Presents Miss Fannie's Soul Food Kitchen. Black Rep produced its first stage production, The Island, on the third floor of a former print shop on Washington St. in Downcity Providence.
Ten years later, Black Rep was located at 276 Westminster St. in a facility that includes performance and rehearsal space as well as a café and lounge. Black Rep offers programming such as a Latin Jazz series, drumming workshops for youth, premiers of new American plays, and Sound Session, a music festival produced in partnership with The City of Providence's Department of Art, Culture & Tourism. Across the three program areas Black Rep contextualizes artistic work through humanities panels, discussions, printed materials, and outreach.
In 2006, Black Rep celebrated its 10th anniversary as a Downcity Providence cultural institution.
According to a 2/1/2010 article published in the Providence Journal, "Established in 1996, the Black Rep was closed in December 2009 after the organization failed to keep a positive cash flow. The group was granted a hardship request to throw its annual New Year’s Eve party, in the hopes that revenue from the event could have helped pay off some debt. It wasn’t enough...".
The Theater experience at the Black Rep is informed by an approach that places the deliberate investigation of cultural, social, historical and political consciousness and conscience at the center of the creative process. Each season includes three mainstage productions and three readings of new American plays through the First Look Reading Series for plays in development. Mainstage productions have included plays by Amiri Baraka, Aisha Rahman, Athol Fugard, Federico García Lorca, Harold Pinter, Sam Shepard, Cheryl West, María Irene Fornés, and August Wilson, as well as original stage adaptations of the poetry of Langston Hughes and Kevin Young (poet). Each December, The Black Rep's Affiliate Artist company develops a workshop production showcasing its own work in process while providing a chance for audiences to be part of its development.
Black Rep's Public Programs present live music, poetry, and other performance-based art of the African Diaspora six nights a week in the Xxodus Café. Each week night of public programming is informed by a particular musical tradition of the African Diaspora. Monday is Polyphonic, an open mic for artists working in forms of musical expression deriving from the Blues (Hip Hop, Acoustic Solo, Rock etc.). Tuesday is Maroon Society, Black Rep's Caribbean Culture series where selectors spin Reggae, Dub, Ska, and Dancehall. Wednesday is Latin Jazz & Salsa. Thursdays is Afro-Sonic, a Deep House night with live West African drumming. Friday is Ecclection, a night for Hip Hop, R&B, Funk and Soul. Saturday is the Neon Soul Cabaret, which plays host to Black Rep's house band, Neon Soul Collective - a group indebted to the various styles of music played in the café throughout the week. Each season of Public Programs culminates with Providence Sound Session, a genre-defying summer music festival co-produced with The City of Providence's Department of Art, Culture & Tourism.
Each season is accompanied by Education programs, including student matinees, in-school residencies, and after-school workshops. Artist Educators bring Black Rep's interdisciplinary approach into the community through workshops in music, dance, theater, poetry and video production. Teaching methodologies stress collaboration and value students’ cultural heritage and experience, with the goal of developing youth and adults who recognize the importance and power of the art and culture of the African Diaspora and embrace the values of community and democracy that are part of these traditions.
Black Rep is committed to Artist Development, offering opportunities for musicians and performers to participate in master classes, workshops, and career development activities. At Black Rep, local artists have an opportunity to network, share resources, and build their careers through employment. Artists who look to the organization to provide them with creative opportunities come from many different places of cultural origin. Almost 86% are locally or regionally based in Rhode Island and Southeastern New England, 11% are based in New York, and 3% are based in other states, or internationally. The company has attracted artists from Nigeria and Trinidad and Tobago. Local artists who have worked at Black Rep identify as African-American, Haitian, Cape Verdean, Hispanic/Latino, Caribbean, Native American, Caucasian/White, Mixed Heritage and Filipino.
The Black Rep had partnerships and collaborations with local cultural and educational institutions including Brown University’s Rites and Reason Theatre and Rhode Island College’s MFA Program in Performance and Society. Collaborative projects include new play development, co-production, and mentoring of young artists.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. recently invited Black Rep to join their Capacity Building Program for Culturally Specific Performing Arts Organizations. Other recognition includes the 2004 Arts & Business Council of RI Jabez Gorham Award for Most Outstanding Arts Organization, 2003 New England Theatre Conference Regional Award for Outstanding Achievement in American Theatre, and the 2003 Citizens Bank Community Champion Award (in Education).
The Black Arts Movement (BAM) was an African American-led art movement that was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Through activism and art, BAM created new cultural institutions and conveyed a message of black pride. The movement expanded from the incredible accomplishments of artists of the Harlem Renaissance.
The Nuyorican movement is a cultural and intellectual movement involving poets, writers, musicians and artists who are Puerto Rican or of Puerto Rican descent, who live in or near New York City, and either call themselves or are known as Nuyoricans. It originated in the late 1960s and early 1970s in neighborhoods such as Loisaida, East Harlem, Williamsburg, and the South Bronx as a means to validate Puerto Rican experience in the United States, particularly for poor and working-class people who suffered from marginalization, ostracism, and discrimination.
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is a Canadian professional theatre company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, and founded in 1978 by Matt Walsh, Jerry Ciccoritti, and Sky Gilbert, Buddies in Bad Times is dedicated to "the promotion of queer theatrical expression". It's the largest and longest-running queer theatre company in the world.
Barbara Anita Meek was an American actress best known to television viewers for playing the character of Ellen Canby for two seasons on Archie Bunker's Place. Since 1968, Meek was an active member of the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island, and appeared in more than 100 Trinity Rep stage productions.
Trinity Repertory Company is a non-profit regional theater located at 201 Washington Street in Providence, Rhode Island. The theater is a member of the League of Resident Theatres. Founded in 1963, the theater is "one of the most respected regional theatres in the country". Featuring the last longstanding Resident Acting Company in the U.S., Trinity Rep presents a balance of world premiere, contemporary, and classic works, including an annual production of A Christmas Carol, for an estimated annual audience of 110,000. In its 52-year history, the theater has produced nearly 67 world premieres, mounted national and international tours and, through its MFA program, trained hundreds of new actors and directors. Project Discovery, Trinity Rep's pioneering educational outreach program launched in 1966, annually introduces over 15,000 Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut high school students to live theater through matinees as well as in-school residencies and workshops. As of 2016, Trinity Rep's educational programs serve students in around 60% of Rhode Island schools, and it has a 9 million USD annual budget.
Milagro, sometimes referred to as Milagro Theatre or Teatro Milagro, formerly as Miracle Theatre or Miracle Theatre Group, is the only Hispanic theater production company in the Pacific Northwest. Its home is in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1985.
Carlos Bulosan Theatre (CBT) is the only long-standing professional Filipino-Canadian theatre company in Canada and is based in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded in 1982 by activists Fely Villasin, Martha Ocampo, Voltaire de Leon, Ging Hernandez and Bernie Consul under the name Carlos Bulosan Cultural Workshop (as a cultural wing of the North American-based Coalition Against the Marcos Dictatorship). Now in its 37th year, CBT continues to celebrate its history of artistic activity and service to Filipino-Canadians and their broader community.
The San Diego Repertory Theatre is a performing arts company in San Diego, California.
AS220 is a non-profit community arts center located in Downtown, Providence, Rhode Island, United States. AS220 maintains four dozen artist live/work studios, around a dozen individual work studios, six rotating exhibition spaces, a main stage, a black box theater, a dance studio, a print shop, a community darkroom, a digital media lab, a fabrication lab, an organization-run bar and restaurant, a youth recording studio, and a youth program. AS220 is an unjuried and uncensored forum for the arts, open to all ages.
Rick Shiomi is an internationally recognized, award-winning Japanese Canadian playwright, stage director, artistic director and taiko artist, and a major player in the Asian American/Canadian theatre movement. He is best known for his groundbreaking play Yellow Fever, which earned him the Bay Area Theater Circle Critics Award and “Bernie” Award. Over the last couple decades, Shiomi has also become a notable artistic and stage director. He directed the world premiere of the play Caught by Christopher Chen for which he received the Philadelphia Barrymore Award Nomination for Outstanding Direction. He is currently the Co-Artistic Director of Full Circle Theater Company.
The Center for Traditional Music and Dance (CTMD) is a leading folk/traditional arts organization based in New York City. Originally established as the Balkan Arts Center in 1968, CTMD assists the city's ethnic and immigrant communities in maintaining their traditions and cultural heritage. CTMD has developed a range of programs that emphasize research, documentation, collaboration, presentation, and education to help advance its mission of cultural equity. Over the past five decades, CTMD's programs have led to the creation of nationally renowned ensembles, folk arts festivals, and community-based cultural organizations. CTMD provides the public with a full calendar of events designed to showcase and promote the diversity of New York City's performing arts traditions.
Ain Gordon is an American playwright, theatrical director and actor based in New York City. His work frequently deals with the interstices of history, focusing on people and events which are often overlooked or marginalized in history. His style combines elements of traditional playwrighting with aspects of performance art.
The Flint Institute of Music, also called the FIM, is located in the Flint Cultural Center in Flint, Michigan. It is ranked as the 8th largest community music school in the United States. The FIM is made up of The Flint Symphony Orchestra, Flint School of Performing Arts and Flint Repertory Theatre; as well as the Whiting Auditorium and Capitol Theatre. The Flint Institute of Music offers lessons, classes, ensembles, and camps for all levels for ages 3 years to adults. Students perform in the dance and performance ensembles such as Flint Youth Symphony Orchestra, Flint Youth Ballet Ensemble, Flint Youth Theatre, Dort Honors Quartet, Imrpov Squad, among several others. The Flint Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Conductor Enrique Diemecke, performs a full season of classical concerts as well as free Music in the Park concerts at Genesee area parks in the Summer season. Additionally, the FIM sponsors the Holiday Pops concert every holiday season, featuring the Flint Symphony Orchestra, Flint Festival Chorus and local choirs. FIM's production of the Nutcracker ballet has been a local tradition for over 30 years.
Bharat Bhavan is an autonomous multi-arts complex and museum in Bhopal, India, established and funded by the Government of Madhya Pradesh.The architect of the Bharat Bhavan is Charles Correa. Opened in 1982, facing the Upper Lake, Bhopal, it houses multiple art galleries, a graphic printing workshop, a ceramics workshop, an open-air amphitheatre, a studio theatre, an auditorium, a museum of tribal & folk art, and libraries of Indian poetry, classical music & folk music.
New Heritage Theatre Group (NHTG) is the oldest Black nonprofit theater company in New York City, established in 1964. Through its multiple divisions: IMPACT Repertory Theatre, The Roger Furman Reading Series, and New Heritage Films, New Heritage gives training, exposure, and experience to new and emerging artists, playwrights, directors and technicians of color. New Heritage was founded by the late Roger Furman and is currently headed by Executive Producer Voza Rivers and Executive Artistic Director Jamal Joseph. NHTG presentations capture the historical, social, and political experiences of Black and Latino descendants in America and abroad.
Deborah Salem Smith is an American poet and playwright. She is the playwright-in-residence at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island and is a Huntington Theatre Playwriting Fellow.
The Providence Art Club, Thomas Street, Providence, Rhode Island, was founded in 1880. An art club is an organization for artists and the community to engage and collaborate with each other in a shared space dedicated to art and culture. The Providence Art Club has studios, galleries, eateries, and a clubhouse in a "picturesque procession of historic houses," which are across the street from the First Baptist Church in America.[1] The buildings occupied by the Providence Art Club include Brick House, the two Seril Dodge Houses at 10 and 11 Thomas Street, Deacon Taylor House, and Fleur De Lys Studio.
Amas Musical Theatre, also known as the Rosetta LeNoire Theatre Academy and the Mainstage Musical Theatre, and formerly known as the Amas Repertory Theatre, Inc. and the Eubie Blake Youth Theatre, is a non-profit Manhattan-based theatre organization founded by Rosetta LeNoire. The name stems from the Latin word "amare", meaning "to love". "Amas" is the active indicative present form of "you love". The Academy puts on both a showcase and an off-off-Broadway performance at the end of the year, featuring inner-city and other teenagers. Amas is an anchor theatre tenant of The Players Theatre, a theatre located in Greenwich Village. The theatre has produced over 60 original musicals, including Bubbling Brown Sugar and Bojangles!.
Maria Manuela Goyanes is a first-generation Latina theatre maker, chiefly known for her work at The Public Theatre in New York City, as well as her September 2018 appointment as the artistic director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington D.C.
Rites and Reason Theatre is a theater within the Africana Studies department of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1970 by Professor George Houston Bass, and Professor Rhett Jones, is one of the longest-running continuously producing black theaters in the United States. Writers for the theater have included Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, and Adrienne Kennedy. The theatre serves to develop theatrical and visual performance works that articulate and understand the expansive African Diaspora.
