Providence black repertory company
Encyclopedia
The Providence Black Repertory Company (Black Rep) is a 501c3 non profit arts
organization that offers programming inspired by the cultural traditions of the African Diaspora
in three key areas: Theater, Education, and Public Programs. Black Rep's mission is to produce and present artistic performances that bring people together, provoke thought, inspire hope, and create understanding.
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 is now 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...".
, 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.
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.
’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.
ARts
aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....
organization that offers programming inspired by the cultural traditions of the African Diaspora
African diaspora
The African diaspora was the movement of Africans and their descendants to places throughout the world—predominantly to the Americas also to Europe, the Middle East and other places around the globe...
in three key areas: Theater, Education, and Public Programs. Black Rep's mission is to produce and present artistic performances that bring people together, provoke thought, inspire hope, and create understanding.
History
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 AS220AS220
AS220 is a non-profit community arts center located at 115 Empire Street in Downtown, Providence, Rhode Island, USA. AS220 maintains 19 artist live/work studios, 4 galleries, a performance space, a community darkroom, and The Broad Street Studio. The mission is to provide a forum and home for the...
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 is now 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...".
Theater
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 BarakaAmiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka , formerly known as LeRoi Jones, is an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism...
, Aisha Rahman, Athol Fugard
Athol Fugard
Athol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who writes in English, best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of apartheid and for the 2005 Academy-Award winning film of his novel Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood...
, Federico García Lorca
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
, Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
, Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...
, Cheryl West, María Irene Fornés
María Irene Fornés
María Irene Fornés is a Cuban-American avant garde playwright and director who is associated with the establishment of the Off-off-Broadway movement in the 1960s. Fornes themes focused on poverty and feminism. In 1965, she won her first Obie Award for Promenade and her second for The Successful...
, and August Wilson
August Wilson
August Wilson was an American playwright whose work included a series of ten plays, The Pittsburgh Cycle, for which he received two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama...
, as well as original stage adaptations of the poetry of Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...
and Kevin Young (poet)
Kevin Young (poet)
Kevin Young is an American poet and teacher of poetry. Young graduated from Harvard College in 1992, was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University , and received his MFA from Brown University. While in Boston and Providence, he was part of the African-American poetry group, The Dark Room Collective...
. 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.
Public Programs
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.Education
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.Artist Development
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
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
and Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
. 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.
Partnerships
The Black Rep has partnerships and collaborations with local cultural and educational institutions including Brown UniversityBrown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
’s Rites and Reason Theatre and Rhode Island College
Rhode Island College
Rhode Island College is a nationally ranked, coeducational, state-supported comprehensive college founded in 1854, located in Providence, Rhode Island, USA...
’s MFA Program in Performance and Society. Collaborative projects include new play development, co-production, and mentoring of young artists.