Black Theater has always been an integral part of African American artistic expression since the 19th century. Black plays emerged as early as 1823 with James Brown's King Shotaway followed by Willliam Wells Brown's The Escape or Leap for Freedom in 1858. Angelina W. Grimke's Rachel was published in 1916. Black theater flourshed during the Harlem Reniassance with the Ethiopian Art Theatre in which Paul Robeson played a major role. By the 1940s, the American Negro Theatre and the Negro Playwrights Company firmly established Black theater. Post World War II theater was informed by challenging stereotypes of Blacks and calling for Black intergration into the mainstream of American life. An excellent example of this type of work wasa Lorraine Hansberry's Raisin in the Sun in 1948. Subsequent writers established the Black Arts Repertory Theatre in 1965. Writers such as Amiri Baraka, Ed Bullins and more contemporary writers such as August Wilson and George Wolfe have contniued to promote a robust Black theatrical presence.
General Companies Key People Publications
General
International Black Theater Festival https://ncblackrep.org/international-black-theatre-festival/
1979: Festival https://www.nytimes.com/1979/03/25/archives/black-troupes-in-festival-alley-troupe-to-appear.html
Black Theater Matters https://blacktheatrematters.org/
Black Theater Network https://blacktheatrenetwork.org/index.php
Brown University symposium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY7q1mPVrRY
Black Playwrights https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=black+playwrights
Black Women Playwrights https://www.blackwomenplaywrights.org/
Companies
National directory https://blacktheatrematters.org/black-theatre-companies/
The African Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Grove https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/african-company-african-grove-theatre/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmnOib3Fw5M
Federal Theater Project - Negro Units https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/federal-theatre-project-negro-units/
National Black Theater https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQVhaZpjkCU
Negro Ensemble Company https://necinc.org/
New Lafayette Theater https://www.newlafayettetheatre.org/
ETA Creative Arts Theater https://www.etacreativearts.org/
Kuumba https://www.chipublib.org/fa-kuumba-theatre-company-records/ https://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/on-stage-kuumba-theaters-comeback/
Key people
William Wells Brown https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Escape-or-A-Leap-for-Freedom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Escape;_or,_A_Leap_for_Freedom https://www.gutenberg.org/files/65519/65519-h/65519-h.htm
Ira Aldridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Aldridge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOhAL1ZC0Ak https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zimfGqAfHrU
Alice Childress http://tinyurl.com/u9fsvdzd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Childress
Ed Bullins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Bullins https://archives.libraries.emory.edu/repositories/7/resources/2458 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geVgurNDhW4
Barbarfa Ann Teer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEk-17IxjG0
Carlton Molette https://howlround.com/commons/carlton-molette https://plannedgiving.uconn.edu/meet-our-donors/carlton-molette
Lloyd Richards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Richards https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y9tUIfSGbs
August Wilson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Wilson https://www.kennedy-center.org/video/education/theater/theatre-conversations-august-wilson/
Lorraine Hansberry https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/programs/lorraine-hansberry-discusses-her-play-raisin-sun https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorraine_Hansberry
Amiri Baraka https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfaLDvvM7S4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAYJtQY__6o
Paul Carter Harrison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Carter_Harrison https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW0ilGTT_XU
Pearle Cleage http://www.pearlcleage.net/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Cleage
Chrles Fuller https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Fuller
Publications
Black Theater https://www.newlafayettetheatre.org/?page_id=2
Black Masks Journal https://blackmasks.com/
The Black Theater Review https://journals.librarypublishing.arizona.edu/tbtr/
Continuum https://continuumjournal.org/
Backstage https://arti.sitehost.iu.edu/index.php/black-stage/
NYC Public Library List https://libguides.nypl.org/africanamericantheater/otherresources