Here’s what’s happening now with Black Theatre Companies in Boston

Upload the Playbill to our information superhighway. Black Theatre producers have an outgoing audience to please. They buy tickets to Afro-American culture and the arts. They want to see what’s available. People are who are shopping for Black theater productions can view our curated list of shows and see what’s happening now.

🎬These Black Theater Productions ran in Boston earlier this year.

Sojourners — Nigerian-American family saga opening the Ufot Cycle.
— Location: The Huntington Theatre, Boston

Ain’t No Mo’ — High-energy revival redefining Black Broadway storytelling.
— Location: SpeakEasy Stage / Boston

The Black Clown — Langston Hughes adaptation praised as “pure poetry.”
— Location: A.R.T., Cambridge

K-I-S-S-I-N-G — Contemporary Black narrative production.
— Location: Front Porch Arts Collective + Huntington

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Durham North Carolina

The biggest Crawfish weekend of the year has begun and there’s a few dates left! on

Beginning at 7PM (for 7:30p shows) and 1:30PM (for 2pm shows) head to The Flea Theater SEE PLAYBILLS and add your name to the day of waitlist at the box office. Tickets are not guaranteed and based on day of ticket cancellations.The list will not open before 7PM or 1:30PM. |

Photography by Daniel J. Vasquez.| The Festival in Da Back

Archive of BlackBoston.com Black Theatre coverage, 2009–2025

Dance: 

• Camille A. Brown & Dancers’ I AM (Nov) presented by Celebrity Series; 
• Neena Prasad solo performance (Oct)
• BEHEARD.WORLD at The Dance Complex (Nov).
• Opera: Boston Lyric Opera’s Macbeth (Oct)
• and its new operatic revue Ride of the Valkyries with Christine Goerke and Morris Robinson (Nov).
• Theater in Greater Boston
• Front Porch Arts Collective’s The Mountaintop (Sep-Oct)
• Emery Entertainment’s Churchill with veteran British actor David Payne (Oct).

Family-Friendly: Downtown Boston’s “Doggone Halloween” (Oct);

• OrigiNation’s Kwanzaa celebration “TAFUTA” at The Strand (Dec). – we covered it

Word from the National Black Theatre Company of Durham North Carolina. North Carolina 2025/2026 SEASON In this MAGA era as Black history, culture, and brilliance are being systematically banned, erased, and silenced, the National Black Theatre affirms a simple but urgent truth: remembering is a revolutionary act. The Alchemy of Return: Remembering is a Radical Act rises as a direct response to this era of sanctioned forgetting. To remember is to reclaim agency. To archive. To resist invisibility. To transform harm into possibility. This season is a bold call to remember what we are being conditioned to forget—and in doing so, to shape a more liberated future. This year’s season is composed of two theatrical productions and three multidisciplinary community events. Together, they explore themes of heritage, humanity, motherhood, the prison-industrial complex, and intergenerational healing. Through developing new work, remounting vital stories, and creating space for community-based reflection, NBT affirms the transformative power of memory—both personal and collective—as a tool for healing and change NBT reviewing the 2025/2026 SEASON at Uptown Grand Central August 2025 A community-oriented event that brings art to Harlem. Named by Timeout New York as one of the city’s Best Things to Do, this family-friendly event will include a silent disco and portrait series, inspired by founder Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s lifelong commitment to her radical belief that love for “our Black selves” can be a concerted mechanism for liberation and eradicating oppression. The 4th annual Learn to Love Yourself series will see the return of Harlem mainstay DJ Stormin Norman handling entertainment, while photographers Salimah Ali (8/23) and Elliot Jerome Browne Jr. (8/30)  will capture portraits of attendees. Co-curated and presented with Park Avenue Armory  September 6, 2025 (1pm – 7pm) Held at The Park Avenue Armory The one-day salon event Black Theater Advance intends to advance the findings of NBT’s Catalyst program’s most recent iteration, Catalyst: Seeding Permanence for Black Theatre and the New Vanguard. These preliminary findings and critical frameworks provide a jumping-off point for artists, scholars, directors, cultural strategists, and audience members in attendance to imagine what the future of Black performance could be. Anchored by keynote speeches and intimate fireside chats with Dr. Mary Schmidt Campbell, Ain’t No Mo’ creator Jordan E. Cooper, and former Vice President and Artistic Director of Social Impact at The Kennedy Center Marc Bamuthi Joseph, the day also includes active working sessions led by award-winning actor and dramatist Nikkole Salter and theatrical ceremonialist, culture worker, public scholar, and entrepreneur Ebony Noelle Golden as well as creative offerings from vocalist and omposer Imani Uzuri and multidisciplinary musician Samora Pinderhughes, among others. Salon topics include: how artistic leaders are navigating and reshaping institutions; strategies for sustaining Black theater’s radical potential; building out a Bill of Rights for Black Theater; intergenerational dialogue across artistic and institutional divides; and bold visions for transformation in the field.    The Hemispheric Institute of Performance & Politics November 13 & 20, 2025 Join the National Black Theatre for an intimate celebration of memory, legacy, and reclamation to use the past to inspire the FUTURE. This special gathering draws on rare archival artifacts—from digitized manuscripts and photographs to VHS tapes and original Reel2Reels—to spark new ways of envisioning the future, grounded in the rich legacy of NBT’s beginnings. Through our ongoing residency with the Hemispheric Institute, we’ve had the powerful opportunity to carefully unearth and preserve original assets from NBT’s origin story. Over the past two years, this partnership has supported the digitization of 29 archival media items, helping to protect and make accessible vital pieces of Black theater history for generations to come. Together, we’ll reflect on the enduring power of Black theater, the necessity of collective memory, and the stories that continue to shape our culture today. This work is more than an archival project—it is a call to remember, to re-center the voices of our elders and ancestors, and to honor the lineage that informs our creative future. In a time when book bans and cultural erasure threaten our narratives, this effort helps carve new pathways for study, inspiration, creation, and healing. It ensures that the brilliance of Black cultural memory is not only preserved, but remains a guiding force for what’s next. Written by Brian Egland  Directed by Nic Ashe  April 8-12, 2026 | Tickets on sale March 2026 Hosted by HereArts In Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, the crawfish capital of the world, they say there’s two festivals: the one out front, and the one in da back. But it’s what happens on the front lawn of 318 Dorset Street that cracks open a family legacy. Ghosts hum through the zydeco, dreams rattle in the cooler, and everyone’s waiting for someone who might never come home. The Festival in da Back is a richly textured, fiercely funny play about who we crown, what we bury, and whether the music that once moved us can still bring us home .In partnership with The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture May 11, 2026 This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture—a national treasure and world-renowned institution located in the heart of Harlem. Home to more than 11 million items, the Schomburg Center is dedicated to preserving, sharing, and celebrating the richness of Black history and culture. In celebration of this centennial milestone, National Black Theatre will present a special one-day event featuring five multidisciplinary micro-commissions that uplift the voices and legacies of Black women theatermakers. Drawing from the Schomburg’s expansive archives, each commission will creatively reimagine and respond to the work of a prolific Black woman creator through performance, sound, visual media, and storytelling—illuminating their enduring impact and cultural contribution.Co-Produced with New York Theatre Workshop and in association with Lena Waithe Written and Performed by Liza Jessie Peterson Directed by Talvin Wilks May 2026  Inspired by her decades-long work with prison populations, including on the notorious Rikers Island, Liza Jessie Peterson’s timely and urgent one-person show unpacks the human impact of mass incarceration in America. Fearlessly funny, smart, and provocative, The Peculiar Patriot traces the migration of systemic injustice from the plantation to the prison yard. To Inspire, to turn on, to give our audience the courage to keep on keeping on To carry our freedom up on high.” – Dr. Barbara Teer Founder, NBT MAKE CULTURE COUNT: Sponsorship opportunities for NBT’s full 2025-26 Season and individual programmatic offerings are available. Contact Breanna Foister, Director of Development, at Breanna@nationalblacktheatre.org to deepen your involvement.FacebookTwitterWebsiteInstagramYouTube some text on this page is Copyright © 2024 National Black Theatre, All rights reserved.2031 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10035 212-722-3800.

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Black Theater movers and shakers in Boston

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Summer Williams was the first Black Boston playwright director to draw our  attention. She was a teacher in Brookline at the time her “101 Beneath the Veil” work was performed at BU Black Box theatre.  Now, Ms Wiliams is the director / producer at Company One theater company.

We had been listing music and concert acts when something else caught our eye. It was the play “101 Beneath the Veil” put on stage well over 10 years ago when the BlackBoston.com 1638 portal had yet to be conceived. We were a very young website and had just seen press material about the show. “Photos never seen before are uncovered, bringing an old Black history to life,” the play’s description read. Location: Boston University Black Box theater.

We attended the show in a press coverage capacity. We were just learning how to be press. The show was great and lived up to the hype. The black box theater venue design is the best way to experience a live stage play, in my opinion, if you have never ever gone to one. And this one was our first. We met Ms William briefly at the theater but hardly said much because our correspondent was suffering from a flu. At the time was she was a high school drama teacher at Brookline High School when she put “101 Beneath the Veil” on stage. Later, she co-founded the Company One theater company.

NAMES

RESPECT movie — The hottest Black combo of movie producer and creative right now are arguably Director Liesl Tommy who made the RESPECT movie starring Jennifer Hudson as ARETHA FRANKLIN and Tracey Scott Wilson, the playwright and screenwriter. Liesl s a child of South Africa, growing up under apartheid and raised in a township. Her family immigrated to Newton. She enrolled in Newton North. Tommy has produced episodes of “Insecure,” “Queen Sugar,” and “The Walking Dead.” At Boston’s Huntington Theater she worked on productions of “A Raisin in the Sun,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” and “Top Girls.” She was nominated for a Tony in 2016 and she will direct Daily Show host Trevor Noah’s book project “Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood.”

Dawn Simmons is the artistic director of the Front Porch Arts Collective and executive director of StageSource, established the Boston Globe in the Living Arts article titled In Boston Theaters, a growing group of Black leaders have decisive role at a pivotal time,” September 27th, 2020. Black administrators are in charge of things. Harvey Young from Chicago became dean of Boston University’s College of Fine Art. Lee Pelton was with Arts Emerson who uses the venues the Emerson Colonial, the Paramount Center and the Cutler Majestic theaters, before recently taking over CEO role at Boston Foundation.

Michael Bobbit, entered the theater scene as the first Black artistic director of New Repertory Theater. He was the outgoig CEO at Mass Humanities. Christopher V. Edwards was named artistic director of Actor’s Shakespeare Project.

Harold Steward was named producing co-executive director The Theater Offensive. The Front Porch Theater Collective is a Black theater company.

SHOWS & PLAYBILLS

 BERKSHIRE THEATER GROUP, Stockbridge MA the Unicorn Theater – a while ago

Nina Simone: Four Women imagines a conversation, often through music, between Simone and three African-American women. The production will be directed and choreographed by Gerry McIntyre who choreographed last summer’s hit Godspell. In the aftermath of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963, Nina Simone rocked the nation with “Four Women,” her tribute in song to the four young girls lost in the tragedy. Scholar and artist Thulani Davis called the song “an instantly accessible analysis of the damning legacy of slavery, that made iconographic the real women we knew and would become.” show link

The first several shows were sold out! The Unicorn Theater, one of the Berkshire Theater Group’s performance spaces, is located in the Stockbridge Historical District about 15 minutes away from the Tanglewood Music Center and summer home of the Boston Pops. Actually, the location is off the road in a repurposed barn surrounded by a white picket fence There is plenty of parking there and it seats 100 people. There is no UBER, LYFT car service in the area when we were there August 18th. Your app will say “no cars available,” so be careful, you can get stranded if you’re not driving. The townies say the one taxi cab company based in Pittsfield takes 2 hours wait time if it comes at all.

ArtsEmerson

The Huntington presents “The Blues Eye,”,”Our Daughters Like Pillars,” and “Common Ground” in 2022.