The African Company Presents
Richard III
by Carlyle Brown
March 22-24, 2001
Fisher Theater
In 1821, forty years before Lincoln ended slavery, and
fifty years before Black Americans earned the right to vote, the
first Black theatrical group in the country, the African Company
of New York, was putting on plays in a downtown Manhattan theater
to which both Black and white audiences flocked. Earning their bread
with satires of white high society, the company came to be known
for debunking the sacred status of the English classics (which many
politically and racially motivated critics said were beyond the
scope of Black actors).
Inside the company's ranks, similar debates rage about whether to
mimic the English tongue, or to provide a more lively interpretation
of white theater by acknowledging the vibrancy of the Black experience
(in the words of the African Company's manager: "say ya Shakespeare
like ya want.") Shakespeare is the chosen cultural battleground
in this inventive retelling of a little known, yet pivotal event
in the African Company's history. Knowing they are always under
prejudicial pressures from white society, and facing their own internal
shakeups, the African Company battles for time, space, audiences
and togetherness.
Their competition, Stephen Price, an uptown, Broadway-type impresario,
is producing Richard III at the same time as the African Company's
production is in full swing. Price has promised a famous English
actor overflowing audiences, Price manipulates the law and closes
down the theatre. The Company rebounds and finds a space right next
door to Price's theatre. At the rise of curtain of the next performance,
Price causes the arrest of some of the actors in a trumped-up riot
charge. The play ends with the Company, surviving, its integrity
intact, and about to launch an equally progressive new chapter in
the American theater; they'll soon be producing the first Black
plays written by Black Americans of their day.
News
Release
Production Team
Assistant Stage Manager - D'artagnan O'Conner-DeLosRios
Costume Shop Supervisor - Doris Nash
Costume/Scenic Designer - Emily Dunn
Director - Shirley Basfield-Dunlap
Lighting Designer - Kathy Perkins
Stage Manager - Marcia Schultz
Cast
Ann - Sydnei Harris
Constable - Nicholas Anstey
James Hewlett - Langley Neely
Musician - Matthew Grusha
Musician - Jean Olsen
Papa Shakespeare - Chinwuba Ikwuakor
Sarah - Patricia Coleman
Stephen Price - Grant Henderson
William Brown - Damon Johnson
