Providence Black Repertory Company

The Providence Black Repertory Company (Black Rep) fosters a creative environment that celebrates the artistic contributions of black artists throughout American history.

The Providence Black Repertory Company (Black Rep) produces and presents artistic performances that bring people together, provoke thought, inspire hope, and create understanding. The Black Rep is an arts organization that provides a unique experience inspired by the cultural traditions of the African Diaspora in three key areas: Theater, Education, and Public Programs.

Founded in 1996 by Artistic/Executive Director Donald W. King, The Providence Black Repertory Company produced its very first stage production, The Island, on the third floor of an old print shop in Downcity Providence. As a native Rhode Islander, King was acutely aware of the need and responsibility to build a vital cultural institution dedicated to making an artistic, social, and political impact. Ten years later, in a brand new facility that includes performance and rehearsal space as well as a beautiful café and lounge, the Black Rep is still working towards that goal, with programming that ranges from a Latin Jazz series, to drumming workshops for youth, to premiers of new American plays, to Rhode Island’s most exciting summer music festival. Across the three program areas, there is an ongoing focus on contextualizing the artistic work through humanities panels, discussions, printed materials, and outreach.

The Theater experience at the Black Rep is informed by a unique approach which places the deliberate investigation of cultural, social, historical and political consciousness and conscience at the center of the creative process. Seasons and productions are curated to engage in a conversation with popular “American” narratives, with a view towards the interrogation and re-appropriation of this mythology. 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 Garcia Lorca, Harold Pinter, Sam Shepard, Cheryl West, Maria Irene Fornes, and August Wilson, as well as original stage adaptations of the poetry of Langston Hughes and Kevin Young. Each December, The Black Rep’s Affiliate Artist company takes center stage in a workshop production showcasing their own work in process and providing a chance for audiences to be part of its development.

At the heart of a multi-faceted artistic vision, 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. The unique multi-genre format and broad spectrum of artists contribute to the cultural literacy of the greater Providence community, and make the Xxodus Café one of Downcity Providence’s most popular nightly destinations. Each season of Public Programs culminates with Sound Session, New England’s premier summer music festival. A multi-stage, genre-defying event, the festival is co-produced with the City of Providence’s Department of Art, Culture, and Tourism. This transcultural celebrations reflects the dynamic vitality of the new “American” city and has attracted world-class artists such as Yerba Buena, Ron Carter, and Ursula Rucker.

Education programs accompany each season’s productions. These include 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 collective collaboration and value students’ cultural heritage and experience, with the goal of developing youth and adults who recognize the importance and power of the arts and culture of the African Diaspora and embrace the values of community and democracy that are part of these traditions. All of these programs come at no cost to youth participants.

Across both youth and adult programming, Black Rep is deeply committed to Artist Development, with plentiful opportunities for musicians and performers to participate in master classes, workshops, and career development activities. At the Black Rep, diverse local artists have an opportunity to network, share resources, and build their careers. In turn, the Black Rep has become one of the prime venues where artists have come to gather over the years.

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 also attracted artists from as far as Mali, Nigeria, and Trinidad & Tobago. Local artists involved with Black Rep represent a diverse mix of cultural and/or ethnic heritages. They are African-American, Haitian, Cape Verdean, Hispanic/Latino, Caribbean, Native American, Caucasian/White, Mixed Heritage, Filipinos, and Southern Blacks.

The Black Rep is honored to have built strong 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 Black Rep’s most recent recognition was extended by the John F. Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts, Washington D.C. as an invitation to join their “Capacity Building Program for Culturally Specific Performing Arts Organizations”. Other distinguished accolades include: 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 Rep has also attracted the attention of distinguished artists, many of whom have performed on the Black Rep stage, including Melba Moore, Ahmad Jamal, Roy Ayers, Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Roger Guenveur Smith, Savion Glover, and B.B. King.

In 2006, The Providence Black Repertory Company celebrates its 10th Anniversary as a Downcity Providence cultural institution. Through its dual mission – both artistic and civic – The Black Rep has spent the past ten years challenging artists and audiences with work on the vanguard, while providing the community with widely accessible programming, connecting peoples of the African Diaspora to each other and to civic life, and honoring and advancing American civil rights.