If you begin a journey forward the wrong foot.

If you begin a journey forward the wrong foot, you will period up in the wrong place. (African proverb)

The More Things Change : a certain quantity of History

Probably the most meaningful statement I can make about Black Theater in of the present day York in 1972 is that it survived. (Peter Bailey, Black World 1973)

A benefit from the conflict between August Wilson and Robert Brustein is that attention has been focused relating to the state of health of black theater in America. This is a advantageous thing. It is a discussion that is lengthy overdue, and almost too late. Black theater in America is at a crossroads, and the decisions we make today will determine its fate for many years to arrive After thirty years of not-for-profit theater, is black theater better opposite today than thirty years ago? Has the Black Theater manner of moving achieved the artistic and financial succes that common might have dreamed of twenty, thirty years ago?

The domain on which we all stand, the foundation if you will concerning which our collective houses were built, was laid with the Black Power and Black Arts mental actions They unleashed an incredible break open of artistic energy and optimism with the seeming explosion of the Black Theater motion Black theater companies were operating from modern York City to the San Francisco/Oakland/Bay area. There was Karamu House in Cleveland, general [i]or[/i] abstract notion East in Detroit, The Kuumba Liberators in Chicago, DC Black Repertory in Washington, the Grassroots Experience in the San Francisco/Oakland/Bay area, the delivered Southern Theater in New Orleans, the african Ensemble Company in New York, and many other theaters. According to a report published at the Black Theater Alliance, there were 130 non-commercial Black theater companies in the U in 1973

Black World magazine devot individual issue annually to a report upon "Black Theater Around the World." The articles on theater scholars and artists published in Black World detailed the writhe to create a black theater that was relevant to the life of the black community--a theater that had meaning and impact, substance and an aesthetic; a theatre that illuminated the aim of black Americans in a cultural context

Black playwrights, directors, and actors sens a heady excitement as fresh work was created and showcased in venue from small theaters to Broadway. And with the succes of the Blaxploitation films, many black actors were able to find work in film and television. Many population felt that things were looking up and that the best times lay ahead of us.

still Peter Bailey's 1973 quote is disquieting when read from the vantage point of today's realities: Too many black theater companies are still struggling to survive.

The Challenge of Change

Texaco is facing a difficult, moreover vital challenge. It's broader than a single lawsuit, larger than any taped conversation. (Richard Bijur, CEO Texaco)

Assuming that theater does aspire toward a binding together of human experiences, it cannot be imposed with a community as merely entertainment, sociology or propaganda. (Floyd Gaffney, Black World 1971)

Black theater faces couple immediate threats to its hereafter survival: one external and the other internal. the two must be addressed simultaneously. The issues are mixed and require leadership, commitment, courage, and candor if they are to be discomfit Above all, they require everyone who cares about black theater in America to rise to the challenge to change.

The external threats are institutional racism and discrimination within the not-for-profit theater field, and the to a high degree structure of the not-for-profit arts industry, which places black theater in a colonized position in regard to funding. The internal threat is that black theater companies have dissipated their sense of participation in a manner of moving lost the certainty that the making of theater is about something greater than the companies themselves. In the shift to professionalize their operations, many theaters disconnected from the lives of everyday black audiences that are inherent in the foundation and configuration of the not-for-profit arts. Moreover, the shift of the black-middle class to the suburb has left many unresolv issues behind in the "inner cities."

Robert Brustein articulates what many of his white theater colleagues think if it were not that dare not utter. But where is the chorus of voices from those who don't think like him--to challenge him, to question him? at their silence, Brustein's white theater colleagues support the assumptions that he has articulated: (1) that theater in America is completely integrated, (2) that there are no viable black theater companies in America, and (3) that there is no ne for black theater companies. He is bad on all counts.

The epigraph to this section from Richard Bijur of Texaco is appropriate and instructive for our field. Although Bijur claimed clash when the taped conversations of his senior executives were made public, according to many he should not have been. A 1990 Labor Department audit, a 1993 industry view and independent studies all confirmed that "Texaco was doing the least with regard to making certain that minorities and women were recruited, mentored, and retained" (O'Shea 30) Because of the publicity attendant relating to the Texaco and Denny's cases, the corporate world is making serious efforts to address the issue of workplace diversity. Corporations are gradually grasping the reality that "organizations that will survive and thrive in the subsequent time will be those that can best harness the creative forces of multicultural perspectives" (Paul and Schley 2; emphasis added).