Black playwrights have won seven of the last nine Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. More important, their work is routinely hitting major stages. In the next few months alone, three North Texas companies are mounting shows by Black writers. When the groups found out about the other productions, they decided to coordinate. They’re calling it a “Black Broadway Summer.”
The plays include two Pulitzer recipients that had recent Broadway runs. Michael R. Jackson’s Tony-winning identity musical A Strange Loop opens later this month at Circle Theatre in Fort Worth, while James Ijames’ Fat Ham, a family barbecue twist on Hamlet, is scheduled for late summer at Stage West Theatre. It’s a co-production with Dallas Theater Center, and it will move there in January.
First up is Soul Rep Theatre’s early June production of the dark satire Ain’t No Mo’ by Fort Worth native Jordan E. Cooper. The wild premise finds the U.S. government offering Black Americans a one-way ticket to Africa. Three years ago, Cooper became the youngest Black writer to have a show on Broadway. He was 27. A series of sketch-like vignettes, it received six Tony nominations.
“These are three landmark plays in their own right,” says Garret Storms, associate producer at Stage West, which collaborated with the Theater Center on Black playwright Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust earlier this year. “They all had a massive impact, both in the dialogues they created and on American theater at large. It’s such a treat to see these three groundbreaking new American plays being produced this summer on local D-FW stages.”
Soul Rep general manager Ashley Oliver, who is co-directing Ain’t No Mo’, was the one who first noticed the confluence. “I felt really invested in making the connection with Stage West and Circle Theatre,” she says. “It’s not something that happens that often.” Or is it? To celebrate, patrons who buy tickets to one of the productions will receive a code they can use to see each of the other shows at a 20% discount.
Details
Ain’t No Mo’, June 5-8, at the Kalita Humphreys Theater, 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd. $20-$35. soulrep.org.
A Strange Loop, June 19-July 12, at Circle Theatre, 230 W. Fourth St., Fort Worth. $40-$45. circletheatre.com.
Fat Ham, Aug. 28-Sept. 14, at Stage West Theater, 821 W. Vickery Blvd., Fort Worth. $42.50-$52.50. stagewest.org.
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.
This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, Communities Foundation of Texas, The University of Texas at Dallas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access’ journalism.
