Theater began in ancient times.
From beginnings sparked at the African Grove Theatre of the early 19th century to the Pulitzer Prize-winning works of August Wilson more than 160 years later, the history of African-American theater encompasses a range of eclectic traditions. A short survey of such an extensive time frame requires a narrow focus on pivotal developments.
Beginnings
In 1821 in New York, William Henry Brown established the first known African-American theater, the African Grove, and gave a place for the first black theater troupe to perform. Brown also authored and staged the first African-American play to be produced in the United States, "The Drama of King Shotaway" two years later. A number of Shakespearean productions were performed at the African Grove, "Othello" and "Richard III" among them. James Hewlett, a member of the troupe and the inspiration behind Brown's endeavor, is credited as the first known African-American Shakespearean actor.
Segregation
The majority of the African-American population in the northern United States during the time of the African Grove were legally free from slavery. Legalities, however, had no bearing on white bigotry, and blacks were limited to segregated neighborhoods and restricted areas. Harassment from whites forced the theater to change locations several times, eventually leading to its closure. Ira Frederick Aldridge, a product of the African Grove, moved to Europe and achieved great acclaim on the international stage.
Harlem Renaissance and the WPA
The Harlem Renaissance began following the end of World War I and flourished through the early 1930s. Although centered more on literary achievement, the intellectual climate had a direct bearing on black theater. By the time the Works Progress Administration, or WPA, theater projects began in the mid-1930s the small community theaters in the area had inspired a number of talents to step up and seek employment in the arts. Rose McClendon, who had been producing in Harlem for several years, helped create the Federal Theater Project's Black Unit under WPA supervision. From the project came such successes as "Voodoo Macbeth" and the musical "Swing Mikado."
Premiere on Broadway
Before the civil rights movement African-American stage actors were rare on Broadway and those that did garner roles were often delegated to demeaning or bit parts. A major development in American theater occurred in the 1960s, initiated by Lorraine Hansberry's acclaimed "A Raisin in the Sun," the first play by an African-American woman to be staged on Broadway. The play won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award and contemporary historians call it "an American classic."
The NEC
According to "The Black Past," the Negro Ensemble Company, co-founded in 1968 by Douglas Turner Ward, "has been the incubator of opportunity" for a number of performing artists such as Laurence Fishburne, Sherman Hemsley, Samuel L. Jackson, Phylicia Rashad and Denzel Washington, among others. The NEC also provided a showcase for the talents of playwrights Charles Fuller, Judy Ann Mason, Joseph A. Walker and others. The NEC faced opposition within the black community because it was funded and administered by whites.
Recent History
From his first major work "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," winner of the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for best play, August Wilson, who died in 2005, left permanent footprints on world theater. "The Pittsburgh Cycle," Wilson's series of 10 plays, depicts the black experience in America through the changing cultural environment of the 20th century, with each play set in a different decade. Wilson received a Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for "Fences" and a second Pulitzer Prize in 1990 for "The Piano Lesson" (1987). He was also awarded a National Humanities Medal in 1999, a long time, and a long way, from African Grove.
