Black Picture Show
by Bill Gunn
(part of an exhibit on Bill Gunn at Artists Space through August 21)
Artists Space presents a virtual exploration of Bill Gunn's classic play Black Picture Show (1975). In preparation for this staged reading, Timpo brought together a company of actors to read, think, and talk through this pivotal theatrical work which was then filmed throughout Artists Space. Black Picture Show is a son’s elegy for his father, a poetic and tragic work about a promising Black poet-playwright who compromises his intellectual integrity for the financial rewards and glamour of Hollywood.
Director: Awoye Timpo
Production Designer: Jason Ardizzone-West
Director of Photography: Omega Davis
Costume Designer: Qween Jean
Composer: Alphonso Horne
Dramaturgs: Arminda Thomas and Nicholas Forster
Cast and Creative Team
JD/Alexander: André Holland
JD/Alexander: Jason Bowen
Norman: Korey Jackson
Lily/Rita: Brittany Bradford
Philippe: Lee Aaron Rosen
Jane: Leslie Fray
Stage Directions: Jasmin Walker
Articles
“Black Picture Show in Context” by Soyica Colbert
“The Life of an Artist Is Not for the Pusillanimous” by Toussaint Jeanlouis
CLASSIX Convergence
On Friday, April 23 at 7pm ET CLASSIX held its inaugural CLASSIX Convergence | Sustaining and Dreaming With Black Theater Vanguards, a
free virtual event with Elizabeth Van Dyke (New Federal Theatre and Going to the River), Erich McMillan-McCall (Project1Voice), Jonathan McCrory(National Black Theatre and Harlem9), Jamil Jude (Kenny Leon’s True Colors) and from CLASSIX, Dominique Rider and Awoye Timpo. Kamilah Bush(Portland Center Stage) moderated.
A CLASSIX Convergence will be a series of gatherings where we bring together Black theater makers, scholars, writers, students and others in conversation at the intersection of Black theater, history, design, dramaturgy, activism and more.
For our first Convergence we began with an invocation, followed by a celebratory evening with an intergenerational group of Black theater visionaries who have championed and produced Black narratives on the stage locally and nationally. We also heard from the leaders about the challenges they have faced in their roles as stewards and gate openers, sustainability and their dreams for the future of Black theater. A Q & A will followed the conversation.
A Past Becomes a Heritage
On Tuesday, March 30th at 7:30pm EST, CLASSIX and Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts partnered to host an event to explore the Negro Units of the Federal Theater Project and examine the lessons, ambitions, and failures of the New Deal as it relates to our current experience and thinking.
This event included excerpts from a dynamic mix of plays from the era, Theodore Ward’s “Big White Fog,” as well as “Natural Man” by Theodore Browne and “Liberty Deferred” by Abram Hill and John Silvera, and was accompanied with a panel conversation composed of Professor Autumn Womack (Princeton University), Professor Kinohi Nishikawa (Princeton University), and archivist and dramaturg Arminda Thomas (CLASSIX). The conversation was moderated by Professor Michael Dinwiddie (New York University) and concluded with a Q&A.
The Team
Panelists: Michael Dinwiddie (NYU), Kinohi Nishikawa (Princeton), Arminda Thomas (CLASSIX/Dramaturg), Autumn Womack (Princeton)
With excerpts of scenes from the Negro Units directed by: Christina Franklin, Kimille Howard, Dominique Rider
Featuring: James Edward Becton*, Jason Bowen*, Bjorn DuPaty*, Andrew Goebel, Danté JeanFelix*, Nuri Hazzard, Galen Ryan Kane*, Sharina Martin*, Yusef Miller*, Joshua E. Nelson*, Petronia Paley*, Grace Porter, Brian Pollock, Sarah Alice Shull, Kedren Spencer*
Produced by CLASSIX and Princeton University
Line Producer: Stephanie Rolland
Stage Manager: Carmelita Becnel*
Assistant Stage Manager: Robert Del Colle
Program Associate: Victoria Davidjohn
*Appearing through an Agreement between CLASSIX and Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.