Greetings and welcome to Black Theatre Workshop’s 40th Season
DAHOMA
40 years… wow! … Really?! That tends to be the reaction when I talk to people about our upcoming anniversary. And in fact, it is a very appropriate reaction because it is pretty remarkable for a theatre company to enjoy such longevity. It is particularly remarkable for a company such as Black Theatre Workshop, one that does not quite fit into the mainstream, to have survived for 40 years. But BTW has roots that run deep in this city, connective tissue that runs as far back as Victor Phillips and the Negro Theatre Guild. So although we celebrate 40 years as Black Theatre Workshop we also pay homage to those that paved the way before us.
That recognition of Dahoma – or long life is what informs our 40th Anniversary Season. Stepping away briefly from our Canadian developmental mandate, we pay homage to some of those who came before. Our Mainstage production is a play first produced by BTW in 1979 and began our journey towards exploring other works from the African Diaspora. A Raisin in the Sun is the first African American play ever produced on Broadway and saw the debut of their first African American Director. Starring Sidney Poitier, it was the first time White America was introduced to Black characters as seen through our own eyes. It voiced the hopes, wished and even the despair of the Black Everyman and showed them that his hopes, dreams and hardships were not much different than their own. On the other end of the scale, we have Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman, a searing drama that challenges and asks with a defiant intensity, if this race towards inclusion is truly what is best the American Black Man. Is assimilation an acceptable price for inclusion?
In both these plays, we explore two sides of the emerging voice of the American Black Playwright, a voice that was an influence on many of the Canadian Playwrights BTW has presented over its 40 year history; as much as their own personal histories, and the stories they wished to tell.
So along with joining us in the activities planned for BTW’s 40th, we also invite you to share in our history, our present and the dahoma to come.
Welcome to Black Theatre Workshop’s 40th Anniversary.
Sincerely,
Tyrone Benskin
Artistic Director
