History of Theatre: About, By, For, and Near (2023)
Travel back in time – 200 years, to be precise – with your host, Sister Blacknall, and meet the Black theatre artists of America’s history, who have returned to ensure that this time, they will be remembered. Reginald André Jackson’s wildly original play challenges the stories we’ve been told about who makes theatre and who it is for; creating a spellbinding evening that is both illuminating and inspiring. History Of Theatre: About, By, For, and Near takes audiences on a journey from 1820 to the mid-1930s, through the lens of a contemporary artist making their way in our very own Seattle theatre scene. Witness the forgotten impact of The Rabbit’s Foot founder Pat Chapelle, who created the first all-Black touring vaudeville troupe in 1900, the boundary-breaking actors Ira Aldridge and Rose McClendon, as well as members of Seattle’s own Negro Repertory Company.