Playhouse to Powerhouse

Locating Black Power Women and their Movement in the Black Theatre

Kerry Goldmann

• Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN: 9781682262788, 9781682262771
• eBook ISBN: 9781610758413
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Performing Arts

The rise of Black cultural nationalism in the 1960s came with resounding promises of assertive new methods to achieve Black liberation in America, especially through art. Nowhere were these efforts more impactful or lasting than in the Black theatres founded or led by Black women between 1960 and 1990. Prior to the 1960s, most Black theatre was barred from mainstream white venues, limiting public access, Black artistic and economic opportunity, and cultural ownership. Playhouse to Powerhouse: Locating Black Power Women and Their Movement in the Black Theatre examines the revolutionaries who brought about this change, merging arts and entrepreneurship to embed theatres in Black communities from California to New York to Texas.

In Playhouse to Powerhouse, Kerry L. Goldmann explores the Black theatre movement through the lens of three significant women-led theatres that are still in operation today: Nora Vaughn's Black Repertory Group in Berkeley, Barbara Ann Teer's National Black Theatre in Harlem, and George Hawkins and Eileen Morris's Ensemble Theatre in Houston. Goldmann concludes with a discussion of the current moment, examining contemporary obstacles such as gentrification, the co-opting of Black theatres, and the impact of COVID-19.

This remarkable work sheds light on the foundational role that Vaughn, Teer, and Morris played in the Black cultural revolution of the mid- to late twentieth century, securing theatre houses that thrived in multiple capacities as sites for revolution organizing, revenue generation for communal uplift, and unapologetic Black cultural representation.
 

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• One. Where Shall We Play? Staging Struggle Before a Black Theatre Movement
• Two. The Keepers of the Culture at 3201 Adeline Street: The Black Repertory Group of Berkeley, California
• Three. The Temple of Liberation at 125th Street and Fifth Avenue: The National Black Theatre of Harlem, New York
• Four. The Entertainers, Enrichers, and Enlighteners at 3535 Main Street: The Ensemble Theatre of Houston, Texas
• Five. Beyond the Movement: Inheriting the House of Revolution
• Conclusion. Co-Opted, Compromised, and Commercialized: Historical Legacies and Living Revolution in Today’s Black Theatre
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author