@dramatistsguild @robflorence_rob

New Orleans has always been a wellspring of African-American culture, yet the city has only one black theatre company, Anthony Bean Community Theater, which for fifteen years has presented seminal black dramas and musicals. Offering after-school classes and a summer drama camp, the Anthony Bean Acting School has introduced numerous young people to theatre and honed the skills of many experienced performers. Committed to presenting plays that reflect the African-American experience, ABCT is one of only three theatres in the country to complete August Wilson’s Century Cycle, and has now started its second run of it.

Director/actor/playwright/producer Anthony Bean lists many accomplishments and among the most significant is his commitment to producing original works. Of ABCT’s 83 productions, 36 have been new plays.

ABCT was founded in 2000 and lives in the African-American theatre continuum, building upon their predecessors which include the Free Southern Theater and the Dashiki Project. “Black Theatre is relatively new in America,” explains Anthony. “It was formed to fight racism. It wasn’t designed to be art-for-arts’ sake.” Anthony points to how the Free Southern Theater was closely aligned with the Civil Rights movement as a voice for social protest, whereas Dashiki’s focus was more aesthetic than overtly political. “A lot of early African-American theatre artistic directors were social workers or had political science degrees. Daishiki’s founder Dr. Theodore Gilliam had a PhD in Theatre and came from Dillard University’s theatre department. My goal at ABCT has been to merge the two traditions, to marry message with respect for the craft of theatre.”

Through original works, Anthony Bean found that he could he could effectively merge message and art. ABCT’s first original play was America, Look What You’ve Done Done, Bean’s take on how the Vietnam War decimated young black men, including soldiers who survived to return to a still-segregated country.

Within months of Hurricane Katrina, ABCT was one of the first theatres to reopen. They resumed their Katrina-canceled production of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, which ironically deals with a man looking for his missing wife. Anthony subsequently wrote and produced 504: A Hip Hop Drama, a play he wrote about African-American kids’ post-Katrina experience.

One of Bean’s most successful original works, Simply Irma, starred a novice actress, Anthony’s cousin and legendary singer Irma Thomas. The show was so successful that it will be remounted next year.

ABCT is now delving into what Anthony considers “inner problems.” He explains, “Some problems we do not grapple with, because we have a lot on our plate.” For example, ABCT recently took on African-American bias against homosexuality. His well-received Say Amen is about an African-American mega-church pastor whose son is killed in a random shooting; it is revealed that the son was on the way to meet his boyfriend at the time of his murder. “I want to provoke dialogue within the African-American community on subjects which some big-wigs don’t talk about. When you look at yourself in the mirror, it can be profound, it can be ugly, and it can provoke change.”

Anthony is also moving in the direction of what he refers to as “crossover plays,” having recently produced Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Our Town, and Member Of The Wedding, not traditional staples of black theatre. He feels a need for more diversity in theatre and says that he can’t complain about lack of diversity in other theatres if he does not lead by example. “Black problems are not just black problems. They’re American problems. We don’t have any choice but to co-exist in society and on the stage.” His next season includes The Glass Menagerie and Measure For Measure, his first Shakespearean production.

Being a theatre company driven by original work, they are looking for stageworthy new plays. Anthony comments that serious plays come with the territory so they are “in dire need of comedies.” For submission inquiries, e-mail: abean@anthonybeantheater.com. For information on ABCT, visit: www.AnthonyBeanTheater.com.

rflorence@dramatistsguild.com

Photo: (above) Anthony Bean (center) with students at Anthony Bean Acting School

Photo: (above) Reflections: A Man and his Time starring former city council president Oliver Thomas (center)

Photo: (above) Legendary singer Irma Thomas, subject of Simply Irma, with ABCT students and Grammy Award