Jobs in Theater

When we think about the experience of theater, usually we think about it from being a member of the audience. Even if we are an active participant in the creation of theater, we spend more time in the audience than we do on stage. Even the best of us in the industry do more watching than doing.

That means that our experience of theater from the perspective of an audience member is how we first think about a play. We see the actors and the sets, we hear the sounds of the performance. Our emotions are effected by the lighting and music. What we don’t think about are the people who have made that production possible – the everyday people in the trenches.

The Unsung Heroes

Yet, for you to see a show you first have to know about it. Someone needed to design a marketing campaign in order to generate publicity. Someone needed to sell you a ticket. Someone has to make sure you are in the right seat and that you have a program.

When the performance is over someone has to make sure the production’s books are balanced, that everyone is paid, and that the theater is ready for the next performance. Before the first audience steps into the theater, contracts have to be negotiated to rent the theater and to hire everyone.

All these jobs are as important to the success of a production as the more visible ones. Yet it seems that when we talk about increasing diversity in theater, the only jobs that get talked about are the visible ones.

Yes, it is important to increase the number of black actors, directors, and designers, but I believe it is equally  important to increase the number of black general managers, stage managers, and box office managers.

As an organization Rhymes Over Beats is committed to doing just this.

Interested in working with us? Let me know in the comments below.

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Black Plays

The first blog about black theater history this month was about black theaters in America. The second was about black theater producers and how we should increase their numbers.

This week’s blog is about plays, those written by black playwrights and those with black characters.

Where are the Black Playwrights?

Plays cost quite a bit to produce. If your goal is a New York production, the costs can be in the millions. Even a staged reading can run into the thousands.

Since producers are by nature cautious people, with this much money at stake they tend to work with people they know or whose work they know about. In practice, this means that since most producers are white, they work with white playwrights.

You can see how this has played out over the years by looking at the seasons of almost every mainstage theater company.

Rhymes Over Beats Searches for Black Plays

It has been one of the founding goals of Rhymes Over Beats to counter this by searching  for black playwrights.

Since this is black history month, we have partnered with CreateTheatre.com to present weekly zoom readings of new plays by black playwrights. Our second play was ON THE THIRD DAY by Atlanta playwright Amina S. McIntyre, which premiered on the CreateTheater YouTube page on Monday, February 15. We hope you will watch it here until it is taken down on Sunday, February 21, 2021.

We intend to continue our efforts going forward.

Black Actors

Othello by William Shakespeare was probably written in 1603. The title character was a black general. It was first played by a black actor, Ira Aldridge, in 1825 – over two hundred years after it was written. Until then it was played by white actors in blackface.

It seems to be the belief even today, two hundred years after a black man played Othello onstage, that the primarily white theater audience will only go see plays about white characters. We are staking our success that this belief is wrong.

We have a producing preference for plays that have black characters, and where race is unspecified in the text, we will cast black actors.

We are a champion of an art form, hip hop, and its inclusion in theater. It is an art form created and dominated by black artists.

We can do no less. Help us produce black plays by donating here.

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Where Do Producers Come From?

Writing blogs during black theater history month presents a challenge. There are so many possible subjects that it is difficult to select any particular item. This week I decided to start at the beginning: how  plays get done.

A story gets told on stage, a play gets produced, because some producer, somewhere, has decided it is a story that needs to be told.

But where do producers come from? I’ll use myself as an example.

I was in the corporate world. A friend asked for my help getting her play produced, so I produced it. I got hooked on producing and, 20 plus years later, I still am doing it.

Producers often also come from the fields of law,  medicine, or finance.

Telling Black Stories Onstage

If you have noticed, Rhymes Over Beats has very few productions of plays written by black playwrights, or of plays dealing with issues in the black community. Wny? It is because of the small number of black playwrights. The point of this blog is to appeal to black professionals to join with us and become producers.

Producers select shows based on what they know or have heard about. This month we will be presenting weekly zoom readings of shows by black playwrights on CreateTheater’s YouTube page.

Every Monday in February at 7pm EST watch for a new play written by a black playwright. This week was SWIMMING UPTOWN by Cheryl L. Davis, directed by DeMone Seraphin. Click here to watch (link expires on Friday, 2/12).

If you are a black doctor, lawyer, or hedge fund manager and have considered becoming a producer, and are looking to tell black stories, let this be your invitation.

Contact us at info@rhymesoverbeats.org and let’s chat.

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Black Theaters in the United States

Our first social media post in 2021 to celebrate black theater history is one saluting the first black theater company in America.

The African Grove Theatre was founded in 1821 in New York City by William Brown. I always wanted to find a way to recognize the first black theater or theater company in each state, but that task requires more time and research than I can be spend while also producing, writing, and working with writers.

Fortunately for me, I discovered that Gary Anderson of Black Theatre Matters had already done the work and published his own list here on his website. So, in order to acknowledge a black theater or theater company in each state that has one, I’ve listed some of those theaters below.

If a state has multiple companies I’ve listed the one that was Equity. If a state has multiple Equity companies, I’ve listed the one that I know the most about.

Do You Support Black Theater Companies?

If you live in as state that has one of these companies, please support them.

If your state has none, please consider starting one.

Okay, here’s my list:

• Alabama – Tuskegee Repertory Theatre
• Arizona – Black Theatre Troupe
• California – Lorraine Hansberry Theatre
• Colorado – The Source Theatre Company
• Florida. – West Coast Black Theatre Troupe
• Georgia – True Colors Theatre Company
• Illinois – Congo Square Theatre Company
• Louisiana – New Venture Theatre
• Maryland – Arena Players
• Michigan – Plowshares Theatre Company
• Minnesota – Penumbra Theatre
• Missouri – St. Louis Black Rep
• New Jersey – Crossroads Theatre Company
• New York  – National Black Theatre
• North Carolina – North Carolina Black Repertory Company
• Ohio – Karamu House
• Oregon – Passinart Theatre Company
• Pennsylvania – New Freedom Theatre
• Rhode Island – Mixed Magic Theatre
• South Carolina – Art Forms & Theatre Concepts
• Tennessee – Hattiloo Theatre
• Texas – Jubilee Theatre
• Vermont – Jag Productions
• Virginia – Heritage Ensemble Theatre Company
• Washington – Hansberry Project

#SupportBlackTheaters

#RhymesOverBeatsTheaterCollective

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