SWEETWATER: THE GOSPEL OF IMAN & More Set for National Black Theatre 2024-25 Season
The season will feature five new productions.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Aug. 15, 2024
On the heels of a triumphant 2023/2024 season, Dr. 's National Black Theatre (NBT) has announced its 2024/2025 season, The Pilgrimage: A Journey Back Home. In a critical year where we as a community have the choice to craft the kind of home we want for the future and a year when NBT continues the focus of its own new home this season, the theater invites everyone to imagine what it means to create, imagine and navigate through spaces to discover one's belonging. With a theatrical lineup featuring five productions created in partnership with venerated theaters including The Apollo, Kip Republic, The , , and The Flea Theater, audiences will get a first-hand look at transformative works addressing topics from climate to immigration, colorism, HIV/AIDS, and Black Skate culture. These productions will be paired with a series of complementary events and conversations spearheaded by NBT's Alternative Learning and Social Impact Department.
“As National Black Theatre continues its own homecoming with the construction of our new arts complex, we're proud to share The Pilgrimage: A Journey Back Home with our audiences. This season speaks to our ethos as an organization, proving that the stage is a vital tool for liberation, nurturing new voices and honoring those who paved the way for us to create freely.”
- , CEO, NBT
The Pilgrimage: A Journey Back Home draws inspiration from The Negro Motorist/Travelers' Green Book - a resource published by Green from 1936 to 1966 which aided African American travelers as they navigated the tumultuous segregated landscape created by Jim Crow laws. More than just a travel guide, Green Book offered a pathway to safety, and a way to re/build community and respite during times of alienation and hostility - which are two words many of us are feeling all too often in the current climate locally, nationally and globally. As NBT sets its sights on returning to its physical home at the iconic intersection of 125th Street and 5th Avenue in Harlem, NY in the coming years, through the theatrical magic and navigation of these dynamic artists, this season will be a testament to its mission to create a space that goes beyond storytelling. A season that offers different approaches to generate the salve and possible naming of a new Green Book. A list of tools and resources that help us build our needed sanctuary right here right now and honors and uplifts a deep ancestral connection, as much as it is a season that honors the relationship between NBT and its Harlem community today.
“In a time when our sector is under critical and formidable pressure it is a profound gift to be able to make this announcement and celebrate an extraordinary diversity of artistic practices, stories and artists. This season is one comprised of the nuance housed in our community and the creative resilience Black artists are forged from. These five productions are generating an active pathway to our liberation in the face of the most challenging times with grace, compassion and rigor. The arts can save the soul of our Nation and as we craft the future we want these works to play a critical role in that conversation. Each and every one of them are addressing our humanity head on and inviting us to explore a world where we all get to experience the power of the salve and not be solely the sacrifice. We look forward to seeing what home you will craft while being on this pilgrimage.”
- Jonathan McCrory Executive Artistic Director, NBT
NBT's 2024/2025 Theatrical Season:
The Pilgrimage: A Journey Back Home
The Divining: Ceremonies from in the name of the m/other tree
Written, Directed, and Choreographed by: Ebony Noelle Golden
Featuring: Jupiter Performance Studio
Co-Produced by: National Black Theatre and The Apollo
Dates: September 13- 15 and 21-22, 2024
Fresh off the success of 125th & Freedom comes The Divining: Ceremonies in the name of the m/other tree, written, directed, and choreographed by Ebony Noelle Golden, a powerful 3-part series of ritual performances, processions, and visual installations that invites you to experience the intersection of art, activism, and spirituality. Guided by the wisdom of ancestors and the urgency of now, this theatrical ceremony combines movement, poetry, percussion and visual art in a call to reclaim our connection to the land and to each other. The Divining: Ceremonies in the name of the m/other tree weaves together the rhythms of climate change, environmental justice, and the deep roots of Harlem's heritage. The show is featuring Jupiter Performance Studio and was awarded by NEFA the National Theater Project Creation & Touring Grant and was originally commissioned by The Apollo.
KINGS…come home (North American Premiere)
Playwright: Smita James, Veronique Efomi & Munganyende
Director: Ira Kip
Co-directed by: Winston "winne" Bergwijn
Co-Produced by: National Black Theatre and Kip Republic
Dates: March 5 - March 16, 2025
Location: The Victoria Theatre at The Apollo (253 W 125th Street, New York, NY 10027)
Making its North American Premiere after a successful tour in Europe is KINGS...come home by first generation Netherland immigrants Smita James, Veronique Efomi & Munganyende and directed by Ira Kip. KINGS...come home tells the story of a family looking for a new home. After leaving their motherland, they go on a journey to find prosperity, opportunity and safety. They find a house in the middle of a field, move in and make it their utopia, until the walls start moving and the house slowly falls apart. As they continue their journey, we witness the long-lasting effects of their continuous displacement and how it shapes their reality. The show investigates the effects of migration caused by a spectrum of social and economic issues. It also examines the intrinsic connection between migration and our colonial past's long term effects on all of us. Whether it's due to climate change, war, or institutional racism, it is the impasse that lies at the basis of their departure as well as their arrival. The question the play unpacks is; what does it mean to perpetually be displaced and unrooted when in search of a home?
Bowl EP (World Premiere)
Co-Produced by: National Black Theatre and and in association with
Dates: April 17 - May 25, 2025
Location: (108 E. 15th Street, New York, NY 10003)
Kelly K Klarkson and Quentavius da Quitter need to find a name for their rap group. Through flirty interludes, cringy overshares, and practicing their ollies, they grow increasingly closer. Skating and Smoking. Skating and Drinking. Skating and exorcizing a demon. With live skating and original music, enter Bowl EP: a skate park, in the middle of a wasteland, at the edge of the galaxy. The world premiere of Bowl EP is written and directed by who is a Tow Playwright in Residence awarded by the Tow Foundation.
Chiaroscuro (New York Premiere)
Playwright:
Director: abigail jean-baptiste
In association with: The Flea
Dates: May 26 - June 22, 2025
Location: The Flea Theatre (20 Thomas Street, New York, NY 10007)
Chiaroscuro, written by Black Arts Movement writer , is named after the Italian artistic term referring to a stark contrast between dark and light. This New York Premiere of this american classic will be directed by abigail jean-baptiste, NBT’s Soul Directing Resident. The play explores the social implications of such contrast as it relates skin color, specifically within the Black community. The play is set on a love boat-type cruise ship for Black singles where "pretty" means light-skinned, all the men are dark, and Papa Legba, the African trickster spirit, is disguised as a ship steward.
Sweetwater: The Gospel of Iman (Public Presentation)
Playwright: Nathan Yungerberg
Director:
Dates: June 26 - June 29, 2025
Rounding out the theatrical season NBT will present the Public Presentation of NBT’s I Am Soul Playwright Resident Nathan Yungerberg with Sweetwater: The Gospel of Iman. The newly commissioned work will be directed by (CATS: The Jellicle Ball and Chicken & Biscuits). Sweetwater: The Gospel of Iman delves into the strength of chosen family and honors the forgotten through the eyes of Umar, a young gay black writer residing in New York City during the AIDS epidemic. Umar and his closest female friend, Charlie, conjure the spirits of the lives lost by evoking the power of love, friendship, and magic.
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