Interview: Ron Himes of THE BLACK REP at Edison Theater

For more than four decades, The St. Louis Black Rep's founder and Producing Director, Ron Himes has dedicated his life to staging productions from the African American perspective to heighten the social and cultural awareness of audiences in the St Louis area and beyond. He has produced and directed more than 200 plays at The Black Rep, but his life's work goes well beyond producing, directing and staging theatrical events. The Black Rep's award winning education programs that he created provides training and experience for children, teens and interns seeking education and a career in the arts. These programs provide an opportunity for youth to explore their talents and chart a course for the future.

JL: What influenced your decision to pursue a theatrical career and shaped your passion for the theater?

RH: The works of Woodie King and The New Federal Theater and the Negro Ensemble Company (NEC). It gave me the chance to see black actors on stage telling stories. Early productions that had an impact on my love of the theater included touring productions of Bubbling Brown Sugar and the NEC's production of The River Niger that played in St. Louis

JL: Who are your favorite playwrights and composers?

RH: Some of my favorite playwrights include August Wilson, Dominique Morisseau, Lynn Nottage, Donja Love, Leslie Lee, and Samm-Art Williams who wrote our next virtual offering of HOME. Some of my favorite plays are The Gospel at Colonus, and all of August Wilson's cannon. We've performed the entire cycle (of August Wilson's cannon) once and are two productions away from completing the cycle a second time in chronological order. Gem of the Ocean is another play that is a favorite of mine.

JL: You have a business degree from Washington University in St Louis, do you have other training in theater and how did you leverage your vision without a theater education?

RH: I had no formal theatrical training, but I acted in plays as an undergrad and took Dance and some other theater courses.

JL: If you have talent, you don't necessarily need a formal education. In your 44 years how has your vision for The Black Rep company continued to evolve?

RH: We stay true to our mission to celebrate the rich canon of literature by African American authors and to develop new works. We've Staged 20 world premiere works.

JL: The arts can transcend culture and change the minds and hearts of audience members. Of the 4-decades of performances what have been the most salient works The Black Rep has performed and why did they click with the audience?

RH: We've always made it a priority to pick a plays that speak to issues that are relevant today. Our recent production of Colman Domingo's Dot deals with a family coping with their mother's dementia and early stages of Alzheimer's disease. August Wilson's works have had a strong impact on our audiences. Our audiences found Lynn Nottage's Ruined gripping. Two of our world premieres, Nikkole Salter's Torn Asunder and Kristen Adele Calhoun and Michael Thomas Walker's Canfield Drive resonated strongly with our audience.

JL: What are your post-pandemic plans for The Black Rep?

RH: We're excited to celebrate our 45th anniversary with a season of five plays that are still to be announced. Our plan is to open the season in September, with our gala in November. We just signed a contract for The Fisk Jubilee Singers to perform at our gala. Our plan is to introduce new works and offer symposiums and conferences in conjunction with Washington University and the University of Nebraska.

JL: What have been the biggest successes of the youth education program and how did this program come to be?

RH: The Black Rep has always had a youth component focused toward developing young people. Our Teen Tech Program teaches teenagers about technical theater and allows them to work backstage on our productions. Alumni from our professional intern program have gone on to work in New York City on Broadway, in television and film production, and with many theater companies locally. Currently we have a wonderful class who has stayed focused through the pandemic with virtual training and we continue to develop young talent.

JL: How Many subscribers does The Black Rep have? What is the composition of audience diversity currently and how do you increase both audience size and diversity?

RH: The Black Rep has the most diverse audience in town. We have a small, long-term subscriber basewith many patrons who've subscribed for over 30-years. We are building our audience out from there. We offer a theater experience like nothing else in town and have patrons from all over the state, including Kansas City, Jefferson City and Columbia.

JL: How is your work funded?

RH: The bulk of our revenue is generated through our box office and our programs.

JL: How Has the pandemic affected your revenue stream?

RH: Our revenue stream declined to a trickle during the pandemic. We took the opportunity to do strategic planning, financial forecasting and develop plans to bring audiences back to the theater. We believe by offering appealing programming, increasing our social media presence and developing new initiatives will bring in new audience members.

JL: Finally, what excites you about the virtual production of Home and why should audiences see it?

RH: I love this play. Samm-Art Williams is a personal friend and one of my favorite writers. I love his sense of humor and his perspective on the world. I've had the opportunity to play Cephus three times and direct the play twice. We have three actors from our intern program performing the roles and they have done really great work. I believe this is among the best virtual work that we've done. It is shot and edited well and has full production values including lighting, sets, costumes and sound. I believe audiences, once they see this, will get excited about coming back to the theater again

Home can be streamed on Vimeo beginning April 15, 2021. Visit theblackrep.org for more information.

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