The cultural excellence and sense of community that St. Louis hosted last weekend as part of the Black Theatre Network’s 37th Annual Conference had to be experienced to be fully understood.
“There are 50, 60, 70 theatres represented in this room, but we are one Black theatre,” Dr. Indira Etwaroo, inaugural director of the Apple’s Steve Jobs Theater at Apple and Executive Director emeritus of the Billie Holiday Theatre, told the audience for the BTN Festival’s opening keynote address Thursday afternoon.
“Think about the treasure and richness contained in a room like this, the genius contained in a room like this, and the great art that is about to come out of a room like this.”
More than two hundred people participated in the festival – which included a robust lineup of panel discussions, workshops, think tanks, podcasts, performances, lectures, artist talks and a culminating awards ceremony.
This year’s festival was a full circle moment for Keith Arthur Bolden. In 2001, Bolden and his future wife Tinashe drove to St. Louis from Chicago for their first professional job after graduate school – as interns with the St. Louis Black Repertory company. Twenty-two years later the stage, film, and television actor – and theater professor – was among the conference’s most esteemed attendees.
He was also this year’s recipient of the Winona Lee Fletcher Award for Outstanding Achievement and Excellence in Black Theatre.
In his acceptance remarks, Bolden praised Himes for giving him his first job as an actor – and gave a shout out to Hana Sharif, outgoing Artistic Director for the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, for taking a chance on casting him early in his career during her days as Associate Artistic Director at Hartford Stage.
“I’m sitting in this room and there are circles,” Bolden said. “I’m talking about intersections y’all.”
Himes, also a revered guest and dutiful host that participated on several panels and a podcast, followed Bolden to the podium as a Lifetime Achievement Award recipient – an honor he shared with Beth Turner and Don Williams.
A portion of the 2023 BTN programming was held on the campus of Washington University, where The Black Rep was founded.
“As a student, when we started this thing, it was because a void persisted. Unfortunately, that void still persists,” Himes said as he accepted his award. “Some time ago, I found myself in the wilderness wailing trying to figure it out. My life got better when I found the choir of you to join me wailing in the wilderness.”
True to the conference’s theme, “Afrofuturism: Envisioning Black Theatre” the intersection of technology was among the topics of conversation. Top of mind was the experience of being thrust into embracing production via digital platforms as a response to the pandemic.
“A common question that is asked is, ‘When you put a camera on something, does it become film or does it remain theatre?’ said John Sloan III, Producing Director of Detroit’s Obsidian Theatre Festival. “I think that is a binary approach to the question and I don’t think the framing of that question meets the moment that we are in.”
Generational debates took place regarding how to be effective practitioners of theater in the 21st century with the constant state of distraction that comes with cell phones and social media.
“The digital space – especially by us – needs to be clearly and carefully orchestrated as far as what we are doing and why we are doing it,” acclaimed actor and comedian Phyllis Yvonne Stickney said in the workshop entitled “Content vs. Art” facilitated by producer, director and playwright Greg Williams, Jr.,
A suggested ban of cell phones in theaters was met with applause from some.
“Okay, so you tell people not to use their phones, but if you buy tickets online, you need your phone to scan the barcode,” Williams said.
“Then you have those QR codes to download to see the playbill,” an attendee chimed in. “You can’t tell people to turn off their cell phone when the only way for them to see the program is on their phone.”
A mindful observer ended the banter.
“I think it is important that we don’t shun a generation,” the self-described millennial responded. “We are not at war with technology. We need to figure out a compromise, rather than get amnesia about our values as a community. Let’s make sure we are not policing what a body, or an audience should look like for us to be received – because in some ways, that is counterproductive to Afrofuturism.”
The lively conversation was one of many that took place over the course of the weekend that demonstrated the promising future of Black theater’s thought leaders as they proclaimed future prosperity for their field and expressed its transformative power.
“We are the treasure. This is our time,” Etwaroo said. “I believe that the Black theatre field is a radical revolution and a radical response to what is happening in the world.”
“As a people, we have always been the moral compass of this American soil,” she added. “And if America stands a chance in hell to live the full creed of democracy, it will be Black people that lead us there – and I believe they will be the Black artists.”
