theater company
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
English-speaking
Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the '' Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest langua ...
professional theatre companies in the Canada. It was established by Clarence Bayne and Arthur Goddard, who previously also founded the Trinidad and Tobago association. The Black Theatre Workshop is known for featuring many prominent artistic directors over the years.
History
Black Theatre Workshop was incorporated in 1971 after its official beginnings in February 1970, and has roots going back to the Drama Committee of the Trinidad and Tobago Association. The Drama Committee was launched by, among others, Clarence Bayne and Arthur Goddard, both of whom were the founders of the Trinidad and Tobago Association, and wrote its first Constitution and
by-laws
A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), or as it is most commonly known in the United States bylaws, is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authorit ...
. Bayne and others of the group of Trinidad students at
McGill McGill is a surname of Scottish and Irish origin, from which the names of many places and organizations are derived. It may refer to:
People
* McGill (surname) (including a list of individuals with the surname)
* McGill family (Monrovia), a promin ...
in the late 1960s to conduct Black workshops as part of the activities of the Drama Committee.
BTW's first professional play, H''ow Now Black Man'' by McGill University Professor Lorris Elliott, was produced under the auspices of the Trinidad and Tobago Association. Dr. Bayne was appointed by the Trinidad and Tobago Association to be the Executive Producer of that production and to represent the Association's interest, except for a brief absence from the company between 1970 and1972. Dr. Bayne continued to hold the position of Executive producer and president for the formative years of the company, between 1973-4 to 1990. He negotiated the first professional grant from
Canada Council
The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the fede ...
with matching funds from the Multicultural Directorate (Ottawa) that launched the company as a professional theatre company in 1984, making it eligible for funding from all three levels of the cultural funding agencies. Black Theatre Workshop is an English-speaking theatre company. Its first play "How Now Black Man" was produced in 1970 under the name Black Workshop at the
Centaur Theatre
The Centaur Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Montreal, Quebec. It was co-founded in 1969 by Maurice Podbrey along with The Centaur Foundation for the Performing Arts. It currently has Eda Holmes as the Artistic and Executive Director, ...
, but Black Theatre Workshop de facto existed on July 17,1968.
Over the years, the theatre has had many artistic directors, including Dr. Clarence Bayne,
Errol Sitahal
Errol Sitahal is a Trinidad and Tobago actor who has had various roles in several Hollywood and Caribbean films. In 1995, he played a character named Ram Dass, the Indian manservant, in the film, ''A Little Princess''. The same year he also appea ...
, Don Jordan, Winston Sutton, Fleurette Fernando, Nancy Delva, Kate Bligh, and Rachael Van Fossen, and
Tyrone Benskin
Tyrone Benskin (born 29 December 1958) is an English-Canadian actor, theatre director and politician. He was elected Member of Parliament in the Jeanne-Le Ber riding, in Montreal, Quebec, in the 2011 Canadian federal election and served as an M ...
. Since August 2011, the Artistic Director has been Quincy Armorer. He is a graduate of the Theatre Department at Concordia University and also studied at the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre at the Stratford Festival.
Awards and merits
* ''
Walter Borden
Walter Marven Borden, (born July 20, 1942) is a Canadian actor, poet and playwright. He is originally from New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.Black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
Canadian literature to directly present themes of male homosexuality.''
* ''
Djanet Sears
Djanet Sears is a Canadian playwright, actor and director, nationally recognized for her work in African-Canadian theatre. Sears has many credits in writing and editing highly acclaimed dramas such as ''Afrika Solo'', the first stage play to be wr ...
(
The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God
''The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God'' is a drama written and produced by Canadian playwright Djanet Sears. The production ran from October 2003-March 2004, co-produced by Obsidian Theatre and Nightwood Theatre, and was reprised in 20 ...
, Afrika Solo, Harlem Duet).''
* ''Some emerging playwrights as well including Omari Newton (Sal Capone: The Lamentable Tragedy of), Anne-Marie Woods (She Said/He Said), Chimwemwe Miller (When Elephant was King) Djennie Laguerre (Rendez-Vous with Home).''
Gallery
File:How Now Black Man.jpg, How Now Black Man
File:Dream on Monkey Mountain.jpg, Dream on Monkey Mountain
File:Wade in the Water.jpg, Wade in the Water
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award
Since 1986, the theatre has given out the annual Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
Achievement Award, presented to an individual who has made a significant contribution to
African-Canadian
Black Canadians (also known as Caribbean-Canadians or Afro-Canadians) are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though ...
artistic and cultural life in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. BTW presents the gala each year to celebrate the contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King to non-violent social change.
BTW presents an award for lifetime achievement, among recipients honorees include: Recipients of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award – In 1987, the 1st Vision Celebration Gala was given to
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards ...
: Music. In 1988,
Ranee Lee
Ranee Lee, CM (born October 26, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York City) is an American jazz singer and musician who resides in Montreal, Quebec. She is also an actor, author, educator and television host. Referred as “''Montreal's Queen of Jazz,''†...
: Music / Actor azz 1989, Charlie Biddle: Music azz 1990, Rufus Rockhead (posthumously): Music azz 1991, Dr. Dorothy Wills: Community / Arts. 1992, Dr. Clarence Bayne: Theatre & Educator. 1993, Oliver Jones: Music ianist 1994, Professor Trevor Payne: Music. 1995, Dr. Daisy Peterson Sweeney: Music. 1996,
Salome Bey
Salome Bey (October 10, 1933 – August 8, 2020)While ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' gives her year of birth as 1939, other sources say she was born in 1933 or 1944. was an American-born Canadian singer-songwriter, composer, and actress who liv ...
: Music / Actor. 1997,
Lorraine Klaasen
Lorraine Klaasen (born 1957) is a London, Ontario-based world music singer. Her mother was South African jazz singer Thandi Klaasen. She has performed at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, and her international itinerary has included the ...
Michelle Sweeney
Michelle Sweeney is a Canadian actress and soul singer. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, she moved to Montreal, Quebec in the 1980s to perform with the Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir, and has remained based in Montreal since.
In addition to pe ...
: Music inger 2001, Aldwin Albino: Music. 2002, Anthony Salah I. Wilson: Music teel pan 2003,
Djanet Sears
Djanet Sears is a Canadian playwright, actor and director, nationally recognized for her work in African-Canadian theatre. Sears has many credits in writing and editing highly acclaimed dramas such as ''Afrika Solo'', the first stage play to be wr ...
Walter Borden
Walter Marven Borden, (born July 20, 1942) is a Canadian actor, poet and playwright. He is originally from New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.azz 2008, Terry Donald: Theatre. 2009, Ethel Bruneau: Dance ap 2010, Bertrand A. Henry: Theatre. 2011, Doudou Boicel: Music. 2012, Tonya Lee Williams: Film & Television. 2013,
Gregory Charles
Gregory Charles, OC (born February 12, 1968) is a Quebec performing artist of Trinidadian and French Canadian origin.
Biography
Charles' father Lennox was a black anglophone of Trinidadian origin; his mother was a white francophone Canadian. Cha ...
: Music. 2014.
Zab Maboungou
Zab Maboungou is a Franco-Congolese dancer, writer and choreographer.
Biography
Born in France and raised in Congo-Brazzaville, Maboungou is based in Montreal where she founded the Compagnie Danse Nyata Nyata in 1988. She has since choreograp ...
Jackie Richardson
Jackie Richardson (born January 4, 1947) is a Canadian singer and actress. Richardson is known for her screen roles in '' Turning to Stone'', ''The Gospel According to the Blues'', '' The Doodlebops'', and '' Sins of the Father''. She is also kn ...
: Theatre & Music. 2017, Winston Sutton: Theatre, Don Jordan: Dance & Theatre, 2018."Gala to Honour Founder of Dawson's Theatre Program," ''Montreal Gazette,'' January 28, 2010.
In 2005, BTW was recognized by the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Committee of Montreal for its Historic Contribution to the Development of Black Performing Arts in Canada. It has also received a Trail Blazer Award (Black History Month Round Table Award).