"We like to do large plays with large casts that have social and political sweep ... When you say black theatre, it means by black talent and for black audiences. I don't think that's what we are about, although we certainly do want to serve our community in central Harlem, where we're located, and the theatre artists are predominantly African-American. And that has to inform the way the plays are done. When we did 'Macbeth,' for example, our choreographer was an expert in African dance. So we incorporated African dance into the pagan world of ancient Scotland. Our next play, Chekhov's 'The Cherry Orchard,' is probably the most conventional production we've done. You don't have to recontextualize the piece -- set it in Haiti or Africa -- to hear the lines in a new way."
| A quote from Alfred Preisser, Classical Theater of Harlem's co-founder and artistic director, in Simi Horwitz's BackStage article "Black History Month: An Overview of Black Theatre and Lots of Events"
posted in articles on February 8, 2005 1:21 AM | t (0)
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