The Apollo Theater is an iconic, legendary place in New York. Many great black artists, equivalent to Ella Fitzgerald and Stevie Wonder, began their careers in its hallowed halls.

And yet, so much for the director, Oscar and Emmy winner Roger Ross Williams“Amazingly, despite 85 years of history, knowledge and power built into these partitions, there has never been a definitive document about this famous theater.

“For me, Apollo embodies what it means to be black in America. It’s a hub, kind of a nucleus of black culture, black music, black art and 85 years of history,” Williams explained to ESSENCE in a telephone interview.

Williams felt he had no selection but to share this vital piece of Black history with others. And so the documentary premieres on HBO on November 6 at 9 p.m. EST.

It’s show time

Williams, the first black director to win an Oscar, skillfully wove the unique history of the Music Hall, with particular attention to the iconic Amateur Nights, with hope for the future and legacy of Apollo, using the stage adaptation of Ta- Nehisi Coats’s award-winning book confirms this thesis.

“Amateur Nights began in 1934 and for the first time the public had the opportunity to choose the winner. That’s saying a lot because there’s nothing better than a Harlem audience. Black audiences are responding,” Williams emphasized. “There is a call and response of the artist and the audience that is based in the Black church, so when you were an artist there, when you were at the Apollo, it felt like you were going to church.”

But the film just isn’t only about what was happening at the Apollo, but in addition about what was happening in Harlem and across the country at the time – highlighted by Billie Holiday’s mournful voice shouting “” or when James Brown loudly announced: from his “I’m Black and I’m Proud” scenes.

“Apollo is the town hall. “It is much more than a house of music and entertainment,” Williams said. “It is a home where we have expressed who we are as a people, where we are in this country, where we want to be and where we are going, and the struggles that we face.”

The stage adaptation element – ​​which featured Angela Basset, Black Thought and lots of other well-known actors and artists – underscores how much has modified since then, not only in the Black experience, but in addition in Apollo.

“Ta-Nehisi says it, and I believe it, that Apollo is the only place he could have done it [the stage adaptation of] because of history and because Apollo continues to serve black audiences,” Williams said. “Apollo continues to be a unique place where Black artists can hear from and speak to their community.”

But perhaps most of all, it showcases the unique talent of Black people to create something beautiful, even out of pain, to specific their truths in wildly creative forms, in a shocking display of defiance and resilience.

“Through the arts, we have tremendous power as Black people to speak our truth, to connect and understand each other, and to highlight the realities, good and bad, of our place in American culture,” Williams said. “We have always used art, music and comedy to talk about our reality, and the rest of the world has always stuck to it and been inspired by it. We are resilient as Black people in America, and Apollo represents that resilience in an incredibly powerful way. We must continue to demonstrate resilience because we face incredible struggles and issues in America today.”

Here’s a recap of today’s episode: In segment #1, I’ll answer last week’s query about Black Theater trivia and supply some historical context. So let me ask you this week’s query. In segment #2, I’ll present this week’s Black Thought. This week’s quote from Audre Lorde most closely fits the theme of the episode. Finally, in segment #3 now we have the interview.

https://player.simplecast.com/753229f9-98c8-4087-bdda-aeef89c86b72?dark=false

Today we’ll devote a lot of the program to an interview with founders Reginald Edmund and Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway. is an International is an art movement spanning all countries and continents where Black narratives are told by Black Artists – and under their full control – with a mission to empower all audiences. They occur to be partners in each life and theater, as Reggie and Sim are married.

Additionally, Reggie is Playwright-in-Residence at Tamasha Theater in London, England and Playwright-in-Residence at Chicago Dramatists Theatre, Artistic Associate at Pegasus Theater-Chicago, Artistic Patriot at Merrimack Repertory Theater, and a 10-11 Many Voice Fellow with the Playwrights Center. His play Southbridge was a runner-up within the Kennedy Center’s Lorraine Hansberry and Rosa Parks National Playwriting Awards and was most recently the winner of the Southern Playwrights Competition, the Black Theater Alliance Award for Best New Play, and the Edgerton Foundation’s New American Play Award. His nine-play series titled “The City of the Bayou Collection”, including , and , has been performed at esteemed theaters including Pegasus Theater-Chicago, Deluxe Theatre, Actors Theater of Charlotte, Bush Theater (UK), Boston Court @ Theatre, Landing Theatre, Playwrights’ Center and National Theater (UK). Reginald Edmund earned a BFA in Theater Performance from Texas Southern University and an MFA in Playwriting from Ohio University.

Simeilia is the founder and CEO (www.adofthefuture.com), and Founder/CEO of Beyond The Canon (www.beyondthecanon.com), former problem solver and head of the Black Play archive on the National Theatre, editor of the primary anthology of monologues for Black Plays inspired by Black British Plays. She has been included within the Top 100 Acts list for 3 years in a row, and last yr she was included in The Progress 1000: London’s Most Influential People 2018 – Performance: Theater.

Other publications that Simeilia has edited include The Oberon Book of Monologues for Black Actors: followed by a second anthology of monologues published by Bloomsbury Methuen Drama: interim associate producer at Theater Royal Stratford East and former board member of the Directors Guild of Great Britain and Company of the Theater Angels . She has also worked nationally and internationally as a theater director, producer, playwright, educator/guest lecturer, and audience development consultant. Simeilia is currently a member of the magazine’s editorial team (Routledge/UK).

NOTE: The interview audio is ideal for Reggie and Sim. But from ten feet away I sound like I’m talking through a can. Otherwise, it’s an ideal interview. Enjoy.

https://www.blacklivesblackwords.org/support-our-revolution

http://www.beyondthecanon.com

About the affairs of the Black Theater

Black theater matters is a bi-weekly podcast exploring the intersection of culture, politics and blackness. Black theater matters explores various plays, people and topics vital to Black Theatre, elements of production, and the unique dynamics of Black Theater. In other words, Black Theater matters.

Plowshares Theater Company, BTM, is designed to be a liberal arts resource dedicated to supporting, documenting, and celebrating the achievements of Black theater artists throughout the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

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Ashe!