What are the unique obstacles Black theater experiences in the 21st century and how can they can create a symbiotic relationship with their communities for the potential sustainability of both?

Tanesha M. Ford

doi:10.17918/etd-6752

The question set forth in this thesis is, "What are the unique obstacles Black theater experiences in the 21st century and how can they can create a symbiotic relationship with their communities for the potential sustainability of both?" Its purpose is to investigate the root challenges Black theater experiences in achieving sustainability in America, to discern how much American racial turmoil has affected the Black community and therefore Black theater, and to identify methods by which Black theater can reverse engineer a path to a symbiotic relationship with their communities in order to consistently achieve the sustainability of both. This thesis found that Black theaters in America are far less represented than their Eurocentric counterparts. Black theaters memberships within theater industry trade organizations (i.e., League of Resident Theaters and Theater Communications Group) are not reflective of the number of Black theaters operating in America. Black theaters represent approximately 13% of theater community, but less than 2% have memberships in industry groups. Black theaters are also disproportionally less visible than their Eurocentric counterparts. In this era of almost immediate digital access, accessing the existence of or information on theaters for and by the African American Diaspora is nominal at best. The national databases researched for this thesis; League of Resident Theatres, Theater Communications Group, Actors Equity and others, do not either have Black theaters listed within them, or do not signify the existence a theater as a Black theater. Nor is there any empirical data specifically on why this disparity exists in the theater community. However, this thesis found a correlation between the success or failure of the Black communities compared to the success or failure of Eurocentric communities and the success or failure of Black theaters compared to Eurocentric theaters. This disparity of representation of Black theater is a reflection of racial inequality in American culture. When identifying challenges in the Black community I found that systemic racism leads to economic inequality (African American household income in America consistently less than Eurocentric household incomes Figure 6 Figure 7, which ultimately leads to failing communities Figure 4. This same paradigm occurs in Black theater yet manifests slightly differently: Systemic racism leads to economic inequality (individual donor priorities shift to need base reasoning, audience participation from the community dissipates from, in part, lack of funding) which leads to failing communities (Black theaters struggle to earn income through ticket sales and/or programming as their primary constituent suffers). This thesis recommends that Black theaters return to community engagement rather than audience engagement. Engaging into the community, being an integral part of the the functionality of the community, not only can Black theater be able to develop a stable business model but in turn be a catalyst for the sustainability within the community. Recommendations include: (1) Changing the narrative to achieving stability versus success, (1a) Contributed income, mission and vision, and achieving a healthy longevity are how Black theaters can achieve sustainability, (1b) Black theater needs to be mobile, innovative, inclusive and civic minded in order to survive in today's techno-distracted society, (2) Choose "Community Engagement". The act of taking a group of people from the same place, purpose, goals or interests, and presenting material that reflects that place, purposes, goals or interests to maintain their attention and interest for a certain amount of time, (3) Civic Engagement using the resources readily available within the arts community designed specifically for the communities Black theater serves, ( i.e. creative placemaking) to further strengthen the organization and in turn the community it serves.

What are the unique obstacles Black theater experiences in the 21st century and how can they can create a symbiotic relationship with their communities for the potential sustainability of both?

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What are the unique obstacles Black theater experiences in the 21st century and how can they can create a symbiotic relationship with their communities for the potential sustainability of both?

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