Providence Black Repertory was founded in 1996 to offer theatre, education and other public programming inspired by the traditions of the African diaspora. It folded in 2009, at the height of a major recession.
Find records of the Penumbra Theatre Company of Minneapolis (now at the University of Minnesota) and other archival material pertaining to African American theatrical groups.
Finding aid for a collection documenting the life, work and artistic career of Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, the first African American graduate of RISD in 1918.
The RISD Museum holds three sculptures by Prophet, Discontent (1920s), Negro Head (before 1927), and Silence (1920s), each shown on this search of the Museum's collections.
Full text of 10 plays held in the Manuscripts, Music and Rare Books Divisions of the Library of Congress, as supplemented by archival material from other divisions of the Library
1850-present; when complete, Black Drama will contain the full text of 1,200 plays written from the mid-1800s to the present by more than 100 playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries. Many of the works are rare, hard-to-find, or out of print. Nearly a quarter of the collection will consist of previously unpublished plays by writers such as Langston Hughes, Ed Bullins, Willis Richardson, Femi Euba, Amiri Baraka, Randolph Edmonds, Zora Neale Hurston, and many others. [NOTE: Licensed resource, not available off-campus to non-Brown users]
1850-present; Black Drama, Second Edition contains approximately 1,462 plays from the mid-1800s to the-present by more than 200 playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries.
This used to be a robust, fully digital version of a Smithsonian exhibit. Sadly, images of the works displayed have now been removed. But you can still read the exhibit narrative and download a complete list of the works displayed.
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