Recent PRODUCTIONS
Now That’s Entertaining
ANNE & EMMETT
March 17-26, 2023
The one-act play opens with the two teenagers meeting in Memory, a place that isolates them from the cruelty they experienced during their lives. Anne Frank and Emmett Till, both victims of racial intolerance and hatred, connect in an imaginary beyond-the-grave encounter, drawing startling similarities between their harrowing experiences at the hands of societies that couldn't protect them.
VOTE CHRONICLES II:
Stories from the Old Eight Ward
February 3-12, 2023
Voices of the Eighth Chronicles II: Stories from Harrisburg’s old Eighth Ward is an original collage of storytelling by Sharia Benn that fuses imagery, movement, sound, and music to uplift the work of chain-breakers and change-makers from Harrisburg’s demolished Eighth Ward. This original work pays homage to the resilient spirit of the nineteenth and twentieth-century African American liberators, educators, orators, and writers who fought to build a community of freedom and belonging. Meet these vibrant personalities as seen through the eyes of the Sankofa bird who reminds us that to ensure a strong future, we must first understand the past.
Voices of the Eighth Chronicles II is a Winter Partnership Production of Sankofa African American Theatre Company and Gamut Theatre.
BLACK NATIVITY by LANGSTON HUGHES
December 9-11, 2022
Directed by Sharia Benn
Music Arranged by Aaron Robinson
Music Directed by Cheryl Hawkins
Choreography by Reg Haywood
Langston Hughes’ BLACK NATIVITY a retelling of Christianity’s Nativity Story set to jubilant gospel music incorporates dialog, folk spirituals, traditional carols, dramatic dance, and Biblical narrative. The Christmas story expresses African American spirituality and the oral traditions of the African American church.