127th Street Repertory Ensemble

The 127th Street Repertory Ensemble was a theater group based in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City.

The ensemble was founded in 1973 by Ernie McClintock and his partner Ronald Walker.[1] It ran until 1986 and was considered a landmark Black theatre institution.[2] The ensemble was an extenstion of the Afro-American Studio for Acting and Speech,[3] a school based in Harlem founded in 1966 by McClintock and his collaborators.[4]

Their first production was Roscoe Lee Browne's A Hand Is on the Gate.[5] In 1982 the ensemble won six AUDELCO awards for their production of Equus. They also received a further 12 nominations for other productions that year.[6]

Programs included plays featuring diverse voices, such as those including Afro-Caribbean, women and LGBTQ themes, which were otherwise uncommon in the Black Arts Movement.[2] Half of the program was devoted to producing Contemporary Black Classics, while the other half was a mixture of family entertainment, street theatre, historical plays, or Afrocentric plays written by people from outside of the US.[1]

Members of the ensemble include Tupac Shakur,[7] Diana Rosebud Thompson,[8] Gwendolen Hardwick,[9] and Gregory Wallace.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b Cizmar, Elizabeth M. (2023). Ernie McClintock and the Jazz Actors Family: reviving the legacy. New York ; London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. pp. 81, 83. ISBN 978-1-032-03471-3.
  2. ^ a b Cizmar, Elizabeth M. (12 May 2021). "Subversive Inclusion: Ernie McClintock's 127th Street Repertory Ensemble". Segal Center CUNY. Retrieved 2026-01-27.
  3. ^ "Afro-American Studio offers total acting program". New York Amsterdam News. 11 Sep 1982. p. 40.
  4. ^ "Collection: Ernie McClintock papers | ArchivesSpace Public Interface". archives.lib.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2026-01-27.
  5. ^ "Theatre in Harlem". Encore American & Worldwide News. 4 (4): 26. 17 Feb 1975.
  6. ^ "127th St. Repertory Ensemble at Small's". New York Amsterdam News. 13 August 1983. p. 20.
  7. ^ Bourne, Kevin (2016-09-13). "TUPAC STILL INFLUENCING CULTURE 20 YEARS LATER". SHIFTER Magazine. Retrieved 2026-01-27.
  8. ^ Who's Who Of American Women 2007-2008. Internet Archive. Marquis Who's Who. 2006. ISBN 978-0-8379-0434-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. ^ Heresies Magazine Issue #17: Acting Up!: Women in Theater and Performance (Volume 5, Number 1). 1984.
  10. ^ "Gregory Wallace | Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies". tdps.yale.edu. Retrieved 2026-01-27.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.