Up You Mighty Race New Resident Theatre Company
At The Boston Center for the Arts
Public Celebration – August 22 at BCA’s Mills Gallery
Boston, MA – Up You Mighty Race Company will be recognized at a launch party and public celebration to welcome the company to its residency at The Boston Center for the Arts – the BCA’s first resident Black Theatre Company. The event will be held on Friday, August 22, 2008, 7:30 pm in the Mills Gallery of the BCA. It will also mark the 8th anniversary of Up You Mighty Race. The company’s primary focus is to present the works of playwrights from the African Diaspora as an educational tool for social awareness and change.
The evening will feature a sneak preview of the company’s upcoming production In the Continuum by Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter, featuring Ramona Lisa Alexander. The production opens on September 17, 2008 at the BCA’s Black Box Theatre, 539 Tremont Street.
Up You Mighty Race Producing Director Akiba Abaka stated that in a city that “prides itself on cultural diversity” it surprised her that there has not been a Black theatre “to take root at a Downtown Arts space.” She added “In Boston it seems that Mass Ave. is the great divide. On one side of Mass Avenue, there is the South End and then Downtown. On the other side of Mass Avenue, there is Roxbury, then Dorchester. The lines are very clearly drawn here…but what we’ve experienced at the BCA is that cultural diversity is welcome and encouraged and that audiences want good theatre and they are willing to go wherever it takes to find it.”
She added that “Being at the BCA is not just about exposure, it’s a good business move. It gives us a legitimate ground to stand on, being linked to a 38 year old institution that since its beginning has been committed to supporting working artists and connect the arts to community.”
Having seen success in bridging this “audience divide,” Up You Mighty Race looks forward to fully achieving its vision of being one of New England’s premiere Black theatres. “There is an endless cannon of Black literature,” said Ms Abaka. “We could produce one play a month for the next 100 years and not run out of something fresh, new and inspiring.”
The company has plans to expand its repertoire to include plays by black playwrights from all over the world. Ms Akiba noted, “If we are to truly call ourselves a ‘Black theatre’ then we have to be willing to see ourselves on a global platform. What is the experience of the Africans who were held captive and taken to South America, the Caribbean, and to Europe as slaves, and how does Africa respond? These are the questions we ask when approaching each season.”
Lisa Giuffre, Acting CEO of the BCA welcomed Up You Mighty Race as a Resident Theatre Company. “The quality and diversity of their work only strengthens the BCA’s Resident Theatre Company program and its standing as a performing arts destination in the city. We are proud to be able to offer the company a stable home and the support that they need to continue to build audiences and grow artistically.”
Up You Mighty Race
Up You Mighty Race is a Boston based theatre company dedicated to performing works by playwrights of the African Diaspora. Via the mediums of movement, theater, song, and poetry, Up You Mighty Race utilizes the arts as a catalyst for social awareness and change. By producing works that represent a positive image of people of African decent, Up You Mighty Race cultivates the development of emerging theatrical artists, serve as an educational outlet for youth in the theatrical arts, and provides access and exposure to the performance arts for members of the community. Up You Mighty Race is dedicated to presenting professional quality performances that exhibit integrity, reflects great thought, and honors our ancestors.
The Boston Center for the Arts
The Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) is the not-for-profit performing and visual arts complex that supports working artists to create, perform and exhibit new works, develops new audiences, and connects the arts to community. Visit www.bcaonline.org
posted 8.15.08
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