St. Louis Black Repertory Company

St. Louis, Missouri

Founded in 1976 by Producing Director Ron Himes, St. Louis Black Repertory Theatre (The Black Rep) is one of the largest, professional, African-American theater companies in the United States and the largest African-American performing arts organization in Missouri. Mr. Himes founded the company while a student at Washington University in St. Louis and the company began producing its own plays on college campuses. In 1992, the Black Rep moved into the newly renovated Grandel Theatre; today, The Black Rep produces quality professional dramas, comedies, and musicals primarily by African-American and third world playwrights. Each season, the company presents classic plays by legendary authors including August Wilson, Athol Fugard, and George C. Wolfe and presents classic works such as Becket's Waiting For Godot and Shakespeare's Macbeth from a unique and distinct perspective. In addition to the mainstage performances, the Black Rep's education and community programs reach more than 70,000 people each year. The programs bring grade-specific shows for to area schools and community centers, and school groups also attend special student matinees of mainstage shows where they can interact with the cast and crew of each production. The company offers classes and workshops in drama for children and adults and has an extensive professional development program for students and young professionals interested in learning about careers in theater.

The Black Rep is excited to bring the mastery of Shakespeare's Othello to the stage from an African-American perspective. The Black Rep is no stranger to providing St. Louis area schools the platform to engage in dialogue and encourage learning surrounding one of the greatest playwrights in literary history and is producing Othello because Mr. Himes feels that the themes and literature of Shakespeare are timeless and need to be shared with every generation. For the past several years, The Black Rep has presented works from Shakespeare on its mainstage and has implemented Shakespeare's writing as a core to its educational touring productions. In a recent season, The Black Rep presented Macbeth from a historic viewpoint representing the Sudanese landscape of West Africa. Since 2000, the company has received rave reviews for its interpretive work modernizing classics such as Romeo and Juliet for younger audiences from a clever hip-hop oriented angle. The Black Rep is confident that productions centered upon Shakespeare's Othello will reach new audiences and give new opportunities to students who would not have them otherwise. In conjunction with the mainstage production, The Black Rep will produce an adapted 40-minute production of Othello to be performed in St. Louis area schools.

http://www.theblackrep.org/