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The Arena Players, Inc.: the Oldest Continuously Operating African American Community Theatre in the United States

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The Arena Players, Inc.: the Oldest Continuously Operating African American Community Theatre in the United States Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 3-30-2021 The Arena Players, Inc.: The Oldest Continuously Operating African American Community Theatre in the United States Alexis Michelle Skinner Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the African American Studies Commons, Cultural History Commons, Leadership Studies Commons, Oral History Commons, Other Theatre and Performance Studies Commons, Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration Commons, Social Justice Commons, and the Theatre History Commons Recommended Citation Skinner, Alexis Michelle, "The Arena Players, Inc.: The Oldest Continuously Operating African American Community Theatre in the United States" (2021). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 5521. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/5521 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. THE ARENA PLAYERS, INC.: THE OLDEST CONTINUOUSLY OPERATING AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY THEATRE IN THE UNITED STATES A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The School of Theatre by Alexis Michelle Skinner B.A., Temple University, 2002 M.A., Goldsmiths, University of London, 2005\ May 2021 © 2021 Alexis Michelle Skinner ii these pages are for my parents. Laura Anne Gibbs Skinner (12/13/1946-6/21/2020) & Michael William Skinner (11/4/1941-11/7/2013), & our ancestors that came before and beside us, known and unknown. Asé! iii Acknowledgements Much gratitude goes to my collaborators who shared their experiences with me as well as the potential collaborators who patiently waited. I appreciate my advisor and committee for their patience and encouragement these past years since we began this journey. But there are not enough pages to thank all those who believed in me along my journey as a creative ever since I was just wee idea. Many thanks! iv Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………………………......iv NOMENCLATURE…………………………………………………………….……………....vii ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………….……………..…....ix INTRODUCTION…………………………..…….……………………………………………....1 ARGUMENT ………………………………………………………………………..........2 SCHOLARSHIP…………………………………..………………………………….…...5 LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………..…………………………..…9 METHODOLOGY…………………………………..…………………………………..20 ARENA PLAYERS’ COLLABORATORS…………………………………..…………28 CHAPTERS…………………………………..………………………………………….29 CHAPTER 1. BLACK THEATRE IN BLACK COMMUNITIES……………………………...36 150+ YEARS OF BLACK THEATRE IN AMERICA…………………………..……...40 1900S…………………………………..……………………………………………...…43 1910S…………………………………..………………………………………………...46 1920S…………………………………..………………………………………………...52 1930S…………………………………..………………………………………………...62 1940S…………………………………..………………………………………………...68 1950S…………………………………..………………………………………………...72 BLACK COMMUNITY THEATRE…………………………………..………………...76 CHAPTER 2. BALTIMORE’S BLACK COMMUNITY THEATRE………………………….78 BLACK BALTIMORE HISTORY………….…………………………………..………79 AFRICAN AMERICAN SOCIAL CAPITAL…………………………………..………84 AFRICAN AMERICAN NETWORKS…………………………………..……………..89 BALTIMORE GEOGRAPHY IN BLACK AND WHITE……………………………...95 EARLY BALTIMORE THEATRE…………………………………..…………….…..106 COMMUNITY THEATRE IN BALTIMORE…………………………………...…….108 ARENA PLAYERS, INC.’S BEGINNINGS…………………………………..………111 ORAL HISTORY OF THE ARENA PLAYERS………………………………………112 CHAPTER 3. EDUCATING THE BLACK COMMUNITY………………………………….126 DRAMATURGY…………………………………..……………………………….…..128 STUDIO 801…………………………………..………………………………………..130 YOUTH THEATRE…………………………………..………………………………..132 ARENA PLAYERS ALUMNI IN THE ARTS WORLD……………………………...153 CHAPTER 4. BLACK LEADERSHIP AT THE PLAYHOUSE……………………………..156 ARENA PLAYERS, INC. OPERATIONS…………………………………..………...159 LOSING LEADERS…………………………………..…………………………….….166 PERSEVERANCE…………………………………..……………………………….…172 BLACK WOMEN WORKING…………………………………..…………………….176 v PASSING THE TORCH…………………………………..…………………………...179 NEW BLOOD…………………………………..………………………………………181 WORKING IN THE WINGS……..………………..…………………………………..184 CHAPTER 5. SURVIVAL NETWORKS…………………………………………………….186 CURRENT CONCERNS ………………………..………………………………….…189 CONTINUITY……………………………………………………………………...…..193 APPENDIX A. ARENA PLAYERS COLLABORATORS..……………………………...…...203 APPENDIX B. NOTES ON TRANSCRIPTION…………………………………..…………..208 APPENDIX C. RELEASE FORM FOR ACADEMIC WORK………………………………..210 APPENDIX D. MAPS………………………………………...………………………………..211 APPENDIX E. PRODUCTIONS………………………………………………………………214 APPENDIX F. IRB LETTER…..………………………………………………………………224 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………………225 VITA……………………………………………………………………………………………242 vi Nomenclature AETA - American Educational Theatre Association AME – African Methodist Episcopal ANT- American Negro Theatre API- Arena Players, Inc. ASALH- Association for the Study of African American Life BCT- Black Community Theatre BNHP – Baltimore Neighborhood Heritage Project BROS- Baltimore Rock Opera Society BTC- Black Theatre Catalyst CSO/I- Culturally Specific Organization/Institution DEI- Diversity, Equity, Inclusion ETC- Experimental Theatre Company FTP- Federal Theatre Project HBCU- Historically Black Colleges and Universities KRIGWA- Crisis Guild of Writers and Artists LORT- League of Residential Theatres LT- Little Theatre MSAC- Maryland State Arts Council NA- Narcotics Anonymous NAACP- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NADSA- National Association of Dramatic and Speech Arts NEA- National Endowment for the Arts NLT- Negro Little Theatre NIDA- Negro Intercollegiate Dramatic Association PWI- Primarily White Institution RFP- Request for Proposal vii SADSA- Southern Association of Dramatic and Speech Arts STEM- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics US- United States VA- Department of Veterans Affairs WPA- Works Progress Administration WW II- World War Two viii Abstract Hay (1994) gave the Arena Players the moniker, “the oldest continuously operating African American community theatre company” in the U.S. But, if Black Theatre is increasingly found in mainstream venues in regional theatre and Broadway while Black Drama is relegated to syllabi, where is the living practice of African American, or black, community theatre? And what guarantees its survival? Craig (1980) and Fraden (1994) give voice to black critics, like Locke (1925), in co-creating objectives for black theatre during the FTP which took stage as the Negro Little Theatre continued. Hill & Hatch (2003) solidify the geographical and ideological connections between the black community theatre movement and Educational theatre with its professors at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Essays in Young (2013) widen the scope of black theatre history. But it is Du Bois’ (1926) Krigwa manifesto that declared black theatre must be about, by, for, and near African American audiences. Black community theatre expanded ideas of African American performative practice valuing the psychosocial well-being of black audiences while training novice practitioners. BCT fights against the U.S. mainstream practices that, sustained by a white folk culture, shut black people out from human and civil rights. In this Critical autoethnography, I establish a historical context for the self-determinative practices of black community theatre supplemented by oral histories from members of the Arena Players in Baltimore City, Maryland, founded in 1953. My Baltimore City roots provide me insider-outsider access to comment on the innerworkings of a company beset by loss and obsessed with survival. Refocusing on the culturally-specific practice of black community theatre also reassesses the U.S. theatre’s concentration on creating a hierarchy of theatre genres. Notably, for black theatre practitioners, this would mean claiming self-determination and community connectivity as their condition for creativity. ix Introduction Theatre, being one of the earliest forms of media, is oft considered the realm of the elite, and theatre companies led by white people are the mainstream, traditional, and historical face of American theatre. Dorothy Chansky (2004) writes that mainstream theatre “implies ‘legitimate’ theatre…[which] is accepted as universally American both in cultural histories and ‘in the ambient culture generally’” (Chasky 2004, 14). That which is mainstream, according to Chansky (2004), stems from the ideas, images, and values of the professional white middle class. Ignoring ideations of legitimacy in white markets, black theatre created its own acceptance, beyond the white gaze that cataloged African American theatre ventures and performances of blackness as “lesser.” This negative Othering derives from the indelible legacies of America’s racial project that created a binary hierarchy of representation based on skin color valuing European origins over the cosmologies, traditions, and humanity of descendants from the African diaspora (Omi & Winant 2015). While white criticism of black theatre often extends to critiques of audience behavior it encroaches upon African American generated theatre convention by presuming the white gaze is wanted or valid. This superficial evaluative perspective inflicts African American patrons with paternalistic
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