NEW YORK — Harlem’s historic National Black Theatre (NBT) is hosting an annual salute to its founder and CEO emerita, the late Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, with NBT’s Founder’s Month, a month-long celebration of Teer, Black theater and community.
Running through July 18, the celebration will feature the launch of NBT@Home: A Letter to the Future, a new series of online conversations on theater, current events and Black history with guests including Toshi Reagon, Ebony Noelle Golden, adrienne maree brown, Jonathan McCrory, Sade Lythcott, members of the theater’s original company of “Liberators,” and more, and the launch of NBT’s VISION Forward Fund Campaign, a fundraising drive to support and advance the theater well into the future.
The series begins on Thursday with “Liberation of a People: The Ritual of Resilience,” featuring some of Dr. Teer’s contemporaries and original NBT liberators, Ayodele Moore and Adé Faison, in conversation with Ebony Noelle Golden, dancer, choreographer, and creator of 125th & FREEdom dance program together with members of the company.
“Dr. Teer was a trailblazer and revolutionary thinker who believed that building spaces steeped in the healing and liberation of our people was just as important as the dismantling of oppressive systems limiting Black people’s ability to thrive, said NBT CEO Sade Lythcott.
The series closes out on July 16 with “The Download,” a discussion featuring the creative leadership team of NBT — Sade Lythcott, CEO and daughter of Dr. Teer; Jonathan McCrory, artistic director; and Nia Farrell, interactive social media manager — in conversation on the future of NBT, its impending move, its role in the Harlem arts community and more.
