New Federal Theatre: A Brief History

The New Federal Theatre was founded in 1970 by Woodie King Jr., (1937–  ),  a producing director on the Lower East Side. From its inception to today, the Theatre is as an iconic performance space for many widely recognized African-American actors, directors, and playwrights. The Theatre's productions provide a multi-cultural experience for its audience whether it be classics, comedy, drama, monologues, or musicals.

The New Federal Theatre's name can be traced back to the Federal Theatre Project  (FTP) of the Great Depression. A division of the FTP was the Negro Units or Negro Theatre Project (NTP). Between the years of 1935 to 1939, the NTP operated theatres throughout the country. One of the NTP's standouts  was the New York Negro Unit  located at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem.  

The New Federal Theatre was initially funded by the Henry Street Settlement. The productions showcased many established and emerging African-American artists such as  Debbie Allen, Gloria Foster,  Morgan Freeman, Linda Hopkins, James Earl Jones, Sidney Poitier, Roxie Roker, Cicely Tyson, and Billy Dee Williams.   

Representative of the diversity of plays, playrights' works and directors associated with the New Federal Theatre include December 7th  by George Ratner and directed by Gordon Edelstein; For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide, When the Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange and directed by Oz Scott; Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill and directed by Geraldine Fitgerald; Paul Robeson by Phillip Hayes Dean and directed by Lloyd Richards; and A Soldier's Play by Charles Fuller and directed by Douglas Turner Ward. 

The titles of some productions would certainly catch the interest of any  theatregoer to stop by the theatre and find out what the play is about. A sampling of  these titles include Boogie Woogie and Booker T. by Wesley Brown; The Conjure Man Dies: A Mystery Tale of Dark Harlem by Rudolph Fisher;The Sovereign State of Boogedy Boogedy, and one of the longest titles for a production The Trial of One Short-Sighted Black Woman vs Mammy Louise and Safreeta Mae by Marcie L. Leslie. 

The New Federal Theatre continues their productions under the guidance of Woodie King, Jr. For additional information, visit their website.

Bert Andrews (1929–1993), shot many of the photographs over the decades. Andrews's attention to detail allowed him to capture the emotion of the play at the right moment as shown in the following pictures: 

This blog  post was inspired by New Federal Theatre photographs (Billy Rose Theatre Division, Library for the Performing Arts) and New Federal Theatre records (Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center).

Selected recommendations:

In the shadow of the great white way: images from the Black theatre, photographs by Bert Andrews; text by Paul Carter and Bert Andrews; introduction by Cicely Tyson. 

The natonal black drama anthology : eleven plays from America's leading African-American theatres / edited by Woodie King, Jr.

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