Image courtesy Critical Race Theatre Project
Recently formed Black theater collective Critical Race Theatre Project is debuting its inaugural Richmond Black Theatre Festival at Richmond Triangle Players’ Robert B. Moss Theatre Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 3-4. The festival features three plays and a dance performance, all which center around Black experiences. Locals Sharalyn Garrard, Toney Cobb and dl Hopkins, each of whom have experience in the theater industry, are the founders behind CRTP.
Garrard has performed on several stages around the Richmond area and served as artistic director of the former Heritage Ensemble Theatre Company and co-director of the former theater company The Conciliation Lab. She says the idea for CRTP, and its name, was derived from her disapproval of the ousting of critical race theory education and Black history at some public schools across the nation.
“I felt like we were being erased, so I said we need to make sure we tell our stories ourselves, because other people, either they’re not going to tell them or they’re not going to tell them correctly,” Garrard says. “I wanted to start a theater ‘something’ where Black artists could come and tell our stories the truthful way, and I named it Critical Race Theatre, CRT, just to mess with the people who were mad about critical race theory.”
Without a permanent home for the collective, she says, it was Cobb’s idea to create an annual Black theater festival as opposed to a season of performances. “He said, ‘What if we do a theater festival instead of a theater company trying to put on plays?’ because we’ve had like three [Black] theater companies in the ’90s and the 2000s, and none of them have lasted more than like 10 years because it has been hard, and I think I’ve been a part of all of them,” Garrard says. “We never had our own home. We always said we felt like a vagabond, and going around to different theaters, it’s hard to get an audience to follow you around like that. We never had the real funding that other theaters have.”
The goal of this weekend’s festival is to provide an outlet for Black artists and creators. “It’s really been hard for Black theater in Richmond,” Garrard says. “So, we decided to do this theater festival where Black creatives can get their work seen and from there hopefully produce [works for larger theater festivals].”
Among the plays featured at this weekend’s festival is “Coming Out,” written by Ameesha Burns. It tells the story of a young Black girl who struggles with the potentially life-altering conundrum of whether to come out to her mother or to keep her true self hidden away.
“All Boys Wear Blue” is a hip-hop musical written and performed by House of Cards VA production company co-founder Joshua “Dai Dream” Harris. It’s his semiautobiographical story, which follows a teenage boy from Richmond’s South Side who searches for love and respect while navigating the dangers presented by rival crews. Harris’ brother, Justin “Flash” Harris, produced original music for the production.
Playwright and host of the food and arts podcast “Beyond the Plate RVA” Rebekah Pierce presents the play “Bell Blu.” Set during the 1960s and ’70s, the work asks the question, “Does a woman need to marry a man so he will provide for her?”
Writer and choreographer Julinda D. Lewis (a contributing writer for Richmond magazine) will present a dance performance titled “The Waters of Babylon or Psalm 137 Revisited.” It’s a visual representation of the way water can trigger memories, noting slave ships, baptism and swimming, and the power of water both in its destructive nature and as a necessity for life.
The same performances will be presented each night of the festival, and admission is free, but registration is required, and donations are welcome.
Though this is the first festival of its kind, Garrard says the plan is to continue to grow the event and host it annually, and there may be pop-up performances and special programming presented throughout the year from the budding CRTP collective.
She would also like to grow CRTP to be able to support producers and playwrights who are trying to get their works published and eventually be able to get to the point where a Black cultural center could be established that includes permanent rehearsal and performance spaces. She says the goal with CRTP is, ultimately, “to tell Black stories truthfully.”
The Richmond Black Theatre Festival is Aug. 3-4 at Richmond Triangle Players’ Robert B. Moss Theatre. Admission is free with registration required.
