After roamingnomadically for many seasons, Andre’ LeeEllis & Co. finally has a home. “It’s just like Downtown,” says AndreLee Ellis, the theater company’s namesake, proud to show visitors around theDr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center (1531 W. Vliet St.), a County Parksfacility with a 200-seat theater and space for rehearsals and offices. Ellis’own office is a crowded room that sometimes doubles as a day-care center forhis 2-year-old grandson. Since moving to the King Center in January, Andre’ LeeEllis & Co. might have the honor of being the only African-Americanperforming arts group in Wisconsin with a venue it can call its own.
No one can say Ellishasn’t paid his share of dues. He began performing as a 7-year-old soloist at Jericho Missionary Baptist Church and sang withR&B bands as a teenager. In 1983 he took the stage as an actor withHansberry-Sands, Milwaukee’slongest-running black theater company. “From there I never stopped working inthe theater,” he says.
But it wasn’t until hemoved to New Yorkin 1987 that the scales fell from his eyes. “I had no idea of the multitude ofAfrican-American artists in the city,” he explains. “In Milwaukee there are very few opportunitiesfor black artists. In New York,I met black artists taking acting classes, black artists on Broadway, blackartists founding their own companies or working with white or Hispaniccompanies.” Ellis moved on to Atlantawhere he gained additional experience with Jomandi Productions as telemarketingdirector and pitchman as well as an actor. “It was all grooming me for what Ido today,” he says.
Aside from three seasonswith a black theater in Phoenix,Ellis has been back in town since 1993, first as Hansberry-Sands’ artisticdirector and then with his own group. Andre’ Lee Ellis & Co. started out ofan office in the Milwaukee Enterprise Center “with just a phone on the floor”and debuted with a three-night run of Ellis’ own production, Sho’ Nuff Gospel Music, at Vogel Hall.“We were always scrambling to find a place to do shows and a place torehearse,” he recalls. “We had no stability. And the real problem was money.Funding sources didn’t know how to take us.”
With a place of his own,Ellis can focus less on logistical and financial headaches and more on hismission. “The true meaning of theater is to raise the consciousness of thepeople who view it and do it,” he says. “I used to think I needed to beDowntown, but I’m no longer interested in that. I’m interested in stimulatingthe economic and social life of my community and in doing work for people fromvarious walks of life. I’m hoping people will get a greater understanding ofblack history through our productions. When the lights go down, we’re all thesame color.”
Andre’ Lee Ellis &Co.’s season begins with an adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston’s Spunk, Sept. 24-Oct. 3, at the Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, 1531 W. Vliet St. A $50 gala seasonopener will be at the King Center on Sept. 23. Formore information, call (414) 544-6352.
