Image via Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
Based on the success of 2020’s virtual event, the second annual Milwaukee Black Theater Festival will go live for the first time this summer at the Broadway Theater Center. Embracing the theme “The Strength and Resilience of the Black Woman,” the two-week event will run Aug. 12-22, featuring two fully staged productions and a variety of ancillary support activities designed for all Milwaukee community members.
“Though not our first year, this is the first festival of its type in Wisconsin and in the Midwest,” says Malkia Stampley, the festival’s artistic producer. “A lot of theater patrons have not been together since the pandemic, so we’re excited to help usher in the new season.”
Last year’s virtual event followed on the heels of the murder of George Floyd and its aftermath, with Stampley, actor/director Dimonte Henning and Milwaukee Chamber Theatre artistic director Brent Hazelton sitting on the steps of the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center wondering how to vent their anger. “Our activism was to amplify the Black voice to do what we do best,” Stampley says. “That’s when the Black Theater Festival was given birth.”
This year Stampley estimates that about 40 people will be involved in bringing the plays and other events to life. Two distinct productions will run in repertoire throughout the festival:
• Lights! Cameras! Soul! will produce Charlayne Woodard’s Pretty Fire, which uses storytelling traditions from the African diaspora to chart a young girl’s journey to selfhood through strength and dignity. Henning directs Camara Stampley in the lead role.
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• Bronzeville Arts Ensemble takes on a workshop production of Black Butterflies, written and performed by La’Ketta Caldwell, Cynthia Cobb and Shari Williams Pannell, who also directs the production that features Jada Davis. Three dynamic local artists use humorous and poignant storytelling to explore what it’s like to be a Black woman in Milwaukee and beyond.
The festival also will feature special readings, talkbacks, an open mic night and a youth festival. Stampley stresses that the festival represents some but by no means all of the theater and performance activity going on in Milwaukee’s Black community. What’s more, the festival is open and inviting to all community members, she says.
“Theater traditionally has been for older white patrons, and we’re trying to shift that model,” Stampley says. “We still welcome those patrons, but we’d like to create a Milwaukee theater community that is welcoming and inclusive for everyone.
“We’re focusing on presenting the Black voice, but we have all kinds of people involved in the festival,” she adds. “It’s not just for one group, and I hope our audiences can celebrate that.”
Tickets will go on sale in July. For more information, contact Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, 158 N. Broadway in the Broadway Theatre Center. Visit the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre website.
