For 30 years, Penumbra has provided a consistently clear message that the African American experience is rich, dynamic and critical to the American theater canon. We are one of few surviving theatres that began during the Black Arts Movement. Today Penumbra is nationally and internationally recognized. It is with both pride and humility that we celebrate our thirtieth anniversary, with so few of our comrades by our side.

Larry Neal articulated one of the most important tenets of The Black Arts Movement when he wrote that your ethics and your aesthetics must be one.  Out of this comes mission driven art, art for social change, art that is critical, forceful and demands response. This kind of art creates and sustains community. It was a controversial time when we began in 1976. The time is no less controversial now, yet it concerns me that the community’s sense of collectivity is less clear; its fervor quieted. We cannot be misled or seduced by efforts, noble as they may be, to impersonate, distill or pacify this kind of work. It is only at a place like Penumbra, a theatre housed within the African American community, that the work can be both critical and celebratory, marking milestones of our growth, our survival and our history.

The Black Arts Movement was more than an artistic renaissance. It was the theoretical and expressionistic sibling to a call for action in the 1960s, during the Black Power Movement. In the wake of brutal rejoinders to the advances made by the Civil Rights Movement, our artists and scholars began to describe a new sense of self, a new cultural awareness: something nationalistic. Central to this was the conviction of survival.  We marveled at the barrage of attempts to suppress our spirit, to keep us from finding human connection with other oppressed peoples. We marveled at our gall to get up, to press on and to flourish. The Black Arts Movement was critical but also celebratory. It is with that in mind that I selected this season for the anniversary of our thirtieth year in production. This year we celebrate not only our birthday, but the accomplishments of those artists who came before and along with us. We celebrate with song, with music, with laughter and always with a sincere plea for continued participation in the fight for true and lasting change.

Lou Bellamy
Founder and Artistic Director