The African Grove Theatres,Then and Now: Performance as Activism

Abstract

This essay examines performance as activism in the early nineteenth-century African Grove Theatre in New York (1821–1824) in juxtaposition to productions in two contemporary theatres: the newly founded African Grove Theatre in New York, and the New African Grove Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. The original African Grove Theatre challenged slavery and racism, and asserted Black equality, through adaptations of William Moncrief's Life in London; or Tom and Jerry; John Fawcett's Obi; or Three Finger'd Jack; William Brown's King Shotaway, and Shakespeare's Richard III. The new African Grove Theatre in New York proudly honoured this history with their 2023 production of Carlyle Brown's The African Company Presents Richard III. Between 2009 and 2018, New African Grove Theatre in Atlanta staged all of August Wilson's plays, beginning with Gem of the Ocean. These productions, then and now, use theatre as a forum to protest, call for equality, and celebrate black culture and community.