Andrew Lloyd Webber’s CATS takes on new sheen as middleschool thespians perform challenging work in Kirkwood, Missouri—story by Tayé Foster Bradshaw

I first encountered the word of the talented and entertaining Antona Smith (writing under the name Tayé Foster Bradshaw) at the St. Louis Writers Guild Wired Coffee Open Mic. When Antona told me about her youngest son and middle child Joshua’s choir performances, I asked her to share this work with you. Check out Antona’s…

St. Louis Black Rep’s “Othello”: Passionate performance meets passionate audience

There is no curtain on the starkly evocative stage. We begin. After the first few minutes, our ears tune to the language of long-ago times, and we, the audience, drop into another world…a world parallel to the one Shakespeare created in his text, and at the same time, a world entirely on-center with the one…

Black Rep “Othello” director Chris Anthony explores connections, connotations, revelations in conversation with each other

At the bottom of this post you’ll see several links leading you to responses to the St. Louis Black Reperatory Company’s production of “Othello.” Some I feel are reactionary and some responsive. But, here, speaking directly for herself from the “Othello” program notes is Chris Anthony. —JGR From Chris Anthony’s letter in the “Othello” prograM…

St. Louis Black Repertory Company’s 31st Season—“Season of the Storyteller”—currently featuring an innovative re-visioning of “Othello”

Put on your party shoes and tap dance down to the Grandel Theatre (a renovated church of magnificent proportion and features) in the heart of the Grand Center to experience some of the best nights in the theater, at the best value, you’ll ever have.

Katherine Dunham: “Something creative has to go on.” Even cactus gardens in Mexico.

A creative person has to create. It doesn’t really matter what you create. If such a dancer wanted to go out and build the cactus gardens where he could, in Mexico, let him do that, but something that is creative has to go on. —Katherine Dunham…click here to read her bio in the Black Collegian.

Ron Himes, director & founder of St. Louis’ Black Repertory Company, at Missouri History Museum’s African-American History Series—continues exploration of need for support & recognition of African-American Cultural Institutions in this, one of America’s great black cities

What is the future of African American Arts in St. Louis? “One of the strongest purveyors of African American culture is African American theater. It’s a place where we can strongly control the images portrayed,” said Himes. Ron Himes, director & founder, St. Louis Black Repertory Company, which makes its home at the Grandell Theater…

Kerouac’s “On the Road” turns 50 and much ado is made about something at the Loud Mouth open mic held at The Mac in South St. Louis

I love open mics that celebrate literature more than the funny little egos who produce it. The Loud Mouth open mic at The Mac in South St. Louis last night sponsored by the St. Louis Writers Guild was of the first sort as we gathered to celebrate Kerouac’s “On the Road” as it turns 50…living…