What's Inside
2014 - 2024
THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON 2014 - 2024
Celebrate 10 years of Black Arts MKE's excellence in performing arts through our mission to increase the availability and accessibility to high quality African American arts and culture. We hope you will join us and support our events. Come lift us up! Your support helps ensure culturally-relevant programming is accessible at no cost admission to events for youth and low-cost admission for our community.
SAVE THE DATE: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2024 - BLACK ARTS MKE 10TH ANNIVERSARY GALA FUNDRAISER | SPONSORSHIPS AVAILABLE
Be Inspired, Educated, And Uplifted at our 2024 Inaugural Gala Fundraiser - Details coming soon!
Our 2024 10th Anniversary Season is generously supported by: Bader Philanthropies, Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Herzfeld Foundation, Johnson Controls Foundation
July 2024
I AM. YOUNG, GIFTED, AND BLACK SUMMER CAMP
Culminating Performance: Friday, July 26, 2024, 2:00pm, MYAC 325 W. Walnut, 53212
Our performing arts camp infuses cultural aspects of African and African American history led by MKE-based professional artists. This year's theme - I AM. Young, Gifted, And Black, focuses on the music and literary giants Nina Simone, and Lorraine Hansberry respectively.
Camp staff and special guest teaching artists will guide youth-led activities in learning hands on many aspects of musical theater including spoken word/creative writing, art (costume & set design), choreography, and music.
Day of Kuumba culminating staged performance for youth families and friends will be held at 2:00pm, Milwaukee Youth Center, 325 W. Walnut Street, Milwaukee, WI 53212 -- Community invited to attend!
Thank you to our generous I AM. Camp Program Sponsors and Supporters:
Bader Philanthropies, Francie L. Silverman, Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Harri Hoffman Family Foundation, Herzfeld Foundation, Kohl's Hometown Giving Grant, Steigleder Charitable Trust.
August 2024
BLACK ARTS MKE PRESENT ITS THIRD ANNUAL 2024 MKE BLACK THEATRE FESTIVAL
Black Arts MKE is proud to again present its MKE Black Theatre Festival 2024, returning to community venues across the city from August 8-25. The three-week-long celebration of Black arts and culture features ticketed and free events including three full-productions, staged reading, audition masterclass, auditions (staged reading & Black Nativity), Poetry Set with The Jasmine Sims & more!
Our 10th Anniversary Season of MKE Black Theatre Festival is generously supported by:
Featuring These Theatrical Productions
FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF BY NTOZAKE SHANGE
DIRECTED BY LINETTA ALEXANDER
Linetta is a creative who uses her words to change atmospheres, shape minds, and shut down ignorance in every form. As an educator and director, her entire purpose is to draw out raw and refined talent to
create the most authentic experiences for audiences. During the pandemic she has developed an African American Immersion
Curriculum, facilitated trainings on the Beloved Community and decentering whiteness, wrote a children’s book about Ella Baker, started and is half way through writing her first fiction novel
about an empathic sapiosexual, started the U.N. (Ujamaa & Nia) Challenge to motivate and encourage African American women entrepreneurs by gifting them with cashapp bombs in weekly drawings (she supported a little over 50 businesses at the start of the
pandemic), adapted “The End of Hope” to a public service announcement to remind folks that domestic violence is on the rise during the pandemic, started a summer program and tutoring
business; Rebirth Ink 1:1 Tutoring and Rebirth Ink Saturday School, made several liters of her immunity boosting stay away covid tea for sick neighbors and family members, accepted her purpose as an Oracle, perfected using her singing bowl, established an ancestral altar, stay giving her money to Black businesses, and tries every day to
be the dopest mom she can be to Zora Davis in this incarnation.
THE REALNESS BY IDRIS GOODWIN
DIRECTED BY DENZEL TAYLOR
Denzel Taylor is an alum of the University of Wisconsin - Madison and the First Wave - Hip Hop and Urban Arts scholarship program. In February of 2020, Denzel further completed an Education residency with Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s Emerging Professional Residency program. Since graduating from college in 2018, Denzel expanded his theater credits with companies including Children’s Theater of Madison, Skylight Music Theater, and Black Arts MKE. In 2022, he briefly returned to the First Wave program as a performance and collaboration instructor and in the following year, made his director’s debut at TBEY. Arts Center for the company’s spring production of Rap-Punzel. Later, in August of the same year, Denzel directed his second production, The Meeting, for the 2023 Milwaukee Black Theater Festival. Continuing his career, Denzel made his First Stage Children's Theater debut as “Donald D.” in the world premier of Dream, Quickie! Dream! and returned to Black Arts MKE. for his third appearance in the annual production Black Nativity. Continuing further, Denzel launched his new company Nobleman Theater Troupe, making their 2024 debut with a second run of The Meeting at Madison Area Technical College. Grateful for an ongoing and endearing relationship with Black Arts MKE. Denzel directs Idris Goodwin’s The Realness for the 2024 Milwaukee Black Theater Festival.
STORIES ABOUT THE OLD DAYS BY BILL HARRIS
DIRECTED BY NIC STARR & SHERI WILLIAMS PANNELL
Sheri Williams Pannell is a native Milwaukeean who has performed, directed, or written for a number of Milwaukee’s theater and arts organizations including Bronzeville Arts Ensemble, First Stage, Florentine Opera, Milwaukee Chamber Theater, Milwaukee Fringe Festival, Milwaukee Rep, Milwaukee Symphony, Milwaukee Art Museum, and Skylight Music Theatre. Beyond Milwaukee, Pannell has worked at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Utah’s Old Lyric Theatre, Children’s Theater of Madison, University Opera and University Theater at UW Madison. Pannell was selected to direct a production as part of the United Nations Conference on Genocide, hosted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2017, Pannell was honored as an Artist of the Year by the City of Milwaukee. In 2020, Pannell wrote the libretto and directed the Florentine Opera School Tour of BRONZEVILLE BOHÉME. A founding member and artistic director at Bronzeville Arts Ensemble, Pannell is also a senior artistic associate at Black Arts MKE, and co-director of the drama ministry at Calvary Baptist Church. Pannell is a co-founder of the Milwaukee Black Theatre Festival. Pannell is an assistant professor and area head for the Musical Theatre Program at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, College of the Arts and Architecture. A graduate of Spelman College, Pannell also holds an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
IN THE BLOOD BY SUZAN-LORI PARKS (Staged Reading)
PAY WHAT YOU CAN (AT THE DOOR) FOR IN THE BLOOD STAGED READING
DIRECTED BY LORI A. WOODALL
Lori is beyond thrilled to debut with Black Arts MKE at the Festival! She has worked as a professional Theatre artist for over 30+ years, having begun her professional career as a youth in Milwaukee, WI, first beginning with The Rep’s “A Christmas Carol” when she was a child. In the Theatre, she has been an award-winning actor, singer/dancer, director, choreographer, writer and producer, having lived and worked in WI, Los Angeles and abroad. Additionally, she is a TV/Film actress, having appeared in over 50 regional, national, and local commercials/industrials, and has had a prolific career in radio voice over. She has been represented by Howard Talent West (Los Angeles), Shirley Hamilton, Inc. and Ford Models and Talent (Chicago), and Jennifer’s Talent and Ford Models and Talent in Milwaukee. She holds an MFA in Acting from The California Institute of the Arts (Los Angeles) where she worked under notable figures such as Suzan-Lori Parks, Fran Bennett, Joan MacIntosh, Travis Preston and Denise Woods, and a BA in Theatre (Acting Specialist) and African-American Studies from UW-Madison. One of her favorite theatrical career highlights was portraying Broadway’s Kirsten Childs in Childs’ Off-Broadway musical, “The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin”, where she played the title role in the West Coast premiere.
Lori has taught Theatre at Concordia University since 2006, has led the program since 2013, and has directed and produced over 30 plays including favorites Death of a Salesman, Singin’ in the Rain, Pride and Prejudice, Steel Magnolias, Guys and Dolls, The Women of Lockerbie, A Raisin in the Sun, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, Godspell, The Great Gatsby, and Hairspray. Prior to teaching at CUW, she had taught at the California Institute of the Arts, California Arts Institute, First Stage Milwaukee, and Performing Arts Workshops Los Angeles, to name a few. She has been dedicated to teaching youth, college, and adults in the Theatre Arts and Film/TV acting, as well as serving in various drama ministries and doing private acting coaching and on-set coaching/consulting. This summer, she is directing Acacia Theatre’s The Agitators, a play that combines her passion for Theatre and African-American history, and she is excited to return to Suzan-Lori’s In The Blood with Black Arts MKE, where she played Hester at the Walt Disney Modular Theatre. In her spare time, she enjoys time her husband and two children, writing, singing, traveling, and general creating!
DECEMBER 2024
BLACK NATIVITY BY LANGSTON HUGHES 2024
CELEBRATING OUR 10TH ANNIVERSARY & GALA
Black Nativity by Langston Hughes returns for its 9th Annual Holiday Musical Production, December 5-8, 2024, at the Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall, Marcus Center. Hughes’ joyous holiday musical is a testament to his timeless work, telling the story of the Nativity through a combination of scripture, poetry, dance and song from the African-American perspective.
Each year, Black Arts MKE showcases MKE-based professionals and emerging theater talent. We provide new opportunities for next-gen artists to display their artistic skills and work alongside the Marcus Center’s seasoned backstage professionals.
Black Nativity by Langston Hughes is led by Artistic Director Wanyah L. Frazier and features a new familial take on Hughes’ song play by emerging artist and first year Black Nativity Director Ashley S. Jordan. Choreography is led by international professional dancer and teaching artist Debrasha Greye, along with returning veteran Music Director Antoine Reynolds.
Black Arts MKE 10th Anniversary Season is generously supported by Bader Philanthropies, Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Herzfeld Foundation, and Johnson Controls Foundation
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Wanyah L. Frazier
“Creatively Black Nativity will take audiences on a heartwarming journey of familial love, faith, and the creation of new family traditions and norms. Audiences will be inspired by relatable, but current family stories, a home reminiscent of Christmas, and entranced by a dreamlike vision of Bethlehem. Black Nativity represents a reclamation of the Black narrative and a staple of the Black creative culture. As we move into a period of ‘Renaissance’ in Milwaukee’s creative environment, we have the opportunity to create a rendition of Black Nativity that provides an intergenerational, culturally expansive and professional arts experience.”
Creative Producer, Dancer and Photographer, Wanyah “Leon” Frazier is a Milwaukee Born, Jamaican - American Artist & Entrepreneur dedicated to the expansion of Arts Equity. As a Performer, CEO of WoLF Studios MKE, Artistic Consultant and avid Arts Educator, he has explored the professional Arts world from all sides.
With organizations such as The Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Black Arts MKE, NeWaukee, MARN ART + CULTURE HUB, Joy Engine and Danceworks in his creative portfolio, he endeavors to build a new Ecosystem for Artists of Color to live and thrive.
STAGE DIRECTOR
Ashley S. Jordan
“As a new director, I want to introduce multiple artistic influences throughout the world of today with Black traditions and iconic moments throughout the history of Black Nativity performances. Black Nativity 2023 shifts in dynamic energy, relevance and also a dichotomy of righteousness, redemption, and oral tradition. Black Nativity is an anchor in the community and to those who experience cultural variations of the African, and African American diaspora.”
Ashley values the work and ongoing tradition Black Arts MKE is building and continuing to set the tone for creative greatness, educational growth in our schools through the arts and more. She served as a Lead In-House Program Coordinator at PEARLS for Teen Girls. She had the joy of being a Lead Teaching Artist, Recruitment Coordinate, and Community Engagement Associate for Milwaukee Repertory Theater for the August Wilson Monologue Competition now known as Next Narrative Monologue Competition. She considers herself an advocate for equality and justice working with Leaders Igniting Transformation and African American Roundtable. She was Co-founder of Lights! Camera! Soul! While bridging the gap with the theater community at Alverno College and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Ashley holds an Associate Degree from Milwaukee Area Technical College in Marketing Management, B.A. in Leadership and M.B.A. from Alverno College. She is a proud alum and owes all of her gratitude to the fine women and aunts in her life. She continues to create and promote theater to bring a powerful change and impactful conversations to the MKE community.
BLACK NATIVITY BY LANGSTON HUGHES Musical performance schedule featuring post-show talkback (inclusive run time 2H):
Thursday, December 5, 2024, 7:30PM (Student Matinee 11:00AM)
Friday, December 6, 2024, 7:30PM 10TH ANNIVERSARY GALA
Saturday, December 7, 2024, 2:00PM & 7:30PM
Sunday, December 8, 2024, 2:00PM & 7:30PM