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On the heels of being announced as a co-producer for the new musical\u00a0Imitation of Life\u00a0by Lynn Nottage, Liesl Tommy and EGOT winner John Legend.<\/p>\n
Harlem\u2019s<\/a> National Black Theatre\u00a0has announced cast and ticket availability for the public presentation of playwright\u00a0Brian Egland\u2019s\u00a0The Festival in Da Back,\u00a0directed by\u00a0Nic Ashe\u00a0(Queen Sugar,\u00a0The Lion King,\u00a0Choir Boy). Brian, a Louisiana native, was part of the 2022 cohort of NBT\u2019s\u00a0I Am SOUL\u00a0Playwright residency, where\u00a0The Festival in Da Back\u00a0was originally developed with the institution\u2019s support. Tickets are available HERE<\/a><\/p>\n In Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, the crawfish capital of the world, they say there\u2019s two festivals: the one out front, and the one in da back. But it\u2019s what happens on the front lawn of 318 Dorset Street that cracks open a family legacy. Ghosts hum through the zydeco, dreams rattle in the cooler, and everyone\u2019s waiting for someone who might never come home. The Festival in da Back is a richly textured, fiercely funny play about who we crown, what we bury, and whether the music that once moved us can still bring us home.<\/p>\n Never miss new stories in Harlem<\/p>\n Location: The Flea Theater 20 Thomas St, New York, NY 10007 The creative team includes\u00a0Ray Archie, Sound Designer (Notes to the Soul, Brooklyn Sound Lab);\u00a0DeShon Elem, Costume Designer ((pray),\u00a0BOWL EP);\u00a0Hao Bai, Lighting Designer (Arden,\u00a0Waterboy and the Mighty World);\u00a0Marcelo Mart\u00ednez Garc\u00eda, Scenic and Props Designer (Manhatta,\u00a0The Wind and The Rain).\u00a0Casting by Sujotta Pace, CSA + Erica A. Hart, CSA.<\/p>\n About National Black Theatre<\/p>\n Founded in 1968 by Dr. Barbara Ann Teer<\/a>, an award-winning performer, director, visionary entrepreneur, and champion of the Black Arts Movement, National Black Theatre (NBT) is a Tony and Emmy-nominated institution with a groundbreaking legacy: the country\u2019s first revenue-generating Black art complex, the longest continually run Black theater in New York City, and one of the oldest theaters founded and consistently operated by a woman of color. Since its inception, NBT has invested over $10 million in 350+ original works by Black artists and earned accolades including a Tony and Emmy nominations, NYTimes Critics\u2019 Picks, Obie Awards, Lortel Awards, Audelco Awards, and a Drama Desk nomination. NBT is also part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of African American History and Culture and is a part of the National Portrait Gallery.<\/p>\n More than five decades later, NBT\u2019s mission endures. Today, it expands that vision to educate, enrich, entertain, empower, and spark national\u00a0dialogue around the needed narrative change to shift the impact and complexity surrounding social justice topics within our society. In 2023, NBT made Broadway history with the transfer and co-production of James Ijames\u2019s Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony-nominated\u00a0FAT HAM, becoming only the third Black theatre company ever to do so. The following season, NBT won its first Tony Award for the revival of\u00a0Purlie Victorious.<\/p>\n Grounded in the principles of ownership, self-determination, and human transformation, NBT continues to champion Black artists and break new ground, including a partnership with the National Black Theatre of Sweden. Its achievements have secured its place at the forefront of theatre innovation and advocacy, leveraging its voice for sector-wide reform, local policy, and funding equity. NBT is an AEA Equity house and a proud member of Theatre Communications Group, A.R.T.\/New York, Harlem<\/a> Arts Alliance, and the Coalition of Theatres of Color.<\/p>\n Under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Sade Lythcott, daughter of NBT\u2019s founder, and Executive Artistic Director Jonathan McCrory, NBT remains rooted in its Liberationist spirit, alive to the pulse of the present, and committed to catalyzing a collective creative future.<\/p>\n Become a Harlem Insider!<\/p>\n From history to today\u2019s headlines\u2014everything Harlem, in your inbox.<\/p>\n By signing up, you’re agreeing to receive communications from Harlem World Magazine and our Privay Policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the heels of being announced as a co-producer for the new musical\u00a0Imitation of Life\u00a0by Lynn Nottage, Liesl…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[65722,65723,128,57863,65724,65725,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-159484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-and-tickets-now","tag-brian-eglands-festival","tag-bronx","tag-creative","tag-da-back-drops-casting","tag-harlems-nbt","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Run: April 9, 2026 \u2013 April 12, 2026
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The cast includes theater stalwarts including:\u00a0Charles Wallace\u00a0(The Gospel Woman,\u00a0Smokey Joe\u2019s Cafe);\u00a0Charles Hudson III\u00a0(A Raisin in the Sun,\u00a0Daredevil: Born Again);\u00a0Ebony Marshall-Oliver\u00a0(Chiaroscuro,\u00a0Ain\u2019t No Mo);\u00a0Elijah Jones\u00a0(CONFEDERATES,\u00a0Fat Ham);\u00a0Joshua Hendricks;\u00a0Nora Cole\u00a0(Jelly\u2019s Last Jam, The World According to Micki Grant); and\u00a0Reginald L. Barnes\u00a0(Wu-Tang: An American Saga, THE BLEEDING CLASS).<\/p>\n
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