How Can a Classic Theater Company Tell More Diverse Stories?
Mt. Zion Baptist Church 2019 Fisher St., Madison, Wisconsin 53713
press release: American Players Theatre started in Spring Green 40 years ago on a foundation of Shakespeare, with some Chekhov and Marlowe for variety. This year the company presents a much more contemporary classic — August Wilson’s “Fences,” written in the early 1980s about a black family in Pittsburgh.
As new APT core company member Gavin Lawrence said, “There’s this idea in the theater that ‘classical’ means ‘white.’” Playwrights of color, Wilson among them, have a classical language and poetry that companies like APT are just starting to explore.
The Cap Times has invited a panel of professional theater artists and educators to discuss how established classic companies can tell more diverse stories at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Madison.
Theater critic Lindsay Christians will moderate the panel, which members are APT artistic director Brenda DeVita, Gavin Lawrence and David Alan Anderson — who play Gabriel and Troy in “Fences” respectively — and Patrick Sims of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sims founded Theatre for Cultural and Social Awareness and is now the university’s deputy vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion.
This free event is the latest installment in the 4-year-old Cap Times Talks discussion series. We hope to see you at this one.
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