The Mission

The core is August Wilson; how his play cycle can have an educational as well as a cultural impact; how his plays can be brought into schools and colleges as well as commercial theatres; how they can be accompanied by historians taking seminars with the students before/after the performance(s) to make it part of modern history education; how the plays can be performed in the USA and UK and beyond in the Caribbean and Africa; how they can be translated into French for a French, French-speaking Caribbean and French-speaking African audience; and how the Bard of Pittsburgh Theatre Company can be an enduring theatrical contribution to Black Lives Matter by acknowledging and championing the genius of all the great black playwrights of yesteryear and today.

 

The Letter in Support of the Mission

August Wilson’s ten play cycle which depicts the life of African Americans across ten decades of the 20th century is a unique cultural contribution unmatched by any other playwright and of momentous historic importance. The mission of the Bard of Pittsburgh Theatre Company is to recognise and promote this extraordinary black playwright, employ black actors on a permanent basis and contribute an enduring theatrical contribution to Black Lives Matter by acknowledging and championing the genius of black theatre.

We support the creation of a Bard of Pittsburgh Theatre Company (BOP) modelled on the mission of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).

  • Like RSC’s mission to produce Shakespeare’s plays, BOP’s mission is to produce August Wilson’s extraordinary play cycle.
  • Like RSC’s mission to produces other formidable plays of Shakespeare’s era (e.g. Marlowe’s ‘Edward II’), BOP’s mission is to produce other formidable plays by black playwrights of yesteryear (e.g.  Lorraine Hansberry’s ‘Raisin in the Sun’ or Errol John’s ‘Moon on a Rainbow Shawl’).
  • Like RSC’s mission to produce formidable foreign plays of Shakespeare’s era in translation (e.g. Moliere’s ‘Tartuffe’), BOP’s mission is to produce formidable black foreign plays in translation (e.g.  Aimé Césaire’s ‘Une saison au Congo’).
  • Like the RSC, BOP’s mission is to perform for a theatre-going paying public in major commercial venues and on tour.

BOP has the additional mission:

  • To perform for a student audience in schools and colleges.
  • To have academics (e.g. historians) to complement performances in schools and colleges.
  • To produce formidable plays by contemporary black playwrights.
  • To produce formidable plays on the black experience.
  • To produce in five territories (USA, UK, France, Africa, Caribbean).
  • To produce in two languages (English for USA, UK and English-speaking Africa & Caribbean. French for France and French-speaking Africa and Caribbean).
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