National Black Theatre

Theater Description

National Black Theatre (NBT) was founded in 1968 by Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, an award-winning performer, director, visionary entrepreneur and champion of the Black Arts Movement. NBT has broken ground as the country’s first revenue-generating Black art complex, as the longest-running Black theater in New York City, as acquisitor of the largest collection of Nigerian New Sacred Art in the Western Hemisphere and as one of the oldest theaters founded and consistently operated by a woman of color in the nation.

More than five decades after its founding, NBT’s core mission remains the same: to be the premier producer of transformative theatre—theatre that enhances African American cultural identity by telling authentic, autonomous, multifaceted stories of the Black experience. NBT is now envisioned as a means to educate, enrich, entertain, empower and inform national consciousness around social justice issues that impact our communities.

In 2023, NBT made its Broadway debut with the transfer and co-production of Fat Ham, making it the third Black theatre company in the history of ‘The Great White Way’ to do so. Additionally, NBT has been included in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. NBT’s core mission is to produce transformational theater that helps to shift the inaccuracy around African Americans’ cultural identity by telling authentic stories of Black lifestyle. NBT uses theater arts as a means to shape, educate, enrich, entertain, empower and inform the national conscience around current social issues impacting our communities.

Holding tight to the founding principles of ownership, self-determination and human transformation, NBT continues to reach brand new heights with over 350 original theatre works touring world-wide, including an associate partnership with the National Black Theatre of Sweden. The work and accomplishments of National Black Theatre have solidified its position at the leading edge of Black theatre development, production and innovation, and activating resources for arts sector advocacy. NBT is an AEA Equity house and a member of Theatre Communications Group, A.R.T./New York, Harlem Arts Alliance and the Coalition of Theatres of Color.

Under the current leadership of Chief Executive Officer Sade Lythcott, daughter of the beloved Dr. Teer, and Executive Artistic Director, Jonathan McCrory, NBT remains anchored in the Liberationist spirit of the past, tapped into the beating pulse of the present and serves as a catalyzing force for our collective creative future.