Organizational history

The Black Theater Workshop was incorporated in 1972 but has roots going back to the Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...

 Drama Committee. Its first play "How Now Black Man" was produced under the name Black Workshop in 1970 at the Centaur Theatre

Centaur Theatre

The Centaur Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Montreal, Quebec. It was founded in 1969 by The Centaur Foundation for the Performing Arts with Maurice Podbrey as the Artistic and Executive Director, and Herb Auerbach as Chairman of the Board....

.

Over the years the theatre has had many artistic directors including Clarence Bayne, Errol Sitahal

Errol Sitahal

Errol Sitahal is an Indo- Trinidadian actor, residing in Canada, who has acted in several Hollywood films. In 1995, he played Ram Das, the Indian manservant, in the film, A Little Princess. The same year he also appeared with Chris Farley and David Spade in a scene from the movie Tommy Boy, where...

, Terry Donald, Dwight Bacquie, Lorena Gale

Lorena Gale

Lorena Gale was a Canadian actress, director, and writer. She was active onstage and in films and television since the 1980s...

, Don Jordan, Winston Sutton, Fleurette Fernando, Nancy Delva, Kate Bligh and Rachael Van Fossen. Since July 2005 the Artistic Director has been Tyrone Benskin.

Black Theatre Workshop is Canada's oldest Black theatre company.

Many prominent Black Canadian Playwrights have had their work produced by the theatre including George Boyd (Wade in the Water, Le Code Noir), Vadney Haynes (Blacks Don't Bowl), Djanet Sears

Djanet Sears

Djanet Sears is a Canadian playwright, actor and director. She was born in 1959 in England, to a Guyanese father and a Jamaican mother. Sears was raised in England and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan...

 (Afrika Solo) and Andrew Moodie (Riot, A Common Man's Guide to Loving Women, The Lady Smith).

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.Achievement Award

Since 1986 the theatre has given out the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award, presented to an individual who has made a significant contribution to African-Canadian artistic and cultural life in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Past honorees include: Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson

Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career...

, Ranee Lee

Ranee Lee

Ranee Lee, CM is a Canadian jazz vocalist and musician who resides in Montreal, Quebec.Lee toured North America in the 1970s as a jazz drummer and tenor saxophonist. She subsequently landed a starring role playing Billie Holiday in Lady Day, and won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for her performance...

, Charlie Biddle

Charlie Biddle

Charlie Biddle, otherwise known as Charles Reed Biddle was a Canadian jazz bassist.-Biography:...

, Rufus Rockhead, Dr. Dorothy Wills, Dr. Clarence Bayne, Dr. Oliver Jones

Oliver Jones

Oliver Theophilus Jones is a Canadian jazz pianist, organist, composer and arranger....

, Prof. Trevor Payne, Dr. Daisy Peterson-Sweeney, Salome Bey

Salome Bey

Salome Bey, CM is an American actress, singer-songwriter, and composer who has lived in Toronto, Ontario since 1966. In 2005, she was made an honorary Member of the Order of Canada....

, Lorraine Klaasen

Lorraine Klaasen

Lorraine Klaasen is a Montreal-based world music singer. Her mother is South African singer Thandi Klaasen. She has performed at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, and her international itinerary has included the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean...

, Anthony Sherwood

Anthony Sherwood

Anthony Sherwood is an award-winning Canadian actor, producer and director.-Biography:Sherwood's mother was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia and his father was born in Kingston, Jamaica. Anthony’s mother was a fifth generation Canadian whose ancestors escaped to Canada using the "underground railroad"...

, Austin Clarke

Austin Clarke

Austin Ardinel Chesterfield Clarke, is a Canadian novelist, essayist and short story writer who lives in Toronto, Ontario. Born in St...

, Michelle Sweeney

Michelle Sweeney

Michelle Sweeney is a Canadian actor and jazz singer.Her film credits include The Company of Strangers, Eye of the Beholder, The Art of War, Stardom and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind....

, Aldwin Albino, Anthony Salah I Wilson, Djanet Sears

Djanet Sears

Djanet Sears is a Canadian playwright, actor and director. She was born in 1959 in England, to a Guyanese father and a Jamaican mother. Sears was raised in England and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan...

, Dr. George Elliott Clarke, Jeri Brown, Walter Borden

Walter Borden

Walter Borden is a Canadian actor, poet and playwright. Borden was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, the African Nova Scotia Music Association Music Heritage Award, and the Portia White Prize, which is awarded annually by the Nova Scotia Arts Council to someone who has made a...

, Charles Ellison, Terry Donald, Ethel Bruneau and Bertrand A. Henry.

External links

• Black Theatre Workshop website
• "Black Theatre Workshop," Canadian Theatre.
• "Black Theatre Workshop," The Canadian Encyclopedia.