Penumbra Theatre Company
Encyclopedia
The Penumbra Theatre Company, an African-American theatre in Saint Paul
, Minnesota
, was founded by Lou Bellamy in 1976. The theater has been recognized for its artistic quality and its role in launching the careers of playwrights including two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson
.
Each year Penumbra performs for over 40,000 people and conducts educational activities for more than 5,000 students. The theater employs more actors, choreographers, dancers, directors, and administrators of color than all other theatres in Minnesota combined. Located at St Paul's Hallie Q. Brown/Martin Luther King Community Center, the theatre strives to influence the Selby/Dale neighborhood and the larger community.
Under Bellamy's leadership for over 25 years, Penumbra is Minnesota's only professional African American theatre and one of only three such groups in the nation offering a full performance season.
for development of artistic talent. Penumbra has been named "Best Theatre for Drama" by City Pages
and "One of Ten Companies that Make a Difference" by Stage Directions Magazine.
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, was founded by Lou Bellamy in 1976. The theater has been recognized for its artistic quality and its role in launching the careers of playwrights including two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson
August Wilson
August Wilson was an American playwright whose work included a series of ten plays, The Pittsburgh Cycle, for which he received two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama...
.
Each year Penumbra performs for over 40,000 people and conducts educational activities for more than 5,000 students. The theater employs more actors, choreographers, dancers, directors, and administrators of color than all other theatres in Minnesota combined. Located at St Paul's Hallie Q. Brown/Martin Luther King Community Center, the theatre strives to influence the Selby/Dale neighborhood and the larger community.
Under Bellamy's leadership for over 25 years, Penumbra is Minnesota's only professional African American theatre and one of only three such groups in the nation offering a full performance season.
Awards
In January 2000 the theatre was given the Jujamcyn AwardJujamcyn Award
Created in 1984, The Jujamcyn Theaters Award has been given over 20+ years to honor a resident theater organization that has made an outstanding contribution to the development of creative talent for the theatre. The award has been sponsored by Jujamcyn Amusement Corporation, one of the three...
for development of artistic talent. Penumbra has been named "Best Theatre for Drama" by City Pages
City Pages
City Pages is an alternative weekly newspaper serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. It features news, film, theatre and restaurant reviews, and music criticism. It is printed in a tabloid format, and is available free every Wednesday...
and "One of Ten Companies that Make a Difference" by Stage Directions Magazine.