Panel: The San Francisco Black Theater Movement

In the spirit of Dr. Maya Angelou’s performing arts past, prominent artists from San Francisco’s Black theater movement discuss how the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and '70s revolutionized San Francisco theater and paved the way for current trends in Black theater production. The talk accompanies the exhibition, Black Theater—Go Home!, a selection of historical theater posters, programs and ephemera curated by Kheven LaGrone and on view in the African American Center through November. Panelists include Marvin X, Rhodessa Jones, Thomas Robert Simpson, Dr. Mwanza Furaha and moderator, AeJay Atonis Marquis.

Marvin X is a co-founder and most prominent voice of San Francisco’s Black Arts Movement. His 1965 play, “Flowers for the Trashman,” was one of the first plays of San Francisco’s Black Theater Movement. In 1966, Marvin X, playwright Ed Bullins, and others, co-founded the Black Arts Theatre in the Fillmore. Black Panther Huey Newton once said, “Marvin X was my teacher, many of our comrades came from his Black Arts Theatre . . .”

Rhodessa Jones, a recent Pew Fellow and Frank H.T. Rhodes Chair at Cornell University, has also held visiting professorships at Dartmouth, Hamilton College, and the University of Wisconsin. An Honorary Doctorate recipient from California College of the Arts, Jones is celebrated with awards including the San Francisco Bay Guardian’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Otto Rene Castillo Award for Political Theater. Her acclaimed solo plays, such as The Legend of Lily Overstreet and Big Butt Girls, Hard-Headed Women, are landmarks in American theatre. Central to the Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women for 36 years, Jones is honored with a 2023-24 Legacy Artist Award from Youth Speaks. 

Thomas Robert Simpson, actor, director, producer, and writer, is the founder and artistic director of the AfroSolo Theatre Company. Since 1994, he has concentrated on presenting African American and African Diasporan art and culture through solo performances and the visual and literary arts. In 1994, AfroSolo Theatre Company launched the award winning and critically acclaimed AfroSolo Arts Festival, the longest-running annual Black solo performance event in the country.

Dr. Mwanza Furaha (formerly Blondell Breed) is a performer and historian of San Francisco’s Black Theater Movement. She joined every Black theater company formed in San Francisco. The companies had little money, so she and the other members had to self-learn or teach each other the skills needed to put on a project. She performed with Dr. Maya Angelou, Harold Nicholas and Carmen McRae. She was part of the Africanization of Black theater and Black culture. Artist incorporated Afrocentrism in their work. The community incorporated Afrocentricism in their lives. Many people, including her, changed to Afrocentric names. Dr. Furaha still performs today.

AeJay Antonis Marquis (They/Them) is a multi-hyphenate performance artist, scholar, educator, and activist whose work centers the decolonization of the theatrical canon, the black avant-garde, and queer political performance practice. Currently a PhD student at University of California- Berkeley, their research seeks to explore BIPOC Queer, Transgender and Non-Binary remixing, reclamation and reconciliation of varied Christian dogmas in America through performative explorations in theatre and dance, and how this practice intersects with racial identity and contribute to Queer Futurist Liberation models. Their work has been seen across the Bay Area performance landscape as a director, choreographer, actor, producer, and dramaturg, and will continue to marry scholarship with practice in their doctoral journey.