International Black Theatre Festival starts today

A generous grant from the Henry Luce Foundation has fueled a partnership among Wake Forest’s School of Divinity, the University’s Wake the Arts Center, and Winston-Salem’s NC Black Repertory Theatre (NC Black Rep). The grant provided funding for two plays to be written for and premiered during this year’s International Black Theatre Festival (IBTF)

The project, “Finding Holy Ground: Performing Visions of Race and Justice in America,” was announced in January 2022 with a $250,000 grant received by Wake Forest from the Henry Luce Foundation. The following September, playwrights JuCoby Johnson and Eljon Wardally were selected to each receive a $10,000 commission, developmental workshop support and fully staged productions of their plays. 

Johnson’s play, “Heritage,” and Wardally’s play, “I Am… a Shepherdess,” will be performed on Wake Forest University’s Reynolda Campus in the Ring Theatre and on the Harold C. Tedford Mainstage. A full schedule of productions is available on the IBTF website.

The International Black Theatre Festival runs through Aug. 3. Wake Forest University’s Wait Chapel and Allegacy Stadium will join the City of Winston-Salem in using purple lighting to celebrate the week-long festival.

Read more on the Wake Forest News website.