In his 1965 essay, “The Revolutionary Theatre,” Amiri Baraka called Black theatre-makers to respond to the racial injustice and civil unrest in the United State of America and demanded that theatre challenge the status quo. Now in 2020, history repeats itself. While racial injustice persists sparking historical worldwide civil unrest, the COVID-19 pandemic rages across the globe, the depth of these historic and relentless pressures are being revealed and the threat to the lives of Black people and the idea of an “America for all” is a clear and present danger. There is a communal grief from this toll. Amidst an important election cycle, there is a collective push for unprecedented change in our world, in our communities, and in our field. We are needing the salve our Black Joy has been able to do for centuries, we need the articulation of a change. It is time for a revolution. It is time for revolutionary theatre!

A Call for Revolutionary Theatre 2020 articles will be released every weekday for 10 days, October 19-30, 2020!

Scroll to Top