Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop
Mission Statement:
The Workshop has built a long, time-honored and prestigious reputation as a nationally and internationally removed playwrights’ development theatre for up-coming and established artists of all colors, sizes and shapes.The Frank Silvera Writers’ Workshop was founded in 1973 by playwright/director Garland Lee Thompson, along with famed actor/director Morgan Freeman, director/actress Billie Allen Henderson and journalist Clayton Riley, as a living memorial to the late actor, director, teacher and producer, Frank Silvera (1914-1970). The Workshop was based in the heart of Harlem, New York for 26 years and is currently located at The Center for Arts & Culture at Restoration Plaza in Brooklyn. The Workshop has built a long, time-honored and prestigious reputation as a nationally and internationally removed playwrights’ development theatre for up-coming and established artists of all colors, sizes and shapes. Artists who have worked with the Workshop include Mari Evans, Billy Graham, A. Marcus Hemphill, Larry Neal, Vinnette Carroll, Ruby Dee, Owen Dodson, Charles Gordone, Charles Fuller, Ed Bullins, Laurence Holder, James De Jongh, Clifford Mason, Ntozake Shange, Aishah Rahman, China Clark, Ed Shockley, Richard Wesley, and Samm-Art Williams.
Mr. Thompson filled out a survey last December to speak with NAI about the FSWW records in storage in Harlem. In conversation about where those archives should go. Note: Thompson, Sr. donated 83 linear feet of materials (1973-1992) to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Collection size: unknown.
Contact: Garland Lee Thompson, Jr