Black Theatre Canada

Today's Hours: 8am - 10pm - All service hours
Black Theatre Canada poster for a Caribbean Midsummer Night's Dream, July 1983.

Founded in Toronto in 1973, with Vera Cudjoe as artistic director, Black Theatre Canada was one of the few cultural organizations operating on behalf of the Black community. Its mandate was to encourage the development of Afro-Caribbean works and resulted in producing a unique mix of community and professional drama. While producing Caribbean written works, Black Theatre Canada also hosted Caribbean actors to participate in shows as well as producing newly written Canadian plays created by black artists. In 1986, Black Theatre Canada was part of the initiative to organize the Arts Against Apartheid Festival, along with several other companies. This festival brought human rights activist Harry Belafonte to Canada, as well as Archbishop Desmond Tutu from South Africa.  The company closed in 1988.

Materials in the fonds include performance files, posters, house programs, publicity, promotional material, press releases, reviews and articles, audio visual, and production photos.

Dates

1973-1988

Types of Materials

  • Photographs
  • Posters
  • Published Material
  • Unpublished Material and Manuscripts

Extent

11 m of textual and other materials.

No further accruals are expected.

How to Access This Resource

Appointments are required to view this material and can be made through Archival & Special Collections.

Call numbers XZ1 MS A791XZ1 MS A792XZ1 MS A793XZ1 MS A794XZ1 MS A795XZ1 MS A796XZ1 MS A797XZ1 MS A798, to XZ1 MS A799.

The library is committed to ensuring that members of our user community with disabilities have equal access to our services and resources and that their dignity and independence is always respected. If you encounter a barrier and/or need an alternate format, please fill out our Library Print and Multimedia Alternate-Format Request Form. Contact us if you’d like to provide feedback: lib.a11y@uoguelph.ca