About this Event
Come join the launch of the Black Theatre Lab! This symposium on May 8, 2026 brings together thinkers and artists of Black theatre in North America to consider the productive tensions and possibilities that performance offers in conditions of social and political strife. What is opened up in these cross-border and trans- or extra-national conversations? What rehearsals for an otherwise can be imagined? How does Black theatre play a critical role in combating dystopia and building trust?
The symposium will include two panel sessions, a dual keynote, a catered networking lunch event, and a staged reading produced by the seminal theatre company BCurrent, and is free and open to the general public.
SCHEDULE
Registration - Open at 9:00 am
Welcome & Registration: 9:30 am - 9:45 am
First panel: 9:45 am - 11:15 am - Lineages of Black Performance in Practice
Panelists: Djanet Sears, Lisa Karen Cox, Kaja Dunn
Networking Lunch: 11:30 am - 1:00 pm, sign-up (spaces limited!) at this form.
Second Panel: 1:30 pm - 3 pm - Documenting Black Performance
Panelists: Dr. Faedra Chatard Carpenter, Dr. Cheryl Thompson, Dr. Naila Keleta-Mae
Keynote: 3:15 - 4:45 pm - Black Performance Now: Artistic Directors Reflect
Panelists: Mumbi Tindeybwa Otu (Obsidian Theatre) and Dr. d’bi.young anitafrika (Watah Theatre)
Staged Reading by BCurrent (directed by Natasha Adiyana Morris) : 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
This symposium was made possible from the support provided by the Jackman Humanities Institute Program for the Arts, the Department of English and Drama at the University of Toronto Mississauga, the University of Toronto's Centre for the Study of the United States, and the Metcalf Foundation.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Jackman Humanities Building, 170 St George St 1st floor, Toronto, Canada
USD 0.00
