The matriarch of Chicago’s black theater is a strikingly regal-looking woman with a disarming personality that belies her impassioned devotion to the arts. The Black Ensemble Theater, founded 34 years ago by esteemed Hollywood veteran Jackie Taylor, is where you go for provocative programming and then watch as a cultural revival breaks out.
Actually, the term “black theater” is a bit of a misnomer since Black Ensemble Theater attracts the most diverse audiences, by far, in the city of over 300 theaters, says the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times and it is one of the most diverse in the country. Taylor, who has written over 100 plays and directed over 55 theater productions after she rocketed to stardom in the major motion picture classic Cooley High, uses her $1.7 million-a-year institution and platform to send actors to schools, increase self-esteem and life skills for families, developmentally and disabled women, disadvantaged youth and wards of the state.
The beloved Taylor will be able to expand on these programs and plays as she has raised nearly $15 million to begin construction on a new Northside complex that will include 150- and 300-seat theaters, offices and a dance school.
Set to debut Nothing but the Blues, a story about Theresa’s Lounge where all the blues legends came to play between 1949 and 1983, Taylor took time out to answer rolling out‘s questions on a variety of subjects.
–terry shropshire
Sum up the Black Ensemble Theater:
Black Ensemble Theater is a very uplifting, cross-cultural, very spiritual company that reaches across races and ages and brings them into the theater to celebrate themselves. Our productions are always uplifting, always educational, always historic in some manner.
How important is the black theater?
As important as it is to drink water, as important as it is to eat food, as important as it is to breathe. Black theater itself is a reflection of a culture. It educates, demonstrates and reflects who you are, who you were and where you are going. It’s our lifeline, it is our history, it is our future.
What acting methods do you use?
Jackie Taylor’s acting methods. I’m a teacher, people learn different ways. Everyone does not learn alike. There are all kinds of methods. But it’s not about the method, it’s about the person and how you reach that person and how you are able to find what key can unlock the door and reach inside and pull out of them what they may not know is inside of them. That’s the technique I use.
How do you feel about hip-hop stars like Diddy, Jay-Z and Mos Def becoming part of the theater scene?
Come on, come on, come on! Why not? Hip-hop is a legitimate art form. It’s black bread. If you have the ability, if you have the economics, the passion and the desire, then you should be able to break off into any entity that you believe that you will be successful in.
How can black businesses better support the theater?
First of all, they need to come to the theater. That’s the best way to support it and understand it. Promote it and publicize it. Businesses have to find a way to connect, and by making that connection, we broaden our horizons. We need to communicate, we need to network together, we need to share resources.
