Black Bold & Beautiful
During the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown, our nation and world looked upon issues of race and inequity with renewed resolve. Grand Rapids Civic Theatre used the time and space provided by the pandemic to do some "soul searching" as an organization, and asked our community partners what we could do with our platform to raise the voices of those who aren't historically represented in our space. One piece of feedback we received is that the most important thing we can do is to use the stage and our platform to help tell the stories of marginalized groups. Black, Bold, and Beautiful was born from this intention.
Black, Bold and Beautiful: Onward Together was a unique concert event featuring Black artists from all over West Michigan. The concert was a celebration of African and Black music, dance, and spoken word in America. Featuring music from Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Sam Cooke, Stevie Wonder, and many more legendary Black artists, Black, Bold, and Beautiful is a historical journey through the Black American experience from the slave trade through present day, told through musical expression. The performances ran from October 15th – 17th, 2021.
Artist featured in the performance included: Kirk Franklin, Louis Armstrong, Sam Cooke, Billie Holiday, Stevie Wonder, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, The Isley Brothers, Marvin Gaye Earth, Wind, and Fire, J. Cole, Traditional Gospel hymns and Several more artists.
The conversation began last year with a conversation with Bruce Tinker, Civic Theater Director, and Lisa Knight, who then brought in other composers and Directors from the community to help shape this production.
Co-Musical Directors: Duane Davis, Charsie Sawyer, Debra Perry; Choreography: Laasah DiA'ne Taylor-Marshall; Stage Managers: Danell Kendrick Manager, Shanell Haigh, Assistant.
Historically, there was not much diversity in Grand Rapids Theater, so much so that black theater groups were created to give space to black artists, such as Robeson Players, founded by the Late Cedric Ward, J.R. Randolph Company, founded by Charsie & James Sawyer and presently Ebony Road Players, founded by Edye Evans Hyde. Civic wanted to shift the narrative about community theater and is attempting to be more open to engaging diverse backgrounds.
Civic was intentional about reaching out to community members who had experience in community theater to start having a deeper conversation about Equity in the performance space.
Eyde Evans Hyde, Michael Travis, and Lisa Butler were invited into conversations after Civic began diversity training with the Board. They wanted people that had past experiences in the theater arena to speak to what future change could look like through intentional diversity in every area of the theater, from backroom to the stage, including Directors, Volunteers, Stage management, etc.
Civic was slated to do "The Wiz," however they lost the rights to do the show during the height of Covid. A month or so after Bruce Tinker, Civic Theater Director, contacted Lisa to see if something thoughtful could be mounted that spoke to black artistry, locally and across the world. That's when conversations began about 9 months ago to create and perform Black, Bold & Beautiful. It was an overwhelming success.
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