First Free Black Theater Company

New African Grove

The New African Grove Theater Company was founded in 1994 in Atlanta, Georgia, as a theater company dedicated to African American culture in the performing arts. The name "New African Grove" is an homage to the original African Grove Theatre, which was established in New York City in 1821 by free blacks as the first African American theater in the United States.

The company's mission centers on producing quality theater that gives dignity to African Americans and reflects their experiences, resonates with them, represents what they value, and serves as a means of communal expression. The company is focused on showing and exploring the African American experience in its entirety. It is meant to be a way for African Americans to get involved in the arts both on and behind the stage. It wants to be a full-production operation for the African-American community.

The company has produced a lot of plays by August Wilson and others. This commitment to black artists and crews is one that sets the company apart in a lot of ways: it is by, for, and about the African-American community—but it invites everyone to come and enjoy. It is not a closed environment that keeps others from participating. But it is upfront about its culture and the culture it wants to promote. The fact that it carries on the tradition of the free black company started in the early 19th century shows that is also concerned with roots and heritage and keeping traditions alive, which I think is very important particularly in the theater. The theater is all about experience and reality, representing people as they were and are, and this involves coming to grips with tradition, the past, and understanding it in the present. So, I think it is a great idea that the old African Grove is represented today in the New African Grove Theater Company.