McCarter Theatre staff teaches Littlebrook about black history and theater

By Erica Chayes Wida, Packet Media
To celebrate Black History Month on the stage, McCarter Theatre Center brought a special performance to Littlebrook Elementary School students. A team of McCarter’s own – Director Jade King Carrol, actor Nathan James, Teaching Artist Toccarra Cash, and Community Partnerships Coordinator Joshua Campbell – helped the young children engage through an interactive in-school production Wednesday morning., The assembly featured scenes from plays by two African American playwrights who greatly impacted the theater world with their work: Lorraine Hansberry, the first African American female playwright to have a drama on Broadway – the famous 1959 “A Raisin in the Sun; and the Pulitzer Prize-winner August Wilson, known for plays such as “Fences,” “The Piano Lesson,” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”, In addition to these highlights, McCarter’s staff emphasized diversity, unique identities, and why they should be celebrated. Students learned some facts about Hansberry and Wilson’s life stories, as well as the workings of the theater and the varying roles of directors, actors, and playwrights.