OUR MISSION

The Black Repertory Group  Theatre, has been a cornerstone of the  Bay Area performing arts community for  the past  60 years.
The emphasis placed on institutionalizing black theater demonstrated a significant cultural front within the larger social, political, and economic conflicts of this era still to this day with Sean Vaughn Scott. This theatrical institutions is the physical manifestations of the heart of Black Panther party campaigns, facilitating community outreach and sovereignty through separatism. Black theaters reflected local distinctions in leadership and ideology but within a broader, national call for black liberation and black autonomy. Professional theater impresarios Nora and Birel Vaughn began laying the foundations for their theater, the Black Repertory Group, in Berkeley, California, in 1964.

A repertory theater company a fixed location, The Black Rep would cycle through a repertoire of black-culture-specific plays, providing black performers and playwrights both recognition and income. Operating in a black-owned space gave Black Rep control over its productions and performance. Giving neighbors and community leaders the opportunity to participate behind the scenes or even perform in Black Rep theatrical productions endeared the troupe to its supporters, enmeshing Black Rep as a valued communal institution. The Black Rep opened its space as an autonomous black community center, running voter registration drives, social and political gatherings, and classes in black culture and history that spread the values of the Black Arts and Black Panther Party movements. In the right place at the right time, The Black Rep led a black repertory theater movement that spanned the nation. 

More importantly, The Black Rep survives to this day. It stands as a testament to the strength and vision of the women leaders of black theater, and to the values of coalition building, economic self-sufficiency, and community-based activism that guided its founders.