Last May, Berkeley city officials used a crowbar to enter the Black Repertory Group’s theater. With as much clumsiness as the Watergate burglars, they jimmied a side door to gain entry. “They told us that they were coming to evaluate whether or not we’ve been Americans with Disabilities Act–compliant, when the building was erected with that in mind,” says the Black Rep’s development director, Sean Vaughn Scott. “So that’s kind of ludicrous for them to come, to show up with eight people—the fire department, the economic development department, the aide to the city council member, Ben Bartlett. Finding none of us on the premises, [they] put a hit on us. They broke in!”
The Black Rep wants justice. It would like for the intruders to be charged with criminal trespassing. It filed a police report and has heard nothing. It hired an attorney to bring a civil suit, but he passed away. Instead, the theater group is left with a side door that can be closed only with, well, a crowbar.
I asked James Chang, Councilman Bartlett’s chief of staff, whether white theaters that have received aid from the city were ever entered without permission. He would only speak with me off the record—I declined. Bartlett denied my request for comment.
It’s a tragedy that just when America needs Black theater more than ever, the Black Rep—like other Black dramatic companies throughout our history—is being harassed and financially oppressed. Black theater has made important contributions by staging
