When a regional theater got millions to remake itself, it focused on racial healing
The historically Black Penumbra Theatre has received millions in grants to remake itself into a center for racial healing. What will its choices reveal about regional theater's future?
Recovering from the worst days of the pandemic has been daunting for America's 1,800 regional theaters. But some, thanks to philanthropic help, are using this moment as an opportunity for reinvention.
Take, for example, Penumbra Theatre in St. Paul, Minn., which is grounded in a historically African-American neighborhood with aesthetic roots in the Black Arts Movement. Since Penumbra started staging plays in the early 1970s, it's developed a national reputation for growing Black talent that's changed theater worldwide.
"I remember August Wilson telling me stories right here in the hall that turned out to be plays," said Lou Bellamy, the theater's founding artistic director. For years, Penumbra was Wilson's home theater; it was where
