One-day symposium bridging the divide among Black Theatre in Canada and the US by bringing together thinkers, artists, & performers

Come join the launch of the Black Theatre Lab! This symposium on May 8, 2026 brings together thinkers and artists of Black theatre in North America to consider the productive tensions and possibilities that performance offers in conditions of social and political strife. What is opened up in these cross-border and trans- or extra-national conversations? What rehearsals for an otherwise can be imagined? How does Black theatre play a critical role in combating dystopia and building trust?

The symposium will include two panel sessions, a dual keynote, a catered networking lunch event, and a staged reading produced by the seminal theatre company BCurrent, and is free and open to the general public.

SCHEDULE

Registration - Open at 9:00 am

Welcome & Registration: 9:30 am - 9:45 am

First panel: 9:45 am - 11:15 am - Lineages of Black Performance in Practice

Panelists: Djanet Sears, Lisa Karen Cox, Kaja Dunn

Networking Lunch: 11:30 am - 1:00 pm, sign-up (spaces limited!) at this form.

Second Panel: 1:30 pm - 3 pm - Documenting Black Performance

Panellists: Dr. Faedra Chatard Carpenter, Dr. Cheryl Thompson, Dr. Naila Keleta-Mae

Keynote: 3:15 - 4:45 pm - Black Performance Now: Artistic Directors Reflect

Panelists: Mumbi Tindeybwa Otu (Obsidian Theatre) and Dr. d’bi.young anitafrika (Watah Theatre)

Staged Reading by BCurrent (directed by Natasha Adiyana Morris) : 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

This symposium was made possible from the support provided by the Jackman Humanities Institute Program for the Arts, the Department of English and Drama at the University of Toronto Mississauga, the University of Toronto's Centre for the Study of the United States, and the Metcalf Foundation.