Black Theatre Workshop is a professional theatre company based in Montreal, Quebec.
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Organizational history
The Black Theater Workshop was incorporated in 1972 but has roots going back to the Trinidad and Tobago Drama Committee. Its first play, How Now Black Man, was produced under the name Black Workshop in 1970 at the Centaur Theatre.
Over the years the theatre has had many artistic directors, including Clarence Bayne, Errol Sitahal, Terry Donald, Dwight Bacquie, Lorena Gale, Don Jordan, Winston Sutton, Fleurette Fernando, Nancy Delva, Kate Bligh and Rachael Van Fossen. Since July 2005 the artistic director has been Tyrone Benskin.
Black Theatre Workshop is Canada's oldest Black theatre company.
Many prominent Black Canadian playwrights have had their work produced by the theatre, including George Boyd (Wade in the Water, Le Code Noir), Vadney Haynes (Blacks Don't Bowl), Djanet Sears (Afrika Solo) and Andrew Moodie (Riot, A Common Man's Guide to Loving Women, The Lady Smith).
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award
Since 1986 the theatre has given out the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award, presented to an individual who has made a significant contribution to African-Canadian artistic and cultural life in Canada. Past honorees include: Oscar Peterson, Ranee Lee, Charlie Biddle, Rufus Rockhead, Dorothy Wills, Clarence Bayne, Oliver Jones, Trevor Payne, Daisy Peterson-Sweeney, Salome Bey, Lorraine Klaasen, Anthony Sherwood, Austin Clarke, Michelle Sweeney, Aldwin Albino, Anthony Salah I. Wilson, Djanet Sears, George Elliott Clarke, Jeri Brown, Walter Borden, Charles Ellison, Terry Donald, Ethel Bruneau Bertrand A. Henry and Winston Sutton .