THE WORKSHOP WAS CO-FOUNDED BY ACTOR MORGAN FREEMAN
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IN THE HEART OF THE CITY The Workshop has been based in the heart of Harlem for the past 34 years. This occurred at the urging of the New York State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Harlem Cultural Council, all of whom in 1973, made the Workshop "an offer it couldn't refuse." (The Photo on the right, by Bert Andrews, is of actors Morgan Freeman and Brent Jennings, starring in, "Sisyphus & The Blue-Eyed Cyclops," by Garland Lee Thompson, in 1975.) The Workshop ranks along with the Apollo Theatre, the New York Schomburg Center Library (See Online Catalog Records), the Studio Museum of Harlem, and the National Black Theatre, as one of the few continually running Theatres, creating new world-class performing Arts and Theatre in Harlem. The Workshop's Reading/Critique Series and Writers'/Directors' Staged Production Series had been located at the Harlem Victoria Five Theatre, until January, 1998, when the theatre closed. The Workshop is now seeking a new performing space after twenty years on West 125th street. The Workshop has continued to play a key role in the coodination of the Readers' Theatre Series of the National Black Theatre Festival that is presented every two years in Winston-Salem, N.C. (Returns in July 30 - August 4, 2007). The Workshop's administrative office moved to a new location on St. Nicholas Avenue and West 147th Street. This is after leaving the very same loft-theatre place that housed famed Black playwright Langston Hughes' legendary Harlem Suitcase Theatre of the 1930's. The Workshop is a memorial to the late great Black actor, director and teacher, Frank Silvera, that continues its original mission of reading, developing and showcasing (One of the few Equity approved showcase Theatre in Harlem) new, known, exciting playwrights' of all colors and backgrounds. For 34 seasons, the Workshop has continued religiously without fail, its OBIE and AUDELCO Award-winning Emerging Playwrights Festival of Writers'/Directors Series of productions. The Workshop plans to remain in Central Harlem, as its Monday Reading/Critique Series will continue at 301 W. 125th St., 3rd Floor (At 8th Ave.) the HarlemLive Internet Youth Magazine loft space. European, African and Asian tourists are likely and still have a chance to attend the provocative, innovative world premiere presentations of many the future "rich and famous" writers, directors, and actors of all colors, at the genesis of their creative lives and careers. |
The
Workshop was founded by playwright/director Garland Lee Thompson,
along with famed actor/director Morgan Freeman, director/actress Billie
Allen and journalist Clayton Riley,
in 1973.
Garland
Lee Thompson and Morgan Freeman worked closely in the beginning years
of the Workshop, to develop and present new playwrights and their
work. And now the Workshop is celebrating its thirty fourth anniversary
season starting in September, 2006 to May, 2007. Morgan Freeman is
one of the first of many actors, directors, producers, designers and
playwrights, who have emerged from the Workshop, to gain national
recognition for their work in the performing arts and film (Such as
actors Angela Bassett, Charles [Roc] Dutton and Danny Glover, etc.).
The
Workshop has built a long time-honored and prestigious reputation
as a nationally and internationally renown playwrights' development
theatre for up-coming and established artists of all colors, sizes
and shapes.
Director/actress,
Billie Allen (left, photo by Bert Andrews), also a co-founder of the
Workshop, recently directed the hit Off Broadway production of a new
play starring Ruby Dee, that was originally (1998) read at the Workshop,
"Saint Lucy's Eyes," by Bridgette Wimberly 
WHO WAS FRANK
SILVERA?