The fall theater season is around the corner.  When the curtain opens, “Butterfly: Denise Williams a Life in Song,” plays for one night at Chicago’s Black Ensemble Theater on August 23. In Washington, DC, Mosaic Theater Company celebrates its 10th anniversary with several plays including “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill” September 5-October 6.

In Nairobi, “The Waiting Room,” is on the Kenya National Theater stage September 7 and September 8. Also on September 8, Washington, DC’s Woolly Mammoth opens “The Comeuppance,” set in Prince George’s County, MD. It runs until October 6. The play centers on the night of a 20th high school reunion of the self-proclaimed “Multi-Ethnic Reject Group.” I am wondering how comeuppance (a deserved rebuke or penalty) became the title.

“Comedy of Errors,” by William Shakespeare plays September 10-October 6 at Washington’s Shakespeare Theater Company at the Klein Theatre. You got to hand it to Shakespeare, he has been dead since 1616 and his works are still on stage.

In Houston, The Ensemble Theaters starts their season September 20 with “Stew,” until October 13. The story centers on three generations of African American women as they tangle with each other while attempting to meet a deadline for the eponymous one pot meal.

Langston Hughes “Black Naivety” plays at Baltimore Center Stage November 30-December 22.
From November-December, Woolly presents The Second City’s “Dance Like There’s Black People Watching.” DC’s Woolly Mammoth Theater promises this to be a hilarious brand-new show, created exclusively for the innovative theater and featuring the troupe’s world-renowned improv, an ensemble of rising comedy stars, songs, and sketches.

The on-stage season continues into the New Year from Chicago to Alexandria, VA. “A Raisin in the Sun” comes home at Chicago’s Court Theater Jan 31, 2025-Mar 02, 2025.  Of course the iconic play takes place in an apartment on Chicago’s Great South Side.

In New York City, the National Black Theater opens “Sweetwater: The Gospel Of Iman,” June 25, 2025-June 29, 2025, which delves into the strength of chosen family and honors the forgotten through the eyes of Umar, a young gay black writer residing in New York City during the AIDS epidemic. Umar and his closest female friend, Charlie, conjure the spirits of the lives lost by evoking the power of love, friendship, and magic

In Alexandria, VA, our missed Metro Stage Theater has been offering one night events at The Lyceum in Alexandria while waiting for a new home.  They are hoping to offer a tribute to James Baldwin during this centennial year of his birth. Not confirmed yet, but they are aiming for Monday, September 30, 2024 at 7pm.

“I am still fundraising and have raised almost $2M, but the cost to build out the theatre is now $3M. So we have not begun construction yet of our new home,” says Carolyn Griffin of MetroStage.  To keep informed of their next events, Griffin encourages you to sign up for their eblasts. To do so “go to MetroStage website and “Join our Email List,” at the bottom of the page, she directs.