Great Lakes Wire

City of Detroit, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, join the Black Theatre Network (BTN) to host “Broadway Comes Home to Detroit,” a celebration of Detroit Tony Award winners and nominees

DETROIT - Detroit’s Broadway stars are coming home on July 24 when the City of Detroit, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, and the Black Theatre Network host a press conference and homecoming reception to celebrate one of the best Broadway seasons for Detroit and black thespians ever.

Mayor Mike Duggan will honor Michael R. Jackson, Dominique Morisseau, Ron Simons, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Marilyn McCormick, Chante Adams, and theatre legend Woodie King, Jr. at the 3PM press conference in the Rotunda of The Wright. The mayor will unveil a bust of King that will live at the Wright. The press event, which will be live-streamed, will be followed by the public reception.

The celebration opens the 36th annual convention of the Black Theatre Network, the national organization dedicated to the exploration and preservation of the theatrical visions of the African Diaspora. The organization plans to open an office in Detroit to cement a partnership with the Office of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship to elevate Black theatre in the city.

The reception will be followed by a BTN presentation in the General Motors Theatre on the history of Black theatre in Detroit. The conversation will feature King, Wayne State Professor, historian, and playwright Bill Harris and Detroit native Michael Dinwiddie, an associate professor of dramatic writing at New York University. The conversation will be moderated by Rochelle Riley, the City’s Director of Arts and Culture. “Detroit’s theatre history is so rich, so heralded and so hidden,” Riley said. “Diahann Carroll became the first African American to win a Tony Award in a play that first premiered at the Fisher Theatre here.”

Both events require registration:

Reception: bit.ly/broadwaytodetroit 

BTN conversation: https://DetroitStar.eventbrite.com

Original source can be found here.