South Bend Civic Theatre plays shedding light on Black culture

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The South Bend Civic Theatre is celebrating Black Heritage amid the Juneteenth holiday celebrations with a series of plays highlighting Black History.

The theatre aims to perform all ten plays of the American Century Cycle written by August Wilson, which showcase the African-American experience throughout the twentieth century.

“I think sharing our communities' stories is one of the most important things that a theater can do and especially sharing underrepresented stories," said Aaron Nichols the Executive Director South Bend Civic Theatre.

Showing right now is Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, a play about freed African-American slaves, and which features a majority African American cast.

“This is momentous on so many levels. First to have an all-African American cast sitting on stage is just something that’s unheard of. My daughter got into theater because no one looked like her on the stage,” said cast member Jasmine Brown.

“Even myself my eyes have been opened to some things during this play, I’ve also been learning things about African Americans in that time and to relate it to days’ time,” added Shane Williams, who’s also another cast member in the play.

The theatre is expected to finish the whole American Century Cycle series by 2030.

Joe Turner’s Come and Gone runs this weekend with the last show on Sunday, Juneteenth.

For more information on how to get tickets, visit www.sbct.org or call (574) 234-1112.