Talk:127th Street Repertory Ensemble

Working on Fact Checking
I am working on trying to prove or disprove the facts of this article I am going to remove these names from the article page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chrislk02 (talk • contribs) 12:49, November 15, 2006 (UTC)
 * I can find nothing out there saying that Jamie Foxx was part of the 127th street ensemble. I will remove his name from the list.
 * I cannot find any sources to cite for Will Smith either.
 * I can find NOTHING on Morgan Freeman and the 127th street ensemble.

I am a former member of the 127th Street Repertory Ensemble/African American Studio for Acting and Speech. Ernie McClintock founded the company in the early 70s to give Black actors an opportunity to work and study exclusively as Black actors, doing work about and for the Black community. Actors studied acting with Ernie before earning an opportunity to be cast in one of his productions. He had a specific style of acting that eventually became known as "Jazz Acting." I worked with the company off and on from, 1983 - 1997 by which time Ernie moved to Richmond Virginia. While in New York I performed in a number of 127th Street Repertory Ensemble productions, and witnessed many more. They included, "Spell #7," "Dream on Monkey Mountain," "A Hand is on the Gate," "Moon Over a Rainbow Shawl," 'Zooman and the Sign," "El Hajj Malik," the all Black Audelco winning production of "EQUUS" and the infamous production of "A Raisin in the Sun," with Minnie Gentry as Momma and Tupac Shakkur as Travis when he was twelve years old. I played Walter Lee, Carolyn Jenkins was Beneatha, Helen Butler was Ruth, Gregory Wallace was George Murchison, Charles Watts was Asagai, and Bruce Jenkins played BoBo. So, to clarify, the 127th Street Repertory Ensemble was one of the major theatre companies on the scene in New York City during the 80s. Levy Lee Simon 74.62.44.243 (talk) 23:21, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

Can this article ever stand on its own?
Googling for "127th Street Ensemble" produces only one-sentence or two-sentence references in relation to Tupac Amaru Shakur's having a role there in 1983, being cast at age 12 in the role of Travis in a production of A Raisin in the Sun staged at the Apollo Theater. Several hits of the Google search call it the "famous" 127th Street Ensemble (e.g. here), but not a single other fact about this group can be found (other members, other productions, founded when, where, or by whom, active when). For an allegedly famous group, that is not much. For all I know, the group only existed briefly in 1983 and staged a single production, and its only claim to notability is young Tupac's role in the play. --Lambiam 13:51, 3 September 2009 (UTC) The reason that you don't find much on this company is that it was formerly called The Afro-American Studio for Acting and Speech. If you Google under that name, you will learn that this studio/ company had a very rich history. Under the direction of genius, Ernie McClintock, the studio produced not only Tupac but also some other well-known actors who are still working in the field today. Ernie was my mentor and I was one of the instructors there in the early eighties Bruce Wallace 9/10/2013 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.139.11.22 (talk) 02:57, 11 September 2013 (UTC)

127th Street Repertory Ensemble
The name the group used was actually 127th Street Repertory Ensemble, as can be seen from the fliers reproduced on p. 30 of I have no time now to work on this, but apparently it was founded by Ernie McClintock in 1966 or 1967 as an extension of his Afro-American Theatre with an acting school, located at 415 West 127th Street (source: A history of African American theatre by Errol Hill and James Vernon Hatch, Cambridge University Press (2003), ISBN 978-0521624435, p. 401). It may still exist as the African-American Studio for Acting and Speech (source: entry at Art Spaces Archives Project). A notable member was Richard Gant (source: bio of Richard Gant at Jeff Goldberg Management). --Lambiam 23:19, 7 September 2009 (UTC)

Update: Ernie Claude McClintock died August 26, 2003 (source: memorial services announcement). --Lambiam 23:39, 7 September 2009 (UTC)