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Beginnings
Due to displacement and segregation in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many African Americans were aided by settlement homes for not only economic and social services, but programming for the arts as well. The Hallie Q. Brown Community Center of St. Paul, Minnesota, much like the South Side Settlement house in Chicago and Henry Street Settlement house in New York, wanted to invest more in its art programming because it gave community members the tools to craft a voice within a community through visual arts, music, literature, and theatre. These centers were not only a popular outlet for entertainment, but also a critical part of the Black Arts Movement where African Americans spoke out about racial inequalities and allowed them to shape a sense of identity. The Hallie Q. Brown Community Center’s second executive director, Henry R. Thomas, drafted a construction plan to incorporate a fully functional theater within it’s Martin Luther King Jr. facility to support these demands.

In 1976, the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) awarded the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center a $150,000 grant to further develop its cultural arts programming. The CETA appointed Lou Bellamy, a theatre arts graduate student at University of Minnesota, as the center’s cultural arts director where he later founded the Penumbra Theatre Company.

1977-1978 Productions
Eden (1976) by Steve Carter was the first production to launch of the 1977-1978 season of the Penumbra Theatre Company. It explores diversity of ethnicities within the African American community. The Negro Ensemble Company had recently premiered this performance, giving the Penumbra a direct tie to the Black Arts movement. Another relation to the movement is Ed Bullins, a prominent editor, theorist, and playwright who wrote Penumbra’s second production, the 1975 Broadway transfer of The Taking of Miss Jane. The third production, Heartland, Louisiana, showcases original work by Penumbra’s resident playwright, Horace Bond, who was Bellamy’s former graduate advisor and mentor. Bond focused mainly on developing African American productions, particularly in the south. This proved successful in captivating and connecting African American audiences who either grew up in the heavily segregated south and moved to northern cities or had relatives that had done so. For the fourth production, the Company staged the historic work of William Wells Brown’s The Escape; or, a Leap for Freedom. Penumbra chose to actively produce plays that dealt with the implications and practices of minstrelsy in an effort to further investigate the history of African American theatre.

Establishing Moral Precedent
The Penumbra Theatre Company established many of its core mission statements and values within its first season of production with the help of the core programs established at the Hallie Q. Brown Community center. First off, productions provided low ticket costs, child day care services, and special matinee performances for senior citizens. Secondly, supports and encourages a multiethnic community of members, similar to the Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis. Many company members worked at Mixed Blood Theatre simultaneously with Penumbra or previously, including Bellamy being one of it’s original members. Bellamy soon left Mixed Blood theatre in pursuit of his new creative control as cultural arts director at at Hallie Q. Brown Community Center. Penumbra initially identified itself as a multiracial company. While the company’s members, staff, and audience has always been ethnically diverse, their leadership and productions have a distinguishable dominance of African American culture. As it’s first few seasons continued, it began to fully emerge as an African American theatre company.

Original Ensemble Company

 * Estelene Bell
 * Mazi Johnson
 * Claude Purdy
 * Faye M. Price
 * Abdul Salaam El Razzac
 * James A. Williams
 * Marion McClinton
 * August Wilson

Original Staff

 * Ken Evins
 * W. J. E. “Strider” Hammer
 * Scott Peters
 * Anne Deem
 * Rick Thompson
 * Ron Schultz
 * Mary Winchell

Critical Reception and Awards

 * In 2000, Danny Glover presented the Penumbra Theatre company with the Jujamcyn Award in New York City, putting the company on the top list of regional theatres.


 * Ivy Award for Excellence in Acting: Dennis Spears for his portrayal of Nat Cole in I Wish You Love.
 * Ivy Award for Excellence in Acting: Jasmine Hughes, acting in Sunset Baby.