The Billie Holiday Theatre Presents the Next Edition of its New Theater Series “Black Narrative” In Collaboration with The New Black Fest

As part of its Spring 2025 Season, The Billie Holiday Theatre presents the next edition of its new theater series “Black Narrative” in collaboration with the award-winning New Black Fest. Launched in Fall 2024, the series celebrates the power of Black storytelling and The New Black Fest celebrates, advocates and showcases diverse and provocative work in a festival format of Black theater artists from across the African Diaspora. Curated by Keith Josef Adkins, The New Black Fest at The Billie Holiday Theatre will bring together Brooklyn-based theatermakers, filmmakers and thinkers for a collective demonstration of empowerment, innovation and joy in the midst of what is a constantly changing social and political landscape. From an odyssey through a Haitian-American woman’s experience in America to a Cameroonian-American artist’s riff on perseverance to what it means to be Black, American and conscious in the world today, this two-day festival will explore and underscore the importance of storytelling that gives voice to the African Diasporic experience.

For its Friday night event, “Black Narrative” will feature a presentation of Tony nominee Pascale Armand’s one-woman show  $#!thole Country Clapback: A Redux. Directed by Stephanie Rolland, the piece is a smart and savvy rebuttal to Donald Trump’s ongoing comments about Haiti as well as a chronicle of the journey of Armand’s family from Haiti to becoming American citizens.

 On Saturday, the focus will center around new stories and storytellers from across the African Diaspora. The event will kick off with “How Do We Define Black Courage,” a panel of artists and thinkers discussing the current state of Black theater moderated by Brooklyn-based arts advisor Rob Fields followed by a performance of a diverse group of storytellers. Participants include: Andrea Ambam (Storyteller); DN Bashir (Playwright); Nsangou Njikam (Actor/Playwright); Renaldho Pelle (Filmmaker ), Russell G. Jones (Storyteller), Lauren A. Whitehead (Playwright) and Liza Jessie Peterson (Activist/Playwright/Filmmaker). Goldie Patrick will direct. The day will also feature the showing of two short films with Renaldho Pelle’s The Fire Next Time and Liza Jessie Peterson’s Black Love Manifesto, Suite 1.