At age 12, I turned my love of theater into a career. As the youngest reporter chronicling what happens on the stage, what I’ve learned is that for much of Broadway’s history, Black artists fought for a seat at the table. But today, they’re building entirely new tables. We’re in a Black theater renaissance, and it’s reshaping what stories get told, who tells them, and who finally gets to see themselves up there on stage.
Many never imagined a Broadway piece could be called Slave Play, but there is. Written by Jeremy O. Harris, the award-winning production debuted on Broadway in 2019 and asked audiences to sit with its raw confrontations of race, sex, power dynamics, trauma, and interracial relationships.
Just as people were catching their breath, Jordan E. Cooper’s Ain’t No Mo’ hit the stage in 2022. This eight-part saga about Black people boarding a flight (No. 1619) to return to the motherland — for good — used satire like a scalpel to say something devastating about who America has never really made room for.
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has reimagined the Great American family drama, a form long dominated by white playwrights. As a new voice on the contemporary American family experience, he uses it to dig into legacy, faith, and, in the case of Purpose, a political dynasty coming apart from within. The play won both the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, making this a dinner table where we pulled up a chair.
The leaders of this movement are as diverse as the stories they tell. Tony-nominated director Whitney White continues to push theatrical boundaries through innovative storytelling on shows such as Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Liberation and The Whoopi Monologues. Playwright Jocelyn Bioh brings joy, humor, and African diaspora specificity to her work, and Douglas Lyons represents a new generation of artists who write, direct, and perform across disciplines.
The Renaissance also extends far beyond playwrights and performers. Director and choreographer Camille A. Brown has reshaped the language of movement on Broadway; producers Brian Moreland and Lamar Richardson continue to champion ambitious new works and expand opportunities for Black artists. Wig designer Nikiya Mathis, whose groundbreaking artistry earned her a Special Tony Award, represents the excellence of Black creatives working behind the scenes. And shows like Mexodus show us just how inventive theater can be.
Meanwhile, performers like Kara Young and Jasmine Amy Rogers are showing young artists
what is possible for a new generation of talent. Rogers’ breakout work in BOOP! and Young’s
historic Tony Award wins signal a future where Black excellence is part of Broadway’s foundation. Both actresses continue that momentum into the 2026-27 season: Rogers will star as Maria in Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of The Sound of Music and headline the Broadway premiere of Bioh’s School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play. Young stars in Mix and Master, a new play by Dominique Morisseau at Roundabout’s Todd Haimes Theatre.
What could the next 250 years look like? I imagine a Broadway where diversity is no longer a
milestone because it is simply the norm; a Broadway where Black artists are leading major
institutions, creating new theatrical forms, and telling stories that have not yet been imagined. If
the last decade has shown us anything, it is that the future of Broadway is not arriving. It is
already here, and Black artists are helping lead the way into this new, exhilarating golden age.
Read the complete Our Stage, Our Stories: 250 Years of Black Theater in America:
Act II: Notable Black Playwrights
Act III: The African American Musical
Act IV: Theater Beyond Broadway
Joel Crump is Broadway’s youngest working journalist, a media force who launched Broadway Time at just 12 years old. He serves as a Broadway Correspondent for News 12 and has hosted The Weekly Dose of Joel for the Broadway Podcast Network, where he breaks down Broadway news, history, and exclusive interviews with industry heavyweights. His reporting has been featured across ABC7, Fox 5, Variety, New York Magazine, Playbill, and EBONY.