_and_Forrest_McClendon(Ethereal)_in_the_original_Off-Broadway_production_of_James_Baldwin-_A_Soul_On_Fire-_New_Federal_Theatre,_New_York_circa_2000-_2013-10-03_16-37_(cropped).jpg)
The New Federal Theatre is a theatre company named after the African-American branch of the Federal Theatre Project, which was created in the United States during the Great Depression to provide resources for theatre and other artistic programs. The company has operated out of a few different locations on Henry Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Since 1970, the New Federal Theatre has provided its community with a stage and collection of talented performers to express the voices of numerous African-American playwrights.[1]
The New Federal Theatre boasts nationally known playwrights such as Ron Milner (Checkmates), Ed Bullins (The Taking of Miss Janie), and Ntozake Shange (For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf) as well as actors including Jackée Harry, Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, Debbie Allen, Phylicia Rashad, Dick Anthony Williams, Glynn Turman, Taurean Blacque, Samuel L. Jackson, and Laurence Fishburne.[2]