Building Relationships

he Memphis Black Repertory Theatre opens its inaugural season in six weeks, but its founding partners already have their attention fixed on milestones far beyond the first opening night. They are actively engaged in implementing the first key elements of a long-range master plan to ensure the viability and growth of what will be the only professional theatre in the Mid-South committed to producing an annual season of works about people of African descent.

The Black Rep's principals, artistic director Harry Bryce and administrative director Tony Horne, don't subscribe to the attitude that characterizes the leadership of some emergent nonprofit organizations: Always set your sights low so that you can claim victory no matter what happens. Bryce and Horne aren't foolhardy or immodest, but they are confident and not a bit shy about airing their ambitious laundry list of goals and objectives.

Of six primary goals they have set, three are already in process. The first priority is finding a home. Currently, the company is in residence at TheatreWorks, the subsidiary experimental space of Playhouse on the Square that affords a base for less-established performing-arts groups. A "semi-autonomous" company under the Playhouse on the Square/Circuit Playhouse umbrella, the Memphis Black Repertory Theatre evolved from the conversations and combined efforts of Bryce, Horne, and Playhouse producing manager Jackie Nichols, and with First Tennessee Bravo and Memphis Arts Council grants awarded through the Playhouse entities earlier this year.

Although grateful for having a desk, a phone, and the shared black-box space at TheatreWorks, Bryce and Horne feel they can hardly hang their hats -- projected audience estimates for at least some of the shows in their first season have pushed the search for a larger theatrical home to the top of their priorities list. The premiere season is being billed as "a moveable feast." The jazzy musical revue Five Guys Named Moe, will play at the New Daisy Theatre on Beale, October 17th-26th. It will be followed by the drama Shakin' the Mess Outta Misery at TheatreWorks; Having Our Say at Circuit Playhouse February 20th-March 29th; and Athol Fugard's classic Master Harold and the Boys at TheatreWorks April 24th-May 10th.

"Something larger than Playhouse but smaller than The Orpheum," is Bryce's description of what would fit the bill for a permanent home for the Black Rep. He thinks such a 600-seat-or-so,"manageable" venue would fill a gap for the Memphis theatre community as a whole and would not compete detrimentally with the projected downtown performing-arts center.

The second major objective of the new company -- and one without which the building of both audiences and bricks-and-mortar will severely lag -- is building a passionate, savvy, and hardworking board of directors. Horne and Bryce are currently developing an "advisory board," seeking Memphians with an intelligent, informed passion for the company's process and products. They want a range of professional expertise and ethnicity and are intent on recruiting a strong percentage of younger forces in the community. Wisely, they are not interested in an impressive list of figurehead names; they hope, of course, to bring to the board some prominent figures, but they are interested in people who will actually have the time, interest, and focused commitment to pitch in and work. The currently formulating advisory board is being invited to serve for one year, to enable both staff and community volunteers to understand together expectations, needs, and plans. Formal invitations for a board of directors, based on this period of mutual assessment, will be extended next year. Next in the priority rankings is an academy offering training in the dramatic arts; moving from the Playhouse umbrella to becoming an independent nonprofit organization; and expanding the season with more shows.

The principals are eager for the Memphis Black Repertory Theatre to be a positive access for all Memphians to new racial understanding and unity. Bryce says: "African Americans are part of Western culture and we are Americans. Yet there is a difference as well -- whether we claim it or not. By providing mainstream theatre focusing primarily on works by and about African-Americans, we can reach out and offer to the whole community good theatre that helps build understanding about cultural identity and feelings. `Here are some differences; but here are so very many commonalities.'"

A central support of the artistic vision is an economic objective. "We want to create some jobs for African-American professionals who otherwise feel they must leave Memphis due to lack of opportunities. By bringing new and wonderful works to Memphis, we can also become an economic force; that will enhance our credibility and be the best sort of resource in forging practical and positive relationships in the city."

To these large purposes, Horne and Bryce bring some pretty substantial credentials of their own. Horne -- of whom Bryce says, "We're on very sound footing; we couldn't have a better person running this theatre," -- is a native Memphian, has worked as a marketing executive for Maybelline, Inc., and Nabisco, and holds an MBA in arts management from UCLA. He is currently pursuing an MFA in directing at the University of Memphis. Bryce, a graduate of LeMoyne-Owen College, returns to Memphis where he previously led the Harry Bryce Dance Theatre and guest-directed shows for Playhouse in its 1995 and '96 seasons. He has headed dance companies in Richmond and Atlanta, and has recently taught both theatre and dance at Spelman College in Atlanta.

"This is something I've always wanted to do. I'm in it for the long haul. And with Tony -- who is a perfectionist both as an artist and as a businessman -- community support, a strong board, and good product, we'll do it."