National Black Theatre (Australia) facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The National Black Theatre (NBT) was an important theatre group run by Aboriginal people in Redfern, Sydney. It operated from 1972 to 1977. The idea for the theatre came from political movements, especially the land rights protests. These protests were organized by the Black Moratorium Committee.

The NBT offered many workshops, including modern dancing, traditional tribal dancing, writing for theatre, karate, and photography. It also provided a place for new Aboriginal plays to be performed. Famous students like Jack Davis, Freddie Reynolds, Maureen Watson, Lillian Crombie, and Hyllus Maris took drama classes there with Brian Syron. From 1974 to 1977, the company also ran the Black Theatre Arts and Culture Centre.

The Story of the National Black Theatre

How it All Began

Bob Maza and others started getting involved in community theatre in Melbourne. Bob had visited the United States and was very impressed by the political plays put on by African Americans and Native Americans. In 1971, Bob Maza and Jack Charles started the first Aboriginal theatre company called Nindethana at the Pram Factory.

After working as a director and actor in the United States, Brian Syron came back to Sydney. In 1969, he started acting classes for Indigenous actors like Gary Foley and Denis Walker at the Foundation for Aboriginal Affairs. In 1971, Paul Coe, a law student, asked Jenny Sheehan, a drama student, to lead classes for young people. They received a grant of A$870 in February 1972 to continue their workshops and play readings.

By 1972, the Aboriginal community in Redfern was using Street theatre as a way to protest. They put on plays to raise awareness about the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, land rights protests, and to help set up a legal service.

An art workshop helped print posters and create ceramics, sculpture, and carvings. The documentary Ningla A-Na (1972) showed the land rights movement and Aboriginal activism. It highlighted the theatre as an example of the growing push for self-determination.

Carole Johnson, an African-American dancer, visited Australia in early 1972. She saw the news about the tent embassy and understood the human rights issues. Johnson stayed in Sydney and, with a grant from the Australia Council for the Arts, started a dance workshop in May. By the end of the year, they were using St Luke's Church hall. This workshop led to the creation of NAISDA and the Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre.

Starting the Theatre Group

Paul Coe, Gary Foley, Jenny Sheehan, and Lester Bostock formed a theatre group called the National Black Theatre. Coe and Sheehan asked the Australia Council for the Arts for money to train actors and expand their drama workshops. They were initially turned down because they were new to this.

In mid-1972, Bob Maza was invited to Sydney to share his experience. He had worked with the National Black Theatre of Harlem, New York City, and written his own plays. His professional background helped them get the funding they needed. The Australia Council granted them A$5,500. They rented a house at 174 Regent Street. For workshops, they used the Murawina hall behind a church, provided by Wayside Chapel and the Aboriginal Women's Action Group. Bob Maza led the workshops when Coe and Sheehan went back to their studies.

When Carole Johnson traveled to Southeast Asia in September to study dance, Phemie Bostock, with help from Wayne Nicole, took over the dance group. Carole suggested creating an Aboriginal Community Arts – Education Centre to the Aboriginal Arts Advisory Committee. This idea captured what the community needed: social places, cultural programs, and training in Redfern.

First Shows and Performances

The first public performance by Black Theatre was a street play in 1972. It aimed to promote the Black Moratorium and the Gove land rights claim against Nabalco. This was even shown on national television.

Their next performance was to lead the Aboriginal land rights protest on 14 July, during NAIDOC Day. The Pitjantjatjara phrase N'ingla-a-na, meaning "We are hungry for our land," became their rallying cry.

Six days later, on 20 July, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra was removed. When the tent embassy was put back up on 30 July 1972, the Black Theatre performed the Dance of the Embassy, also called The Challenge. This dance showed the history of conflict between Aboriginal people and Europeans. It powerfully expressed the feelings of that time.

On 7 September, the dance group performed a public concert at the Friends' hall in Devonshire Street, Surry Hills. They showed class work and new material. The Embassy dance, now called Awakening, was changed to include traditional Aboriginal movements.

Basically Black Play

When Bob Maza came to Sydney, he joined a training program for directors and actors. Since they didn't have their own performance space, the political show Basically Black was performed at the Nimrod Theatre Company's Stables Theatre. It was directed by Ken Horler. The cast included Aileen Corpus, Gary Foley, Zac Martin, Bob Maza, and Bindi Williams. The show was a sharp satire, responding to a High Court decision against a traditional land claim. It opened on 27 October and ran successfully for about five or six weeks until 3 December 1972.

The last show happened at the same time as a federal election. The ALP and Gough Whitlam won after twenty years of conservative rule. The cast, crew, and audience celebrated in the theatre foyer, watching the election results on TV.

Around this time, advertising agencies started offering work to local Aboriginal people. This led to the creation of Ebony Profile, a part of NBT. It was a casting agency that helped people get experience in advertising, television, and films.

By the end of 1972, NBT was located at 181 Regent Street. It was like a main organization for many different groups.

1973: Growth and Challenges

The Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council was formed at the Black Theatre in 1973. This showed how important the theatre was as a community center.

Basically Black Tour and TV Show

Basically Black was very popular with Aboriginal people and toured the eastern states the next year. The show was invited to the Innisfail Festival in Queensland. The Black Theatre group believed they would get funding and started their tour. Visiting missions and reserves was important because there were many human rights issues in Queensland.

Ted Maza, Bob Maza's nephew, who was involved in the music, said: "It was a white bus, and on the side of it had Black Theatre and Basically Black underneath it. And in those days we had a lot of looks and stares of people wondering what all these blackfellas in this bus here..."

However, the promised funding from the Council for the Arts did not arrive. This put a lot of pressure on their very small budget. A new musical called Millingurri was planned for March. Most of its songs were original, and some were even recorded. But NBT could not continue operating. Lester Bostock and then Tony Coorey took over as administrators after the tour. Funds were frozen for some time.

The cast reunited for an ABC Television version of Basically Black. In 1993, at an Aboriginal Medical Service meeting, Gary Foley said: "The first black television show by the ABC, which was a version of Basically Black, had some scripts culled by non-Aboriginal scriptwriters from the original production."

These events laid the groundwork for many new projects. It showed that Aboriginal-led theatre was possible. The next step was to find a permanent performance space.

First National Seminar on Aboriginal Arts

The first National Seminar on Aboriginal Arts was held in Canberra in May 1973. It was sponsored by the Aboriginal Arts Board (AAB). Paul Coe, Brian Syron, Gary Foley, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, and others discussed future possibilities. Many liked the idea of mobile shows and workshops that could tour different areas. Syron suggested a black theatre in each state, to add to, not replace, traditional forms. A group performed short plays about current issues.

Carole Johnson returned in November to work as a consultant for the Urban Theatre Committee (UTC). This meant she focused more on helping to find a building for Black Theatre than on dance workshops.

For the first time, a theatre company used Aboriginal people to play Aboriginal characters. The Sydney Theatre Company produced The Story of Bennelong. Boddy's The Cradle of Hercules was performed at the Sydney Opera House Old Tote theatre.

1974: The Black Theatre Arts and Culture Centre Opens

The Black Theatre group came back together. At first, they had no money, but then they received funding from the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and the AAB to create and manage a center. As Casey said: "One of the major problems facing Aboriginal artists was the battle to be taken seriously as artists rather than as social issues to be supported. To this end, the Black Theatre's achievement of establishing its own performance space was an important step. The resulting exposure of their theatre work to a wider audience was another major step."

Black Theatre Arts and Culture Centre

The Black Theatre Arts and Culture Centre was set up in a hall at 27-31 Cope Street (then called Botany Street). It was next to the Methodist Church (now Uniting Church). It operated from 1974 until 1977.

The center officially opened on 26 July 1974. Singer Bettie Fisher accepted the role to run the center. She brought attention to the theatre by inviting famous black artists like Roberta Flack and Russand Roland Kirk to the opening. She hired Aboriginal theatre director, actor, and teacher Brian Syron to help set it up. They leased a huge, empty former printing factory for A$15,000 a year. The inside was painted in cream, orange, and brown, using paint donated by Pascol Paint. With help from friends like Tom Hogan and Kevin Cook from the Builders' Labourers Federation, Bettie Fisher renovated the old warehouse. She created a theatre and studio area.

By November 1974, it was fully operational.

The theatre had seating for 100 people in a semicircle, built on scaffolding with cushions. The main focus was on training and workshops. Casey shared a story about a Koori parent leaving their child at the center, saying: "You go in there and get what I can’t give you. Those theatre people can give it to you."

The center had many purposes:

Developing skills
Providing a place for artists and the community
Being a theatre center
Offering exhibition space
Showcasing the work of Aboriginal fashion designers
Being a meeting place for local and international visitors
Acting as a central point for the community
Serving as a youth center
Helping members of the Stolen Generations begin their search for family
Connecting non-Aboriginal producers and directors with Aboriginal actors, like film director Peter Weir.

The first play staged at the theatre was The Chocolate Frog, written by Jim McNeil. Bettie Fisher, who was on the executive committee of the Foundation for Aboriginal Affairs, started workshops for prison inmates using this play.

Syron and Johnson worked on a workshop program to improve black theatre across Australia. Johnson went back to the United States in May but returned in 1975, determined to "get dance on solid ground."

1975: Major Productions and Training

After sixteen months of trying, the center received a small amount of government funding (A$9,200) from the Department of Aboriginal Affairs.

Dance Showcase

A joint dance program with the Sydney dance group, Queensland's Yelangi Dance Company, and Torres Strait Island Dancers was presented in February. A short performance on 6 April introduced funding bodies to the work being done by the Black Theatre.

The Cake Man Play

The first serious play produced at the center was The Cake Man, on 12 January 1975. The play was written in 1974 by Bob Merritt from Erambie Mission. Merritt wrote The Cake Man while he was in prison. The play was then secretly taken out of the prison by the Prison Education Officer and given to the Australian National Playwrights Conference. Katharine Brisbane and her husband Phillip Parsons, who founded Currency Press, passed the script to Bob Maza. In the play, Merritt expressed what he believed was the cause of Aboriginal sadness.

Brian Syron described it as: "a poignant fragment of latter day mythology and a powerful Australian play which traces white man's devastation of Blacks over the 200 years to 1974." Katharine Brisbane added that it was "about a Bible-loving mother, and how a small boy's innocent faith transforms the life of a white Scrooge. But the identification with the characters which the cast immediately made gave the performed work a compelling emotional drive."

The play was directed by Bob Maza. Most of the cast came from the Redfern community, including Justine Saunders, Zac Martin, Teddy Phillips, and an eight-year-old Lisa Maza. Non-Aboriginal actors Max Cullen and Danny Adcock also starred. Gerry Bostock shared a story about how, during a scene where two white thugs attacked a group, visitors from Elcho Island became so angry they tried to climb onto the stage to help, yelling "I'll help ya, brother!".

After initially being refused, Merritt was finally allowed to attend opening night under guard. The cast refused to go on stage until his handcuffs were removed. Lisa Maza gave him a cake at the end. The play was a huge success, with large Koori audiences attending. Casey emphasized how important this was: it was the first completely Aboriginal-written, initiated, controlled, full-length, professional, and recognized production.

After this success, NBT continued to grow, receiving a grant for A$86,000 in June 1975.

Six-Week Training Program

The first national performing arts training for Aboriginal people had a big impact. It helped the participants and encouraged performing arts in Sydney. Syron and Johnson, as members of the UTC, created a continuous training plan. This plan aimed to encourage new interests, increase visibility and participation, and show the need for a permanent course or school. It was funded by the Commonwealth Department of Education and the Aboriginal Arts Board, and supported by the Black Theatre.

28 students were chosen from across the country through small workshops held in major cities. This "traveling theatre" also helped build connections. Syron taught drama, Johnson and Nicol taught dance, Ande Reese taught writing, and Tom Rosser taught karate. The intense six-week course took place at the Black Theatre in Redfern in June and July. Students included Maureen Watson, Jack Davis, Lillian Crombie, Andrew Jackamos, Hylus Maris, Wayne Nicol, Christine Donnelly, Aileen Corpus, Zac Martin, John Bayles, and Lorraine Mafi.

On the last night, the group performed plays and dances they had written or choreographed. Over 300 people came from all over the country, even without advertising.

Syron met with Carole Johnson and Ande Reese to discuss making a film about The Six Weeks Workshop. He believed that history was being made and needed to be recorded. Reese, like Johnson, was an African American living in Sydney with experience in film and television in the United States. She had been a screenwriting fellow at the American Film Institute, so she started working on a film that would be finished in 1976.

What Came Next

After the six-week training program, people could, for the first time, see the possibility of getting jobs in the arts.

Members of the dance group asked for more specialized training. A Careers in Dance course started in October. It moved to Bodenweiser Dance Studio in Chippendale. This move caused some sadness in the Redfern community. This was the beginning of the Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Scheme (AISDS), which later became the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA) and the Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre (AIDT). The Bangarra Dance Theatre also grew from this in 1989.

Christine Donnelly applied for a grant to continue dance workshops at the Centre but was initially refused.

In August, Johnson and Syron were no longer consultants for the Aboriginal Arts Board. They were the only consultants for the UTC with experience in performing arts.

While the dance group focused on further education, most of the drama students found work. Many also did well in other areas of performing arts. Yvette Isaacs received a music scholarship. She is now known as Maroochy Barambah, a successful musician. She has performed in leading roles and started a recording company. Jack Davis became a playwright, Cheryl Stone became a booking agent, and Maureen Watson became a well-known storyteller and started Radio Redfern. Christine Donnelly founded the Aboriginal Dance Theatre Redfern (ADTR) in 1979 to serve the Redfern community. Lucy Jumawan has worked there for many years as a senior dance teacher.

Performances

Jack Davis presented his second one-act play, The Biter Bit.

Bettie Fisher continued to invite international black artists to perform at the Black Theatre. Despite some resistance from non-Aboriginal entertainment managers, groups like the band Osibisa and Ghanaian drummers visited.

1976: Challenges and a Prize-Winning Film

A season of "black plays by black artists" was planned, including works by Gerry Bostock, Wole Soyinka, Ione Elder, and Archie Shepp. Bettie Fisher, the director of the Black Theatre Arts and Cultural Centre, sadly passed away on 12 May 1976, still in her thirties. After her death, the company struggled to get funding.

Funding Problems

A proposed grant of A$86,000 from the Federal government for the 1976–77 financial year was withdrawn in June 1976. The Aboriginal Arts Board, under the new Liberal government, did not support the organization. They were also critical of Lester Bostock being appointed as Bettie Fisher's replacement. Ironically, the Board was planning to spend A$197,000 to send 30 Aboriginal performers to Nigeria for the second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture.

Marcia Langton believed that the Black Theatre faced difficulties because their work challenged what people expected of Aboriginal people. Justine Saunders agreed, saying they were "challenging stereotypes, presenting real human beings dealing with conflict."

Film: Tjintu Pakani – Sunrise Awakening

Brian Syron noted that Tjinto-Pakani: Sunrise Awakening was completed. It included footage of the first professional performance by Black Theatre's dance group, directed by Johnson in 1976. The film won first prize in the documentary category at the Sydney Film Festival in May that year. It was also shown in Paris, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and had a private screening at Universal Studios in Hollywood. A shorter version was shown on ABC Television.

One of the performances in the film was the Embassy dance, this time performed with traditional movements.

In an interview in September 1977, Ande Reese said that when she made Sunrise Awakening, Aboriginal people "wanted to know why they couldn't make their own films about themselves and how and what they were doing. They asked why films about Aborigines were invariably made by the white middle class." As Syron wrote, "We would ask that question for many years to come."

1977: The End of an Era

ABC TV made a television version of the play The Cake Man in 1977. This made it the first telemovie written by an Aboriginal playwright, Bob Merritt. After its success, Merritt tried to put on another stage production of the play with director George Ogilvie. The production opened at the Bondi Pavilion, Bondi Beach in Sydney on 30 April 1977. It was the first Aboriginal play to be performed in mainstream European Australian theatre. Syron's and Saunder's performances were highly praised.

Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser announced that cultural activities involving Aboriginal people would no longer be helped by the Department of Aboriginal Affairs. Instead, they would become the responsibility of the Australia Council. However, no extra money was given to the Council for these new responsibilities. Lester Bostock remembered that the Theatre had asked both the department and the Australia Council for help but received no reply. The lack of funding became a huge burden on the Theatre and everyone involved. As Langton explained: "With no grants for over a year, the burden of supporting the centre plus making a living burnt people out."

By the end of 1977, the Black Theatre had closed its doors.

What Came After: New Beginnings

In 1979, Christine Donnelly, who had been part of the six-week program, founded the Aboriginal Dance Theatre to serve the Redfern community. It was located next to the original Black Theatre site.

In 1982, The Cake Man (by Bob Merritt), starring Justine Saunders, Graham Moore, and Syron, and directed by Syron, was invited to the World Theatre Festival in Denver, Colorado. It played to full houses and received great praise.

Merritt went on to become the first Aboriginal screenwriter to co-write a feature film, originally called Running Man and released as The City's Edge (1983). He was also the first Indigenous screenwriter of the feature film Short Changed (1986).

In 1984, Merritt established the Eora Centre for visual and performing arts in Redfern. This center offered young Aboriginal people a full education in the arts. He was a consultant producer for a documentary film about it, Eora Corroboree (1985). This was the first in a series of documentaries called Black Futures. David Gulpilil helped with the soundtrack.

In 1987, the First National Black Playwrights' Conference was held. It was led by Brian Syron, thanks to the efforts of people like Chicka Dixon, Gary Foley, and Rhoda Roberts.

The Aboriginal National Theatre Trust was set up in Sydney in the mid-1980s.

In 1988, Carole Johnson was a founding member and the first director of the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA). She played a big role in training Aboriginal and Islander dancers and actors in movement, dance, and choreography. NAISDA is based on Johnson's idea that young people would learn traditional dance from their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders while also studying modern dance.

Johnson also played a key role in starting the Bangarra Dance Theatre in 1989. She was a founder and first member of the theatre, which began in the Police Boys Club in Pitt Street, Redfern. The Bangarra Dance Theatre performed their first professional show in 1990 in Brian Syron's feature film Jindalee Lady. This was the first feature film directed by an Indigenous Australian.

Its Big Impact and Lasting Importance

Many important arts organizations grew out of the Black Theatre, including Aboriginal Dance Theatre Redfern (1979), NAISDA Dance College, Bangarra Dance Theatre, and Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative. It also launched the careers of Bob Maza and many others.

The ABC Radio National program Hindsight summarized: "Black Theatre had a profound impact on the Australian arts scene of today. It was also the place where many well known Aboriginal performers got their break. And its legacy is still apparent in today’s arts scene."

It was also true that: "The centre also functioned as an informal meeting-place for Redfern Blacks who previously had few places in which to gather, save for the local pubs where they encountered prejudice from the Whites and aggression from the police."

Bettie Fisher said: "The centre for me is my blood, my guts, my heart and my soul, for my people and their culture. I’m a very emotional person as far as this centre is concerned. Because there is a helluva need for it."

Gerry Bostock said: "It was a major step in breaking down barriers, as for many people attending Black Theatre, it was their first visit to Redfern."

Lester Bostock said: "Its whole emphasis was to put the points across to its own community. That was the first step. By the people, for the people. All those other things that happened are secondary."

He also added: "Black Theatre is no longer in Redfern, but in a spiritual sense, as a philosophy of an ideal, it's still alive. The dreams and aspirations of those people are still carried on. When you see people like the Page boys, and you see programs like ICAM, and all these other things, those ideals are still there. The people are still called by the community the Black Theatre people. Even though it's an empty lot now, it's still called the Black Theatre site."

"It developed a state of mind and it was also a focus of energy, because it became part of Redfern, where the Kooris and Murries knew their grass roots and knew their artistic endeavours. Many individuals have gone onto radio, television, dance or drama and now contemporary Aboriginal culture is recognised throughout the world."

Kevin Smith said: "It inspired a confidence in the community, that things could be done, and a message could be given. Black Theatre itself was a message stick."

"It was also a refuge, a smart option, a vehicle and a place [to go] without being harassed by police and police dogs, being set upon and attacked and then having a criminal record."

Marcia Langton said: "It was very much a community centre. During rehearsals lots of people would come to watch how things were done in the theatre. It was one of those periods when a group of people with amazing backgrounds came together, Maza, Foley, Merritt and Syron, and it worked. It was a hothouse."

Justine Saunders said: "It gave the possibility of life... It was wonderful. .. the best thing I ever did, it fine-tuned me. It gave the chance to touch base with my culture. It was a blessing to a people."

What Happened to the Site and Black Theatre's Future

The Future of the Site

After the Black Theatre closed, its building was given to the Redfern Aboriginal community. It went to a group called the Organisation for Aboriginal Unity (OAU). The OAU included members from all existing organizations and individuals at the time (1975). The OAU and Charles Perkins wanted the site to become a cultural center for the Redfern community. However, there was never enough money to develop it. It then became a place where people lived without permission.

Since new organizations exist now that didn't exist then, like Wyanga (next door) and the Local Land Council, the Aboriginal community formed another group called the Redfern Aboriginal Authority. This happened in late 2004 after suggestions that the NSW Government planned to take land owned by Aboriginal people in Redfern's Block. When ATSIC was closed in 2005, the Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC) took over managing the site. They redeveloped it in 2008, working with Sol Bellear, the CEO of the Redfern Aboriginal Authority. The ILC asked Aboriginal businesses and organizations in arts, multimedia, retail, or hospitality if they were interested in using the space. Koori Radio moved in and set up a recording studio.

The Future of Black Theatre

In 1986, Brian Syron, on behalf of the Australia Council's Aboriginal Arts Board, published a "Questionnaire seeking support for establishment of National Aboriginal Theatre Company." This was before a National Black Playwrights Workshop at James Cook University in Townsville.

In 2007, a new black theatre group formed in Redfern. Moogahlin Performing Arts was created in November 2007 by Indigenous theatre artists, educators, and community workers. They did this to honor Kevin Smith's request and to remember the founding members of the Black Theatre.

In 2012, the origins of The Black Theatre were celebrated in the Sydney Festival's Black Capital program.