WJLA (ABC7) Washington DC Interview

by Robert Burton/ABC7Thursday, February 11th 2021

Click here to watch the recorded segment. 

WASHINGTON (ABC7) — In honor of Black History Month, ABC7 is putting the spotlight on the oldest Black student acting group in the country.

The Howard Players of Howard University were official established 114 years ago, 1907. However, the groundwork began year before that by Carlie Franklin Cook. Cook, a descendant of slaves, taught elocution at Howard in in the 1890’s.

Notable members of the acting group include Phylicia Rashad of The Cosby Show, Nobel Prize Winner Toni Morrison and Chadwick Boseman a.k.a. The Black Panther.

The Howard Players changed the game for black theatre as it was nearly nonexistent in the early 1900’s in Washington D.C.

Howard Professor of Theatre Arts Denise Hart told Good Morning Washington’s Robert Burton this group gave Black people a chance to see themselves on the stage.

“Once the Howard Players began to have seasons and produce, Black people of means, who had the finances and the desire could come and see theater produced for, by and about African Americans and black folk” says Hart.

“It gave an avenue for other people, not only Black people, to see the narrative, the stories centered around the Black experience”