Big Plays in the Little Library Theatre

Monday, November 10, 2025

Schomburg Center, NYC

FREE!

In the early 20th Century, artists found a gathering space in the basement of the 135th Street Library. As a series of Black theater companies emerged in New York City, from the Harlem Renaissance through the 1940s, this basement doubled as a performance space. It was known as The Little Library Theatre. 

On Monday, November 10, 2025, Classix curated "Big Plays in the Little Library Theatre,"  a celebration of the Black theater companies and artists who contributed to the Black theatrical canon and transformed the New York theater landscape. These artists and the plays they created left an impression on the collective memories of the Black audiences who saw themselves represented on stage in their fullness and complexities.

With excerpts from

On Strivers Row by Abram Hill

Her by Eulalie Spence

Blue Blood by Georgia Douglas Johnson

Anna Lucasta by Philip Yordan and Abram Hill

Creative Team

Directed by Dominique Rider

Featuring: Amara James Aja*, Brittany Bradford*, Bjorn DuPaty*, Sean Boyce Johnson*, Bianca LaVerne Jones*, Alicia Pilgrim*

Production Stage Manager: Rachel April*

Dramaturgs: AJ Muhammad, Arminda Thomas

Assistant Director: amani meliyah

* Indicates member of Actors Equity Association

Panelists

Shawn Rene Graham (Classical Theater of Harlem), Garlia Jones (Harlem9), Voza Rivers (New Heritage Theater Company), Arminda Thomas (Classix). Moderated by Dominique Rider (Classix)