What's Inside?
Full Catalogue
Explore our selection of over 40 uniquely Black stories, vividly performed and expertly crafted.
Backstage
Get a deeper dive into the history and making of some of your favorite stories.
Interviews with Icons
Hear directly from some of the most influential talents in Black culture.
Listen Magazine
Enjoy a monthly magazine that contains sneak peeks, insightful information, and other tidbits.
First Monday Releases
Shirley Carney continues to share her craft and wisdom in this latest title MORE SWEET TEA. This collection of stories flows from the same session of recordings that yielded the wildly popular SWEET TEA.
In this title Shirley takes us deeper into the stories that shaped her life and her relationships. Much like any sultry night in the American south, let’s sit under the shade tree and pour us a tall glass of SWEET TEA.
Heather Ireland Robinson is a foundational member of MPAACT. Starting out as an undergrad at the University of Illinois Urbana, Heather made her way into the performing arts despite considerable pressure to do otherwise.
In the years that followed, Heather has carved out a unique path in the art of our city. She has helmed the Beverley Arts Center, the Southside Community Arts Center and is currently the Executive Director of the Jazz Institute of Chicago. Join us as we talk inspiration and perspiration with the divine Heather Ireland Robinson.
Shawn Wallace and Shepsu Aakhu began a journey together with Warm on the Coolin’ Board. Central to that journey was building the sound for the souls at the center of our story. Coolin’ Board is not a traditional musical, nor is it simply “a play with music.” Coolin’ Board is a spiritual for modern times. Through two productions, Shawn and Shepsu have lived in the collective trauma at the core of this story, and our need for communion. In volume one of this songbook, we look at Atabé… the opening to our play and our introduction to the world of souls.
Returning to Our Roots
From the time of our ancestors, our story and our history has been told orally. The Griot in our villages kept and told the oral history of our people, and passed it down to the next generations. More recently, our transplanted elders gathered the family around the victrola radio in the living room and listened to the news and stories of the world, as well as weekend episodes of the family’s favorite radio serials.
Birthed during the global pandemic which shuttered our theatre doors for a year, we took heart in the ability to return to our elders’ tradition. MPAACT invites you to stream our Podcast Play Series- radio plays presented for your enjoyment. Gather around with family and enjoy dynamically Black stories presented comfortably in your home.
Who We Are
MPAACT exists to develop, nurture, and sustain Afrikan Centered Theatre [ACT], an artistic expression grounded in the many cultures and traditions of the Afrikan continent and its Diaspora. With a vision focused on creating new work and collaborative art, MPAACT produces and educates with the goal of increasing understanding and appreciation of [ACT] and its interrelated disciplines.
MPAACT has grown from a collective of like-minded individuals who shared an artistic vision, to an organization that has produced a formidable body of work. This work includes: main stage productions, a playwright’s laboratory, standing productions, original music, a publishing company [Sakhu Publications], an arts education program, and many workshops and master classes.
It is important to us as a company that we, in everything we do, pull from the disparate cultural elements which unite artists in the Afrikan Diaspora. Drawing from the well that nourished artists such as Wole Soyinka, Charles Mingus, Adrienne Kennedy, Amiri Baraka and Bob Marley among others, we create and perform work, which examines and celebrates the many facets of Afrikan theatre.
Want to learn more? Visit our official website mpaact.org!
Contact
Greenhouse Theatre Center
2257 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL 60614
information@mpaact.org
661.373.3089
Mail: P.O. Box 10039
Chicago IL, 60610