Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY, Inc. is pleased to announce its 2024-2025 season
“Berta, Berta” by Angelica Chéri
October 17, 2024 – October 27, 2024
At theREP – Lauren and Harold Iselin Studio
251 N Pearl Street, Albany NY 12207
Set in 1920s Mississippi, “Berta, Berta” tells the story of Leroy, a Black man sent to jail for following a White woman down the street to help her–a supposed crime that never existed. Prison changes him and upon getting out, he finds himself to be a true criminal. Before giving himself back up to the police, he is determined to make amends with his long-lost girlfriend, Berta. The play highlights themes of doomed love, tragic misunderstandings, a flawed and biased prison system, and magical realism.
“Once on This Island”
Book & Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. Music by Stephen Flaherty.
February 6, 2025 – February 16, 2025
At theREP – Main Stage
251 N Pearl Street, Albany, NY 12207
“This highly original and theatrical Caribbean adaptation of the popular fairy tale, The Little Mermaid, garnered eight Tony nominations for its Broadway run, including Best Musical, Book and Score.
Ti Moune, a peasant girl, rescues a wealthy boy from the other side of the island, Daniel, with whom she falls in love. Unbeknownst to Ti Moune, the pompous gods who preside over the island make a bet with one another over which is stronger, love or death, the stakes being Ti Moune’s life.” https://www.mtishows.com/once-on-this-island
Set in a fictionalized version of Haiti, this one-act musical is a love story and a coming- of-age story for the whole family.
“Eclipsed” by Danai Gurira
May 29, 2025 – June 8, 2025
At theREP – Lauren and Harold Iselin Studio
251 N Pearl Street, Albany, NY 12207
“Eclipsed” tells the story of five Liberian women and their tale of survival near the end of the Second Liberian Civil War.
“Their lives set on a nightmarish detour by civil war, the captive wives of a Liberian rebel officer form a hardscrabble sisterhood. With the arrival of a new girl who can read — and the return of an old one who can kill—their possibilities are quickly transformed. Drawing on reserves of wit and compassion, these defiant survivors ask: when the fog of battle lifts, could a different destiny emerge?
“Eclipsed” offers a chilling, humanizing and surprisingly funny portrait of transformation and renewal. This gripping play unearths the wreckage of war and celebrates the women who navigate and survive the most hostile of circumstances.” –
https://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=4190
BTTUNY HISTORY:
The Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate New York (BTTUNY) was originally founded under the name Soul Rebel Performance Troupe in 2009 by veteran actor Jean-Remy Monnay. Monnay was born and raised in Haiti, later moving to NYC at the age of 18. In 1997, he moved upstate and began to get involved in the Capital Region theatre scene. He soon discovered that there were very few BIPOC artists working in the area, and very limited opportunities for those artists to find work. The creation of Soul Rebel Performance Troupe was in response to this lack of access; it provided a home for artists of color, LGBTQIA+ actors, and other overlooked and underrepresented identities. The company was granted 501(c)(3) status in 2011, as it further committed to its mission and began to grow its performance season and outreach programs into a more vibrant array of activities. Over the years, the company’s focus became more clearly about supporting BIPOC, and predominantly Black, artists and narratives, and in 2018 the company’s name was changed to The Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate New York in order to better align with this intention. In June 2021, BTTUNY became the Resident Community Company at Capital Repertory Theatre (theREP).
MISSION: The Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate New York’s goal is to foster cross- cultural understanding and to create more diversity on stage and in theatre by highlighting, producing and promoting performance and theatre arts by marginalized artists in upstate New York. We aim to expand the cultural landscape and create a place for Artists of Color to grow and thrive.
