Hattiloo Theatre’s production of Succession has been making a splash on the Memphis theater scene since its opening weekend in February. This is the show’s regional premiere, and performances run through March 23rd.
Written by Charles White, the play, as the title suggests, focuses on succession within Black theater. “You have in the play this young Black actor who has talent and is using the older Black actors who have pretty much paved the way for him to have opportunities in theater,” says Hattiloo’s executive director and founder Ekundayo Bandele. “So he is making his bones in Black theater. And then an opportunity to perform at a white theater becomes available, and he forgoes the Black theater and the friends that he made there to enter into the predominantly white theater community, only to find that he isn’t accepted and he’s second or third tier in that community. And he goes back to the Black theater; they give him a hard time but still accept him back into the community.”
Bandele first saw White’s play last summer in South Carolina, and immediately, he knew he wanted to produce the show on Hattiloo’s stage. “I went straight to Charles White,” he says, “and he gave us the rights.”
Bandele says he saw his own experience running Hattiloo reflected in White’s work. “We have artists who use or attempt to use Hattiloo as a stepping stone. And so not only is there a story for individuals to come in and become more acquainted with the travails and triumphs of Black theater, but it is also kind of a mirror that can be turned around to some of the Black artists who find themselves replicating that story in their real lives.”
With each show Hattiloo produces, Bandele hopes to encourage audiences to explore new points of view. “The first thing that I look for are plays that show the Black experience through a lens that you typically don’t see,” he says. “What I love about [Succession] is that it pulls the curtain back on what it takes to run and maintain a Black theater in this particular century. … I’m looking at stories that Black people, white people, Latinx, Asians, young, LGBTQ, traditional, whoever can come and sometimes they may see themselves in the story, but a lot of times we want to show, especially Black audiences, a part of their experience or a part of their history or a part of their now that they be completely unaware of.”
Following Succession, Hattiloo has one remaining show before this season wraps — Blues in the Night — a blues revue, which runs April 12th to May 5th. Hattiloo’s upcoming season will kick off in July with Carmen Jones, followed by Coconut Cake, Paradise Blue, Disney’s The Lion King Jr., A Motown Christmas, Black Odyssey, Thoughts of a Colored Man, and The Boy Who Kissed the Sky.
Purchase tickets for Hattiloo’s upcoming shows at hattiloo.org, where a full schedule of performances can be found.
Succession, Hattiloo Theatre, 37 S. Cooper, performances through March 23, $35.