New Heritage Theatre Group
| Founded | 1964 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Roger Furman |
| Focus | Black theatre |
| Location | |
|
Area served
|
Harlem, New York |
|
Key people
|
Voza Rivers, Executive Producer |
| Website | [1] |
New Heritage Theatre Group (NHTG) is the oldest black nonprofit theater company in New York City, established in 1964. Through its multiple divisions: IMPACT Repertory Theatre, The Roger Furman Reading Series and New Heritage Films, New Heritage gives training, exposure and experience to new and emerging artists, playwrights, directors and technicians of color. New Heritage was founded by the late Roger Furman and is currently headed by Executive Producer Voza Rivers and Executive Artistic Director Jamal Joseph. NHTG presentations capture the historical, social and political experiences of Black and Latino descendants in America and abroad.
NHTG was established in 1964 as the New Heritage Repertory Theatre (NHRT) by the late Roger Furman, a playwright, director, actor, and lecturer. Furman's career in Harlem began at the American Negro Theater in the 1940s. He began New Heritage Repertory Theater (NHRT) in 1964 as a street theater while employed with HARYOU-ACT, a federally-financed anti-poverty program in Harlem. New Heritage Repertory Theatre, under Furman's leadership, produced over 35 plays including Strivers Row written by Abram Hill, co-founder of the American Negro Theatre. Furman also directed the Three Penny Opera featuring famed actress Geraldine Fitzgerald.
Roger Furman was born on March 22, 1924 in New Jersey and studied theatre arts at the Dramatic Workshop of the New School for Social Research under Erwin Piscator. Furman worked as an apprentice under Rafael Ríos Rey at the National Theatre of Puerto Rico and was a former student at the American Negro Theatre (ANT) with Sidney Potier, Clarice Taylor, Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee and Gertrude Jeannette. Furman was the youngest person at the American Negro Theatre commissioned to design a set for Tin Top Valley, starring Fred O'Neil, produced by ANT. Furman's trademark was imaginative headgear and he believed in Harlem as a fertile theatrical seedbed. In addition to his acting and directing chores Furman taught courses on the History of Black Drama at New York University, Rutgers and Hartford University and was a co-founder of the Black Theater Alliance, an organization of performance groups.
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