Welcome! This year the Anthony Bean Community Theater and Acting School celebrates15 years of excellence in the performing arts.

The Anthony Bean Community Theater (ABCT) was established in Spring 2000 to meet the growing demands of New Orleans area residents seeking a quality, culturally diverse, performing arts venue. The theater also met the needs of individuals seeking to learn the art of acting, set design and theatre management. In recent years, ABCT has become a vehicle to enter New Orleans' booming "Hollywood South" film industry.

ABCT is unique in that it is not only a major theater production company, but a year-round, open enrollment acting school serving both adults and children with an eclectic group of courses designed to meet the basic needs of individuals seeking careers in stage and screen acting, set design and theatre management.  

ABCT believes that the arts have the power to transform people's lives. Our Mission is simple: "to inspire those we serve through the magic of the arts."  The Hallmark of ABCT and that which separates us from "all the rest" is - diversity.  ABCT proudly presents the most diverse theater schedule in the New Orleans area.  Our programing fare includes, the classics; Shakespeare, August Wilson and Tennessee Williams as well as popular drama (Reflections and Misery), comedy (Jar the Floor, Steal Away), and musicals (The Color Purple, Simply Irma and The Phyllis Hyman Story). Most importantly, ABCT mounts original plays such as I'd Rather Be Rich and Say Amen, and showcases our talented kids in perennial favorites: Cats, The Wiz, High School Musical and 504.  

The goal of the ABCT Acting School is to provide an intense, high quality learning and performing opportunity in an atmosphere where young people are encouraged to set goals, take risks and view mistakes as an avenue for learning. ABCT opens students up to the greatness that lies within them and creates an awareness that the Arts are a constructive vehicle of personal expression.

Anthony Bean Community Theater boasts a full professional portfolio including video DVD Productions and an ABCT clothing line. In addition to children and adult acting classes, ABCT offers a youth theater, an after-school program, and the Anthony Bean Community Theater City Choir.  During the summer months, working in conjunction with the New Orleans Recreation Department Commission - ABCT also operates a summer day camp.

We at ABCT wish to express our sincere gratitude for your ongoing support over the past 15 years and we urge you to purchase your PASS for the upcoming season. Thank you for your ongoing support. We look forward to seeing you at our next production.

Come and celebrate our Anniversary and you will agree.

"ABCT IS MORE THAN THEATER

IT'S CULTURE!"

Back ABCT! Be a part of the Anthony Bean Community Theater and Acting School! ABCT is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and all contributions are tax deductible. Donate today and keep the arts alive and exciting in our community!

2013-09-06 00:00:00.0

Written by August Wilson, Directed by Anthony Bean, Scenic designed by John Grimsley. Light designed by Lyn C. Caliva and Costumes by Wanda (Ms. B) Bryant.

13 years and 10 August Wilson plays have come and are nearly gone, the Anthony Bean Community Theater presents August Wilson's searing drama and his first Broadway hit. "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom". This production completes Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner August Wilson's Century Cycle, becoming one of a few theaters to do so. Directed by Anthony Bean and featuring the Wilsonian Actors, a catch phase thought of by ABCT's veteran actor Will Williams, a prefix given to actors who have performed 3 or more of August Wilson's plays. The Wilsonian actors are Will Williams as Cutler, Coti Gayles as Dussie Mae, and Alfred Aubry as Toledo and Harold X Evans as Slow Drag.

August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, his first play in a ten-play cycle, each chronicling a decade in the African-American experience, was first performed at the Yale Repertory Theater in 1984, though Wilson began writing the play in 1976, after listening to the blues for more than a decade. Set in a Chicago recording studio in 1927, the two-act drama tells the story of a recording session with blues legend Ma Rainey, her band members, and the white producer and agent who made themselves wealthy through Rainey’s recordings. The play explores race relations between blacks and whites in 1920s America and the African- American search for identity. The title comes from the song of the same name, which is at the heart of a major conflict in the play. Of particular note is Wilson’s character, Levee, who literally embodies the aspirations and disappointments of black males during this era and, arguably, today. Wilson pits Levee against Rainey, the band members, and the whites, examining various stripes of inter- and intra-racial conflict. Partly inspired by the plays of Amiri Baraka, who warned black writers to keep their characters faithful to the black experience, Wilson finished the first version of the play in 1981 and had it accepted by the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference in the summer of 1982. In 1985, the play opened on Broadway at the Cort Theater, and it subsequently captured a slew of awards including the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for best American play. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is considered Wilson’s first major play and helped to cement his reputation as an important American playwright.

Featuring the Wilsonian Actors, a catch phase thought of by ABCT's veteran actor Will Williams, a prefix given to actors who have performed 3 or more of August Wilson's plays. The Wilsonian actors are Will Williams as Cutler, Coti Gayles as Dussie Mae, and Alfred Aubry as Toledo and Harold X Evans as Slow Drag. The cast also includes Demitrus Wesley as Ma Rainey, Rick Hammontree as Sturdyvant, Sean Jones as Levee, TJ Toups as the Policeman, Carlos Gonzalez as Irvin and Damian Taylor as Sylvester.

Starring

Damian Taylor and Coti Gayles

(l) Al Aubry, Rick Hammontree, Will Williams, Harold X Evans and Sean Jones

(L) Al Aubry, Rick Hammontree and Demitrus Wesley

Ma Rainey 129

Ma Rainey 135

Demitrus Wesley is Ma Rainey

Cast of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Coti Gayles and Sean Jones

Al Aubry, Sean Jones, Harold X Evans, Damian Taylor, Coti Gayles and Demitrus Wesley

Demitrus Wesley, Damian Taylor and Coti Gayles

Carlos Gonzalez and TJ Toups