Dear Black People: Excellence Theatre
We sat down with the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Excellence Theatre, Aaliyah Antoine, after the sold out success of Dear Black People Festival 2.0 at the Pleasance Theatre, London. Aaliyah is a Playwright, Producer and has a First Class MA in Arts Management. In 2018, her play was performed at The Lyric Hammersmith as part of their Evolution Festival, and following the success of showcasing new writing from Black Playwrights in 2019, she’s back again with Excellence Theatre, opening up professional opportunities for emerging writers and actors to have their voices heard. Let’s take a moment to hear more from the woman making her mark on the Theatre scene.
Hi Aaliyah, congratulations on the sold out success of the Dear Black People Festival! How are you feeling since the showcase?
Thank you so much! - I have been buzzing ever since. It was incredible having both nights sell out and the Theatre filled with people engaged and responsive to the plays our talented Playwrights were debuting.
This is the second festival of its kind - how has the festival evolved since 2019?
In 2019, we were offered the downstairs space at The Pleasance. This year we had their main stage which meant we had so many more seats to fill. We were fortunate enough to receive Arts Council England funding, so this meant that we were able to inject more money into the company and festival.
We were able to expand our team, create a website and also put money into supporting our Playwrights more on their journey of taking their plays from script to stage. We were able to offer free rehearsal space and pay expenses. This was really important to us as we know how difficult scratch nights can be for artists to self produce and fund themselves.
It felt great that we were able to pay people and market our festival in a way which meant we reached wider audiences. We are beginning to create a great community for Black Theatre makers.
We’d love to hear more about the process of producing the two day showcase. What was the seed of the idea, and how did it grow into what it is today? How did you choose the new writers, and support them through the process?
In 2019, I threw out the idea on social media about wanting to create an opportunity to amplify the voices of Black British Playwrights. Through the call out I connected with Leading Light Collective (Bel & Hannah). We then had a few meetings on Zoom and Excellence was born. We put out a call on Twitter for scripts and got an amazing response. In October 2019, we launched our first Dear Black People Festival which sold out two nights at The Pleasance Theatre Downstairs space.
This year we received over 50 scripts and had 4 script readers on board: malakaï sargeant, Stella Ajayi, Liv Barrett and Reece Okike. We all worked through the scripts blindly and had a meeting to discuss the ones we would choose. We made sure we gave feedback to all the scripts that were submitted so that they can continue to further develop their plays.
This year we have been able to expand engagement and the industry recognition for our Playwrights. We supported our Playwrights with casting and created a group chat and really wanted them to feel like they could come to us about anything at any stage of their process.
You’ve had an injection of deserved investment and support - what has this meant for you and all involved?
We are so grateful and blessed to be supported by Arts Council England and The Pleasance Theatre. It meant that we were able to expand our team and inject money into our marketing strategy, supporting our playwrights better as they were our main priority. It felt amazing being able to do this as it meant that we were able to carry out our company mission which is to nurture new talent, enabling artists to develop their craft, expanding their network to elevate their storytelling.
The showcased plays told fearless stories around the experience of being Black, young and British; they touched on mental health, sexuality, coming of age and the subtle microaggressions young Black people navigate on a daily basis within the education system. The plays also opened up familial relationships, and portrayed tensions between mother and daughters, a widowed father and his growing children, and absent parents. Rooted in musical influences of Hip Hop, RnB and Reggae, why was it important to openly showcase a range of stories? What did you hope people would think and feel after seeing the plays?
Our aim at Excellence is to tell stories, no matter what they are. Whether it’s political, meaningful or just simply a story. We want our Playwrights to share bold and newly developed pieces. We want our audiences to experience a night of variety. One minute they are laughing, the next they are deep in their thoughts. But overall we want our audiences to leave feeling like they have witnessed the beginning of a greater journey for our Playwrights, as for many it is the first time they are showcasing a play and putting on a performance.
We hope that our audiences always leave feeling like it was an evening well spent. They are entertained but also like they need to discuss with someone what they have just seen to unpack it further. This year we definitely did that!
What does being ‘unapologetically black’ mean to you?
It means being who you are and living your truth. No questions asked, no justifications needed. You are who you are and there is space for you.
In this season of renewal and reconnection, what are you looking forward to experiencing this Summer?
We are looking forward to continuing to connect with more people within the industry and growing our Excellence Theatre community. This year we have been able to experience so much more plays from Black Playwrights and we hope to continue seeing and supporting them!
Thank you for your time Aaliyah! We love to recommend things to our readers. What are you:
Listening to? Queen Bey of course. Beyonce - Renaissance. There are so many songs that I love, however right now it is ‘Alien Superstar ’ that I have on repeat!
Watching? I think I am now ready to continue watching the final season of This Is Us. I did not want to let go as this is the last season. Beautiful writing and phenomenal acting.
