Harlem's 'Uptown Shakespeare In The Park' Gets $60K Grant

HARLEM, NY — Though there may still be snow on the ground, the Classical Theatre of Harlem is already gearing up for its summer of free outdoor performances, thanks, in part, to a $60,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts awarded at the end of January.

The Classical Theatre of Harlem is a community theater that has been around since 1999, and it is on a mission to bring new audiences to classic works and introduce "future classics" rooted in the African Diaspora to the canon, the theater's director Ty Jones said.

For its "Uptown Shakespeare in the Park" series this summer, the theater is putting on MEMNON, a contemporary play about an ancient Ethiopian king who must defend the ancient Greek city of Troy, in Marcus Garvey Park in July.

This king is mentioned in The Odyssey, but his story has only recently been explored, Jones said.

"This is one of the reasons why we like to do productions rooted in the African diaspora," Jones said. "It's commonly said that much of Western civilization started with the ancient Greeks, but, what we are doing is mining the jewels of literature across the globe and finding that there is a direct connection from Africa to the Greeks, from Africa to the rest of civilization. This complicates the story about who we are and what our origins are."

The grant from the National Endowment for the Arts will go toward a few initiatives at the theater, but the main one will be MEMNON, which will be completely free for the audience to attend.

"Our mission is essentially to create and nurture a new, young and culturally diverse audience for the classics in Harlem," Jones said. "We tend to do shows that give everybody a chance to see themselves on stage and in the story."

MEMNON will be held at Marcus Garvey Park from July 5-27, and ticket reservations will be announced soon, Jones said.

See the Classical Theatre of Harlem's upcoming season here.

The Classical Theatre of Harlem is located at 1850 Amsterdam Ave.

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