Black Arts Series

Platt House’s Black Arts Series is an initiative in support and celebration of Black creative expression, performance, and artivism on Penn’s campus. We seek visibility for Black creatives in current, incoming, and graduated classes to find, inspire, and collaborate with each other, and we aspire to repopulate and revitalize those Black affinity student performing arts groups whose membership took a hit over the past years of remote and socially distanced activities. 

Black Performing Arts Clubs

Explore the performing arts groups who put Black culture, experiences, and affinities at the forefront of their mission. 

Let us buy you a ticket!

Platt Student Performing Arts House subsidizes tickets to paid events upon request and by availability. 
Join an interest track below and email us to attend!

Black Arts Series buttons (8)Radio Golf (Arden Theatre Company)
March 23rd – April 16th, 2023
Black Arts Series buttons (8)School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (African American Arts Alliance)
March 24th – 25th, 2023
Black Arts Series buttons (8)Pay No Worship (InterAct Theatre Company)
March 31st – April 23rd, 2023
Black Arts Series buttons (9)

Daydreaming (The Inspiration A Cappella)
April 7th-8th 2023

Black Arts Series buttons (8)Bulrusher (Theatre Arts Program)
April 13th-16th, 2023
Black Arts Series buttons (8)Dream Girls: In Concert (The Centre Theatre)
April 21st-23rd, 2023
Black Arts Series buttons (8)Abandon (Theatre Exile)
April 27th – May 21st, 2023
Black Arts Series buttons (9)

The Inspiration Presents: Karaoke Night
Friday, September 2nd @ 7pm, Platt House Lobby

Black Arts Series buttons (9)

WAVe (West African Vibe) Performing at the ARCH Grand Opening
Wednesday, September 7nd @ 11am, ARCH Building

Black Arts Series buttons (9)
Black Arts Series buttons (9)

An Untitled Love (A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham)
September 22nd – 24th @ 7:30pm Philadelphia Film Center, 1412 Chestnut St

Black Arts Series buttons (8)

Wine in the Wilderness (Philadelphia Artists Collective)
September 22nd – October 9th, Poth Brewery, 3145 W Jefferson St

Black Arts Series buttons (8)

Our Voices, Our Time: One-Act Play Festival (Negro Ensemble Company)
Saturday, October 8th @ 2pm and 8pm, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

Black Arts Series buttons (8)
Black Arts Series buttons (9)Lakecia Benjamin & Pursuance
October 16th @ 7pm, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Black Arts Series buttons (8)Q&A w/ Brandon Dirden of the Negro Ensemble Company
October 17th @ 12pm, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Black Arts Series buttons (9)Ravi Coltrane Quartet
October 22nd @ 8pm, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Black Arts Series buttons (9)Brandee Younger
October 23rd @ 7pm, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Black Arts Series buttons (8)Death of a Driver (InterAct Theatre Company)
October 28th – November 20th, Mainstage Theatre at the Drake
Black Arts Series buttons (8)A Hit Dog Will Holler (Azuka Theatre Company)
November 2nd – 20th, Louis Bluver Theatre at the Drake
Black Arts Series buttons (8)Pac And Biggie Are Dead (Theatre in the X and Drexel Theatre Program)
November 10thd – 13th, Mandell Theater at Drexel University
Black Arts Series buttons (8)Reading: Masc by Ang(ela) Bey (Azuka Theatre Company)
November 12th @ 11am, Louis Bluver Theatre at the Drake
Black Arts Series buttons (9)Terence Blanchard & Andrew F. Scott present Gordon Parks: An Empathetic Lens
Saturday, November 12th @ 8pm, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Black Arts Series buttons (9)Soweto Gospel Choir
Friday, November 18th @ 8pm, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Black Arts Series buttons (9)Dancing Black: History of Swing, Hip-Hop, and Cultural Appropriation with Margit Edwards (Theatre Arts Program)
Saturday, November 19th @ 2pm, Platt House Lobby
Black Arts Series buttons (9)Rome & Jewels by Rennie Harris Puremovement
December 9th – 10th, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Black Arts Series buttons (8)The Ways of White Folks (Theatre in the X/EgoPo Classic Theatre)
January 11th-22nd, 2023
Black Arts Series buttons (8)Black Theatre: The Making of A Movement (Penn Live Arts)
January 25th, 2023 at 7:30pm
Black Arts Series buttons (8)Clyde’s (Arden Theatre Company)
January 26th – March 5th, 2023
Black Arts Series buttons (8)The Light (Theatre Exile)
February 2nd-26th, 2023
Black Arts Series buttons (8)Mecca is Burning (Negro Ensemble Company, Penn Live Arts)
February 15-18, 2023
Black Arts Series buttons (8)All My Mothers Dream in Spanish (Azuka Theatre / Teatro del Sol)
March 1st-19th, 2023

This list is updated periodically. Check back for more and contact us if there are events you are interested in attending!

Thank you to the  partners, collaborators, and friends who make the Black Arts Series possible: