10 Great Live Performances to See This Black History Month

Black No More by John Ridley and Tariq Trotter

Where to see it: The New Group, New York (Jan. 18–Feb. 27)

The premise: Inspired by George S. Schuyler’s Afrofuturist novel, this Harlem Renaissance-set musical comes courtesy of a dream team of Black creatives, including Tony-winning choreographer Bill T. Jones (69) and book writer John Ridley (56), who won an Oscar for his 12 Years a Slave script. Tariq Trotter — aka Black Thought from The Roots — wrote the lyrics, cowrote the music and costars as Dr. Junius Crookman, a mysterious man who invents a machine to turn Black people white, which he claims will “solve the American race problem."

Why you should see it: The cast is led by Brandon Victor Dixon, an acclaimed Broadway actor who received an Emmy nomination for his role as Judas Iscariot in NBC’s live concert version of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Book a ticket: The New Group

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The Bluest Eye by Lydia R. Diamond

Where to see it: The Huntington Theatre, Boston (Jan. 28–Feb. 27)

The premise: Playwright Lydia R. Diamond, 52, adapted Toni Morrison’s celebrated debut novel for the stage in 2007. The moving drama tells the story of Pecola (Hadar Busia-Singleton), a young Black girl who’s obsessed with white beauty standards and believes that she can only be loved if she has blue eyes.

Why you should see it: Inspired by Black storytelling rituals, director Awoye Timpo stages the show in the round, with audience members surrounding the actors. “Coming together in a circle to tell a story is essential to our humanity,” she says. “That’s what we’re inviting the community into with The Bluest Eye."

Book a ticket: The Huntington Theatre

Slave Play by Jeremy O. Harris

Where to see it: Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles (Feb. 9–March 13)

The premise: Theater’s enfant terrible, Jeremy O. Harris, took the New York culture world by storm with this provocative, hilarious and often shocking play about sex and race, which follows three interracial couples on the MacGregor Plantation. The less you know about the controversial plot of this “antebellum fever-dream,” the better. It was such a zeitgeist-capturing hit that it was remounted on Broadway this past winter, before making its West Coast debut this month in Los Angeles.

Why you should see it: Its 2019 Broadway run received a dozen Tony nominations, the most ever for a play — though it went 0 for 12.

Book a ticket: Center Theatre Group

Dreaming Zenzile by Somi Kakoma

Where to see it: McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton, New Jersey (Jan. 20–Feb. 13)

The premise: South African musical legend and anti-apartheid activist Miriam Makeba (aka Mama Africa) was the first African musician to win a Grammy, for her 1965 collaboration with Harry Belafonte, now 94. Now, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Somi Kakoma — the American-born daughter of Rwandan and Ugandan immigrants — turned Makeba’s final concert into an exhilarating new musical; as part of its ongoing “rolling world premiere,” the show will play the McCarter Theatre Center, on the Princeton University campus, this month.

Why you should see it: Somi, who goes by her first name when singing and her full name when writing, has been called “a new high priestess of soul” by the Huffington Post.

Book a ticket: McCarter Theatre Center

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Where to see it: Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. (Feb. 1-6)

The premise: The world-famous modern dance company has been performing at the Kennedy Center since it opened back in 1971. This month, they’ll present a mixed repertory program of new and classic works, including their signature masterpiece, Revelations, which premiered in 1960 when Ailey was 29 and is set to a soundtrack of spirituals and gospel and blues songs.

Why you should see it: Two of the performances — the evening of Feb. 4 and the matinee on Feb. 6 — will feature works by Robert Battle, who became the company’s third artistic director in 2011.

Book a ticket: Kennedy Center

Our Town/Nuestro Pueblo by Thornton Wilder

Where to see it: Dallas Theater Center (Jan. 27–Feb. 20)

The premise: A 2017 Tony winner for best regional theater, the Dallas Theater Center is presenting a multilingual, multicultural version of Thornton Wilder’s beloved Our Town, about families living (and dying) in the small town of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire. This updated version, which is spoken in English, Spanish and Creole, features translated passages by Cuban American playwright Nilo Cruz, 61, and Haitian American playwright Jeff Augustin.

Why you should see it: If you’re a theater lover, you’ve probably seen Our Town once or twice, so it’s refreshing to see it through a whole new lens.

Book a ticket: Dallas Theater Center

Gem of the Ocean by August Wilson

Where to see it: Goodman Theatre, Chicago (Jan. 22–Feb. 27)

The premise: Wilson’s epic Pittsburgh Cycle is one of the most ambitious undertakings in modern American theater: 10 plays about the Black experience, each set during a different decade of the 20th century. First produced in 2003, this poetic play — which comes first chronologically — is set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District in 1904, and it follows the formerly enslaved, 285-year-old Aunt Ester Tyler, who invites troubled souls into her home and takes them on a spiritual journey to the mythical City of Bones.

Why you should see it: The show is returning to the theater where it premiered in 2003.

Book a ticket: Goodman Theatre