75 years of Theatre at NCCU

The department of theatre at North Carolina Central University(NCCU) will celebrate its 75th anniversary with a season of performances that references its history.

It will be a busy season for the almost 60 students majoring in theatre.

"Four plays are ambitious for us," said Stephanie "Asabi" Howard, Ph.D., department chair. "There is also a dance concert on March 28-29."

The performances are:

• "Fame." Oct. 9-12.
  "It was the last show directed by Dr. Linda Kerr Norflett, the former chair and later dean," Howard said. "She brought me into the fold in 2007."
  
• "Home." Nov. 13-16.
  By former faculty member Samm-Art Williams. The play premiered on Broadway in 1980 and was nominated for a Tony Award for best play.
  "He worked with us to stage it in 2008," Howard said.
  
• "Steal Away from Home." Feb. 28 - Mar. 1, 2026
  By Aurand Harris, a children's show.
  "We haven't done a children's show in years," Howard said. "In the past that was a staple of our department."
  
• "Their Eyes Were Watching God." April 24-27, 2026
  Based on the novel by Zora Neale Hurston, a writer, anthropologist and folklorist who taught at NCCU during the 1939-1940 school year.

A History of Performance

While theatre courses have been taught at NCCU since 1935-1936, the (then named) department of dramatic arts didn't have a chair until Mary Bohanon was appointed in the 1948-1949 school year. The department staged two major productions a year, always European or American classics such as Glass Menagerie, King Lear, Antigone, Murder in the Cathedral and Medea.

Several of Bohanon's students became successful theatre professionals. Those included Jacqueline Barnes, who performed off-Broadway and Ivan Dixon, an actor, director and producer (and part of the cast of Hogan's Heroes TV show).

The writer Zora Neale Hurson taught drama during the 1939-1940 school year but left NCCU before staging any plays.

Helen Edmonds, who served as professor and chair of the history department and later as dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, staged plays including a pageant titled "The Life and Times of Dr. James E. Shepard" which featured 200 characters and a 40-person choir.

By the mid 1960s, the faculty started including the works of African American playwrights. Those included A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, The Baptism by Leroi Jones and The Amen Corner by James Baldwin.

Under the chairmanship of Randolph Umberger from 1970 - 1975, faculty were increased to four full-time and one "borrowed" position. A theatre education concentration was initiated, and a new university theatre was built.

By the mid 1970s, the department began to participate and win awards in regional, state and national programs including the National Association of Drama and Speech Arts, North Carolina Theatre Conference, Southwestern Theatre Conference, Black Theatre Network and American College Theater Festival.

In 1996, the name was changed to department of theatre and the next year it was accredited by the National Association of Schools of Theatre.

In 2015, following the long chairmanship of Johnny Alston, Stephanie "Asabi" Howard became department chair. Today, the theatre department has four faculty and five adjunct instructors.

It also has a "a very strong technical theatre program," Howard said. "Areas like design and theatre management. These are valuable areas for jobs."

About 90% of theatre graduates either work in the field or go to graduate school.

"We pride ourselves on that," Howard said.