Alicia Young Directs Black Nativity with Community Focus By Angelia D. McGowan
The spirit of Langston Hughes will take center stage at Vintage Theatre during the month of December, as Black Nativity is featured throughout the holiday season. Written by the Black poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, columnist and legendary leader of the Harlem Renaissance, Black Nativity is an ever-evolving adaptation of the famed Nativity story. Originally performed at Broadway’s 41st St. Theatre in December 1961, the holiday musical offers a modern retelling of the traditional account of the Nativity story from an African American perspective.
Director Alicia “Lisa” Young says the play shares “The beauty of the Black American and the Black church experience. It is a global experience within the Black community. It shows how our forefathers and mothers praised through all that we’ve been through.” The show, which runs Dec. 1 to 30, is the third professional directorial project for Young. Her first was Reach, produced outdoors on a patio in the middle of the pandemic, with Misfits Theater Company in Boulder. The second was Catamount’s world premiere of One Way-Back Day in Boulder last year. She has performed the virtual short Recipe: SharedGumbo, and devised Recipe at the Savoy with Theater Artibus. She portrayed Mrs. Breedlove in Pulitzer Prize winner Toni Morrison’s first novel The Bluest Eye at TheatreWorks. The actoractivist-director also wrote and produced Sojourners Project: Busing, which was performed in the parking lot of her father’s church. Young’s father, the late Rev. Dr. Jules Smith, led Rising Star Missionary Baptist Church in Aurora for decades and was a recipient of the “2019 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Colorado Holiday Commission
Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – November 2023
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Humanitarian Award.” The long-time activist, who passed in October 2022, helped establish the Aurora, Colorado Chapter of the NAACP. Her family’s tradition of campaigning for social change as outspoken advocates for underrepresented communities lives on through her, and people are taking note. Last month, the Colorado Black Women for Political Action recognized the theatrical virtuoso for her work bringing social justice and equity to the art industry through IDEAs, a grassroots arts organization she founded in 2020. Her mission is to galvanize equity, diversity and inclusion in response to the socio-political climate surrounding COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement. She was “shocked and in awe” that her backstage activism was even noticed because much of her work is done behind the scenes.
Casting Call In line with this modern age of social media which allows everyone to have a voice, Black Nativity tryouts called for everyday community people as opposed to a traditional, seasoned cast. The directors requested people who had never acted before. “These are people who would have tried, but never had the opportunity,” adds Young, a former board member of the Colorado Theatre Guild. In preparation for the performance, she and assistant director, Mosés Brown, announced auditions with a targeted social media call: “I’m looking for a Black cast! Calling all Black/African American actors, singers, dancers and community members, singers, dancers, church folk who want to try a paid professional gig.” Social media has been “a blessing in several ways,” according to Young, a long-time drama teacher at Aurora Public Schools, who also serves as an
