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VOL.26, NO.8
Sharing black theater’s legacy
Delving into the past Stevens, who lives in Southeast Washington with his wife, spent several years writing the self-published book. He conducted much of his research at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, part of the New York Public Library, documenting information on African American theater — from the black minstrels of the late 19th century to black theatre owners across the country from 1910 to 1930. He says his is the only book to pull together information on the evolution of black musical theater during this 60-year span. “The information I uncovered in this book about African American performers from 1865 to 1930 was mind boggling because there were so many people who had
AUGUST 2014
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By Barbara Ruben Ronald “Smokey” Stevens tap danced onto Broadway in 1976 at the age of 25, when he got a role in Bubbling Brown Sugar — a musical revue featuring the music of African American performers of the early 20th century, from Duke Ellington to Fats Waller. Not only did the Washington native get his first big break that year, he met the man who would inspire him for decades to come. Stevens said that renowned tap dancer Charles “Honi” Coles, then in his 60s, became a mentor to him during his Broadway debut and then as they toured the country with the show. Since then, Stevens has appeared in movies such as The Wiz, and in the Broadway production of Dreamgirls. Even today, Coles’ stories about the Harlem Renaissance and black vaudeville shows still resonate with Stevens, leading him to write his second book. He published it this year, The First 60 Years: The History of Afro-American Musical Theater and Entertainment. The book looks at the period from the end of the Civil War through the beginning of the Depression. “It was just awesome being in the company of people like Honi Coles,” said Stevens. “He eventually took me under his wing and became my mentor, so to speak. He taught me all of these historic tap routines. I listened, talked — and drank — with him for over a year and a half,” Stevens said of a friendship that spanned a generation.
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LEISURE & TRAVEL
Actor, dancer and author Ronald “Smokey” Stevens has performed at the historic Howard Theatre in Northwest Washington, as well as on Broadway and at theaters across the country. His recent book chronicles the first 60 years of black musical theater in America, and he turned first book, an autobiography, into a one-man show at local theaters.
to be entrepreneurs. Coming out of slavery in 1865, we had to create our own theater,” Stevens said. “In doing so, we created black minstrelsy, we created black vaudeville. In doing so, the blues was created. Jazz was created and became part of the fabric of America. That was the motivation behind writing the book.”
Early inspirations Stevens had a lot of motivation for entering the entertainment industry. While he was a student at Eastern High School, he was inspired by a group of actors from Arena Stage that came to perform there in the late 1960s. Stevens got a job acting with the Showmobile, a program of the D.C. Recreation
Dept. The mobile stage toured various parks and community centers. It was here the chain-smoking Stevens earned his nickname Smokey, a moniker that’s stuck even though he kicked the habit years ago. The nickname came in handy when he joined the Actors’ Equity Association: Stevens found there was already an actor named Ronald Stevens. After performing in a show about Frederick Douglass at the Smithsonian Institution, Stevens was chosen to join the D.C. Black Repertory Company. He was one of its youngest members, and worked as an actor, singer, dancer and choreographer. See STEVENS, page 50
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