“I remember getting into Howard, and people being like, ‘You're going to an HBCU, that's not like the real world. The real world's not going to be like that.’ And initially my reaction was like, ‘Well, why wouldn't it be like the real world? Why shouldn't it be?…It would be nice for the real world to be a place where Black history, Black culture, and Black people are respected.’…[At Howard,] you got to just be a person. Like ‘Yes, you're Black. We know that, but there are other things about you.’...It's not that the fact that we were Black didn't matter, but it was that the differences in our Blackness were celebrated.”
This week we chat with Nate Shelton, a self-described “general theatre person.” He’s worn many hats in the theatre space—from actor to company manager to TKTS employee to Actors’ Equity Association Contractual Business Representative. Throughout all of them, his joy and enthusiasm for the theatre has never wavered. We dive into how he joined the theatre department at Howard University, how he transitioned into arts administration from acting, and why he loves spreading the good word about theatre.
Recommendation: Passing Strange and the 2022 revival of for colored girls who considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf directed by Camille A. Brown
Shout out: Black stage managers and dramaturgs (like Lisa Dawn Cave and Beverly Jenkins)
Follow him on Instagram.
Comments