Minstrel Beginnings | 1821 to 1911
Richard III (1821)
The Drama of King Shotaway (1823)
The Black Doctor (1847)
The Escape; or, a Leap for Freedom (1858)
The Octoroon (1859)
A Trip to Coontown (1898)
Clorindy; or, the Origin of the Cakewalk (1898)
The Policy Players (1899)
In Dahomey (1903)
Abyssinia (1906)
The Shoo-Fly Regiment (1907)
A Royal Coon (1907)
Bandana Land (1908)
Ziegfeld Follies (1910-1917)
The Red Moon (1909)
Treemonisha (1911)
World War I and the Jazz Era | 1915 to 1928
The Girl at the Fort (1915)
Rachel (1916)
They That Sit in Darkness (1919)
The Emperor Jones (1920)
Shuffle Along (1921)
The Deacon’s Awakening (1921)
The Chip Woman’s Fortune (1922)
Runnin’ Wild (1923)
All God’s Chillun’ Got Wings (1924)
Appearances (1925)
The Broken Banjo (1925)
Compromise (1925)
The Church Fight (1925)
Sunday Morning in the South (1925)
Show Boat (1927)
Blackbirds of 1928 (1928)
The Great Depression Era | 1929 to 1939
Othello (1930)
The Green Pastures (1930)
Mulatto: A Play of the Deep South (1935)
Porgy and Bess (1936)
Big White Fog (1938)
The Hot Mikado (1939)
World War II to Civil Rights | 1939 to 1962
Cabin in the Sky (1940)
On Strivers’ Row (1940)
Native Son (1941)
Natural Man (1937/1941)
Carmen Jones (1943)
Othello (1943)
Anna Lucasta (1944)
St. Louis Woman (1946)
Juno and the Paycock (1946)
The Duchess of Malfi (1946)
Take a Giant Step (1953)
Jamaica (1957)
The Member of the Wedding (1958)
A Raisin in the Sun (1959)
The Blacks (1961)
Funnyhouse of a Negro (1962)
BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT | 1964 to 1975
Dutchman (1964)
Blues for Mister Charlie (1964)
The Amen Corner (1965)
Day of Absence/Happy Ending (1965)
Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White (1966)
Hallelujah Baby! (1967)
The Great White Hope (1968)
Goin’ a Buffalo/In the Wine Time (1968)
Ceremonies in Dark Old Men (1969)
No Place to Be Somebody (1969)
The Tumult and the Shouting (1969)
Purlie (1970)
Fabulous Miss Marie/In New England Winter (1971)
Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope (1972)
The River Niger (1973)
The Taking of Miss Janie (1975)
A NEW BLACK THEATRE | 1975 to 1992
The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical “Wonderful Wizard of Oz” (1975)
for colored girls who have considered suicide/
when the rainbow is enuf (1975)
The First Breeze of Summer (1975)
Your Arms Too Short to Box with God:
A Soaring Celebration in Song and Dance (1976)
Ain’t Misbehavin’: The Fats Waller Musical Show (1978)
A Soldier’s Play (1981)
Dreamgirls (1981)
Zooman and the Sign (1981)
AUGUST WILSON ERA | 1982 to 2004
Jitney (1982)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1984)
Fences (1985)
The Colored Museum (1986)
The Piano Lesson (1987)
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (1988)
A Star Ain’t Nothin’ But a Hole in Heaven (1989)
Once on This Island (1990)
Before it Home (1990/1991)
Two Trains Running (1991)
Five Guys Named Moe (1992)
Jelly’s Last Jam (1991)
Fires in the Mirror (1992)
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (1994)
North Star (1995)
Seven Guitars (1995)
Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk (1995)
Jar the Floor (1995)
The Lion King (1997)
King Headley II (1999)
Livin’ Fat (1999)
In the Blood (1999)
Aida (2000)
Topdog/Underdog (2002)
Intimate Apparel (2003)
Gem of the Ocean (2003)
Caroline, or Change (2004)
CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN AMERICAN THEATRE | 2005 to TODAY
The Color Purple (2005)
Ruined (2008)
Sistas: The Musical (2011)
Porgy and Bess (2012)
Detroit ’67 (2013)
Between Riverside and Crazy (2014)
Booty Candy (2014)
Hamilton (2015)
Sweat (2017)
Pipeline (2017)
Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations (2019)
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical (2019)
Fairview (2019)
A Strange Loop (2020)
Caroline, or Change (2021)