Jackie Taylor sits above the 299 seat main stage of Black Ensemble Theater and reflects on how far she and her mission have come.
"I can't believe it's been 50 years, I can't believe it," she shakes her head. "We're the only theater that produces all new work."
An actress and teacher back in the 70's, she was only being offered roles she felt were disrespectful to Black Americans.
"The parts that they wanted me to play, they were horrible, what they said about women, about Black people. I talked to these white writers who were writing this nonsense and my conversation was ignored. They told me they didn't care about culture, they cared about money." she recalled.
"I was a teacher at the time and I was teaching my students about self love, confidence, non violence, you are somebody no matter what they depict. I knew if they saw me on that screen with a gun in my hand, or prostituting myself or as the gangster's girlfriend, I would've destroyed all that. So I broke the contract and came back to Chicago and decided to do something about it."
That's how Black Ensemble Theater was born.
"Our mission is to eradicate racism through theater arts and community engagement. We need to get at the root and they only way to do that is education. We've been doing this for 50 years and it's going to take another 50 years if not longer because were now moving backwards," she shakes her head. "Our mission today is more important than it was 50 years ago."
Her first space was an empty storefront in Old Towne.
"I was walking down Wells street and saw a sign that said "theater for sale", I went in and asked the guy how much. I negotiated to pay $250 dollars month for the space. At first, I casted all my buddies," she laughed. "Then, we auditioned actors and our first show was "The Other Cinderella".
50 years later, their current home in Uptown continues to expand.
"I was looking to create a community for artists here. In 2006, I presented the idea to the City Council. I envision building a community around the theater, we bought the land across the street. I want to build a performing arts education center for people 2 to 102 and have classes, I want a health center within, a holistic and wellness center, I want a film and technology center and some kind of affordable housing for artists."
Under construction now, is a second, smaller theater, a dance studio and new offices.
"We completed the cultural center in 2011, and now we're completing the next step which is the studio theater, which will be completed this Fall and we've bought all the property that we need across the street for the rest. It's been 20 years in the making."
And at a time when arts and culture institutions are struggling, BET continues to thrive.
"We are very successful in our reputation of a theater of excellence. We've survived because of people who believe in our mission and want that mission to continue and love our productions.
In 2021, BET received a 5 million dollar grant from Mackenzie Scott.
"I thought it was a joke at first. Who is this for real? What are you talking about? It's people like that who keep companies like ours alive. As Blanche DuBois says 'it's the kindest of strangers'." smiled Taylor
Taylor says her mission remains the same, but she says the hurdles have become a bit higher recently which means her work and her message is more important than ever.
'We're going to keep doing what we do, which is educate. This country was built on slavery. Our current administration is trying to destroy Black History but we're not going to allow that. We're going to tell the truth, we're going to fight, we're not going to lay down. "
To celebrate the 50 year milestone, they will be presenting some of their most successful shows over the years including The Jackie Wilson Story, Muddy Waters: The Hoochie Coochie Man, You Can't Fake The Funk and the Other Cinderella. For tickets and more information click here.
