Community Theaters
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Members of Jomandi Productions Inc. pose for a group portrait at the Neighborhood Arts Center. Jomandi Productions was founded in October 1978 and became Georgia's largest African American theater group.
Copyright Jim Alexander. Courtesy of Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American Culture and History, Neighborhood Arts Center Photographs Series, Jim Alexander Collection.
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The Neighborhood Art Center's house theater troupe, Proposition Theatre Company, poses for a portrait. Director, playwright, and Morehouse College alum, Walter Dallas, ran Proposition Theatre before pursuing successful careers as an off-Broadway director, tenured professor of drama, screenwriter, and artistic director.
Copyright Jim Alexander. Courtesy of Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American Culture and History, Neighborhood Arts Center Photographs Series, Jim Alexander Collection.
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Neighborhood Arts Center (NAC) offered free art classes for children in the Atlanta community (like this group pictured in 1979). NAC artists hoped to develop creativity and art appreciation through workshops and classes in visual arts, performing arts, and creative writing.
Copyright Jim Alexander. Courtesy of Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American Culture and History, Neighborhood Arts Center Photographs Series, Jim Alexander Collection.
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Members of the Proposition Theatre during a scene from their production of Olio in the NAC multipurpose room prior to its renovation. The show ran April 13-15, 1978.
Copyright Jim Alexander. Courtesy of Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American Culture and History, Neighborhood Arts Center Photographs Series, Jim Alexander Collection.
Founded in the 1970s, the Neighborhood Arts Center (NAC) was an Atlanta-based arts institution that served as a meeting ground for everything from auditions and rehearsals to community gatherings. It included two in-house theater groups: Proposition Theater (est. 1975) and Jomandi Productions (est. 1978). Proposition Theater focused on performing “the classics” (both African and European), and in-house director Walter Dallas emphasized mentoring young actors. Jomandi Productions explored new, less traditional work from Atlanta-based playwrights. Along with the NAC’s other programs, these two companies became essential to the center’s mission to create “Art for People’s Sake.” The NAC was the primary locus of the Black Arts Movement and Black theater renaissance in Atlanta. Its goal was to make programming accessible and relevant to a variety of audiences. Tom Jones, playwright and founder of Jomandi, called the NAC the “nexus” for the Black theater companies of Atlanta.