Crossroads Theatre, Professional theater company in New Brunswick, United States.
Crossroads Theatre is a professional theater company and venue located inside the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center in downtown New Jersey. The company dedicates its stage entirely to works exploring African-American experiences and diaspora narratives, presenting both classic texts and new productions.
The company was founded in 1978 by two Rutgers University students who saw that New Jersey had no professional Black repertory theater. Their response was to create the state's first institution of its kind, giving Black theatrical work a permanent home.
The Crossroads Theatre is one of the few stages in the region where stories from the African diaspora take center place, not as a side note but as the main focus. Audiences encounter voices and perspectives that are rarely given this kind of dedicated space in mainstream theater.
The venue sits in the heart of downtown New Brunswick and is easy to reach on foot from the surrounding area. Arriving a little early is a good idea, as the building is part of a larger arts complex worth exploring before the show.
In 1999, the company received the Regional Theatre Tony Award, making it the first Black theater company ever to win this national prize. The award is typically given to long-established institutions, which makes this recognition all the more unexpected.
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