Paul
Robeson (1898-1976) is the inspiration for the Robey Theatre
Company (Robey). A man of mythic proportions, his achievements
are the stuff of legends. Paul won a scholarship to New Jersey's
Rutgers University, gaining Phi Beta Kappa honors in his junior
year and lettering in track, basketball and baseball. Robeson
was the first Black All-American football player, a leading
international concert singer for 35 years, a musicologist, an
accomplished stage and screen actor, the first Black lawyer
to enter one of New York's most prestigious law firms, a linguist,
scholar, orator and an uncompromising political activist. Paul
Robeson's artistry and genius, together with his indomitable
courage, established him as one of our greatest American Renaissance
men.
Robey
was founded in December 1994 by Danny Glover and Bennet Guillory
to fill a void of opportunity for Black theatre artists. Artists
of color, particularly Black playwrights, have long lacked a
forum where their work can be developed in collaboration with
their peers. Black audiences have had insufficient opportunity
to hear these voices in an ongoing basis and their unique expression
of the culture. Robey was founded to fulfill this need.
