![]() She never let anyone – including this critic – forget that the theater existed to provide an outlet for the pains and fears – and yes, for the joys, too – of the minorities living in the Valley of the Sun. David Hemphill, young and full of piss, brought to his role as a later artistic/managing director a breadth of vision that steered the theater through perilous economic straits.īut however luminous the performances, however brilliant the leadership, it was Helen who kept the fires burning. Rod Ambrose, an actor on a par with James Earl Jones and Sidney Poitier, gave some of the finest performances any local theater has seen. Lynda Gravatt, an established Broadway and New York actress, lent her incandescence to the early efforts. It didn’t take long for the best Black talent of the day to find its way to Helen’s theater. Helen was interested in how things could come together, not how they could be ripped further apart. Though the thrust of BTT’s efforts was and always will be Black theater and the literature of the Black diaspora, performers, directors, designers and playwrights of other races have been included. You notice I said minority, not African American. The flames that devoured other urban areas never burst into life in her town. Helen founded what would become the Black Theatre Troupe, one of the nation’s most enduring and skilled companies devoted to minority arts. “I wanted to give them something to occupy their time that would be positive and increase their self respect.” “There was nothing for young people to do but get into trouble,” she told me, during a later interview. She worked closely with teenagers and saw the danger. ![]() Helen was a recreation supervisor for the city. The heat crept closer and closer to Phoenix. I came from Milwaukee, where one neighborhood after another disintegrated into ashes. People who can do that and still make you think of your aunt are impressive – and damn scary.ĭuring the ’60s, America was going up in flames. She waded in, aimed for the jaw and achieved her dreams. Helen Mason never let opposition or harsh reality get in her way when she was bent on realizing a goal. What set her apart was that she was a dreamer. She was not fooled by the promises of those who would say anything to maintain the status quo. She was not dirt poor she was educated and had a good job but she understood life on the streets. She certainly was not rich and, as far as I learned, never aspired to the prerogatives of the rich. I’m not sure either understood why they revered her. Helen was a Valley icon even then, looked up to equally by rich Scottsdalians and poor South Siders. She was soft-spoken, gracious, as interested in me as I was in her and her theater. It was not reporter sits down with star, as so many of my interviews were. ![]() She had that smile, the one that says without words, “Come here, let me hug you.” There was no big-to-do about that first of many lunches. When I met Helen in 1977, I felt as if I were greeting a beloved aunt. There are others who, however low-key their entrance, sink grappling hooks into your soul and latch on for eternity. There are people who stroll casually into your life and right back out again. He made sure I knew Helen Katherine Mason. When someone asks me if God has been good to me, I can answer in the affirmative. Mason, Founder of the Black Theatre Troupe. It developed into one of the better theater companies in the Valley and one of the few African-American stage troupes to have a long history.īlack Theatre Troupe is still presenting full seasons 35 years after its founding, appropriately in the new Helen Mason Center for the Performing Arts. The brain child of Helen Mason, the company was designed to keep youth off the streets. The Black Theatre Troupe was founded in 1969 when, fueled by race riots, American cities were going up in flames. ![]()
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