Scope and Contents: The records of the Free Southern Theater (FST) date from 1964 to 1978, but the bulk is from 1965 to 1976. The records total 62 linear feet and eleven oversized boxes. The records have been arranged in four major series (with subseries): Administrative series, theater production series, general correspondence series, and financial record series. Materials reflect the creative output of the FST, and include play scripts, collected ephemera, and photographs of the troupe’s performances. Also included are collected publications from other organizations pertaining to the Black Arts Movement and the Black Theater Movement. Other records concern personnel matters and fundraising activities.
These records arrived at the Amistad Research Center in no discernible order; however, for the convenience of the researcher and to gain full intellectual and physical control the records are organized by alphabetically by name or subject and then chronologically.
Some of the correspondents covered:
Richard S. Aronson, General Manager for Free Southern Theater
Arthur Ashe, Co-Chairman of Fund-raising Committee
Julian Bond, Chairman of fund-raising activities
Bill Cherry, Director of Fund-raising for Free Southern Theater
Robert Costley, actor, Production State Manager, Workshop Director for Free Southern Theater
Scott Cunningham, Artistic Director of Free Southern Theater
Ossie Davis, Vice-Chairman, National Board of Sponsors of Free Southern Theater
Tom C. Dent, Vice-Chairman, Associate Producer, Writing Workshop Instructor for Free Southern Theater
Leonard Dreyfus, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors for Free Southern Theater
Lolis E. Elie, Attorney for Free Southern Theater
Carol Feinman, Vice-President of the Free Southern Theater, Secretary-Treasurer fo the National Board of Sponsors for Free Southern Theater
Val Ferdinand (Kalamu ya Salaam), Blkartsouth Director
Fannie Lou Hamer, Mississippi sharecropper, civil rights activist, member of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
Sylvia Hampton, Acting Workshop Instructor
Don Hubbard, Community Program Director
Roberta Yaney Jones, Associate Producer to Coordinate Fund-raising and Public Relations Activities
Murray Levy, actor, Business Manager for Free Southern Theater
Gilbert Moses, Co-Founder of the Free Southern Theater, Artistic Manager, Executive Producer
Denise Nicholas, actress, Administrator and Publicity Manager for Free Southern Theater
John O'Neal, Co-Founder of the Free Southern Theater, Producing Director, President of Free Southern Theater Corporation
Brock Peters, President of the Board of Directors and the National Board of Sponsors, President of the Free Southern Theater Corporation
Issac Reynolds, Vice-Chairman, Director of the Lower Ninth Ward Neighborhood Improvement Council
Bill Rouselle, "Nation Time" Producer
Richard Schechner, Chairman of the Board of Directors for Free Southern Theater
Joseph K. Stevens, Technical Director, Designer, and Technician for Free Southern Theater
Rev. Milton Upton, Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Free Southern Theater
Theodore Ward, writer, playwright
Wallace Young, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Free Southern Theater
Free Southern Theater records
| Amistad Research Center
Subjects (links to similar collections)
