SITE TOOLS
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Queen of Harlem
By Elizabeth McMillan
Can art and commerce co-exist? This has been an ethical question plaguing the
arts community for so long. The loss of creative expression in order to please your
financial supporters has been the fear for many artists. Visionary Dr. Barbara Ann Teer
has transcended this by successfully demonstrating an example of the marriage of business
and art by founding the National Black Theatre in 1968.
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Dr. Barbara Ann Teer
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Established as a cultural and
educational institute, Dr. Teer expanded her vision of the NBT by purchasing a city block
of property on the major business corridor of 125th Street in Central Harlem after a fire
destroyed the original studio. As a result, Dr. Teer’s company is the sponsoring
developer for the Real Estate Project that has become the first revenue generating Black
Theatre Arts Complex in the country. The business acumen of Dr. Teer has resulted in a
fully leased building with such ground floor commercial tenants as The Body Shop, The
Uptown Comedy Club and Bravo Supermarkets. By establishing the NBT, she has not only
brought a high level of artistic performances and lectures to Harlem, but Dr. Teer is also
in the process of transforming a community, revitalizing its citizens and creating a new
cultural paradigm for future generations.
Hailing from East St. Louis, Illinois, Dr. Teer comes from a family of educators and
leaders in the field of community development and equal opportunity for those in
disadvantaged circumstances. So it's no surprise that she left a very successful career as
a performing artist to dedicate her life to the creation and perpetuation of a black art
standard. “You cannot have a theatre without ideology, without a base from which all
of the forms must emanate and call it Black, for it will be the same as Western theatre,
conventional theatre, safe theatre,” reasoned Dr. Teer in The National Black Theatre:
The Sun People of 125th Street.
Dr. Teer’s dedication to educating youth started as a teacher at Harlem’s
Wadleigh Junior High School, continued with the Group Theatre Workshop (foundation for the
world renowned Negro Ensemble Company), and on to NBT’s full time pre-school and
after-school activities, family productions, innovative workshops, and lectures. She
designed “Institute of Action Arts” as a major innovative tourist attraction.
This features Three-Dimensional Electronic Hemispheric Theatre Adventure that integrates
high technology and spiritual narrative, highlighting the origins of “The Science and
Secret of Soul.” Its purpose is to heal and make whole the mental and emotional
psyche of African-Americans.
The 1987 Nobel Prize in Literature recipient, Wole Soyinka said, “Barbara Ann
Teer… is a fervent researcher into the communication roots of African societies and
their classic performance modes.” Dr. Barbara Ann Teer is a prime example of how the
vision, leadership and dedication of one person can inspire thousands of individuals and
mobilize a community to reclaim and regain its ability to take care of its own. M
October 1999
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