Look Back for Inspiration to Move (and Give) Forward (3 of 4) Anna Maria Horsford’s two-hour OTP interview, a pleasant and uplifting journey, explored as much about the actress’ life as our own. We mused on shared objectives and life experiences. She informed us of her personal work in counselling artists, and efforts to keep […]readmore

Eric Duggan of National Public RadioThere has been a lot of discussion in pop culture circles about the depictions of Black pain in recent films and TV shows; I’ll engage that debate more fully later. But, for me, The Underground Railroad mostly earns the right to deploy such terrible, emotionally devastating moments. These depictions enable […]readmore

Anna Maria Horsford is known globally for her roles as Thelma Frye on the NBC sitcom Amen (1986–91), and as Dee Baxter on the WB sitcom The Wayans Bros. (1995–99). And in New York City, she is known, not as Thelma and Dee, but as Anna Maria Horsford. A veteran of numerous roles in sitcoms, […]readmore

Hands company’s leadership to Elizabeth Van Dyke NEW YORK — Woodie King, Jr., Founder and Producing Director of New Federal Theatre (NFT), will retire from leadership of the famed theater company on June 30, 2021, handing the baton to NFT’s newly appointed Artistic Director, Elizabeth Van Dyke.Mr. King will remain on NFT’s board of directors, […]readmore

Part I of Four Parts During the 1960’s, the Black family was under attack by socio-economic issues wrought by America’s escalating racism. Its “decline” was greatly, and sometimes unfairly, reported. Yet, inside the “hot” New York City neighborhoods of Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant, there was something else burning beyond tempers and temples. There were families — […]readmore

Hard to separate Anna Marie Horsford from the rich characters she portrays in film and on television.She was Dee on The Wayans Bros., Betty in the comedy films Friday and Friday After Next; Helen on BET’s sitcom, Reed Between the Lines; Thelma on the NBC sitcom Amen.And there’s no wonder no one ever forgets actress […]readmore

Traci Lester has been named Executive Director of the Center for Fiction, the only organization solely devoted to the promotion and support of the art of fiction.  She began her role on April 6, 2021. Ms. Lester joins The Center for Fiction from National Dance Institute, where she served as Executive Director from 2016 until […]readmore

Dr. Maria DeLongoriaAs a Black woman growing up in the United States (U.S.) with all of the nuances as well as the complexities that accompany the politics of Black hair, it was easy to develop that love/hate relationship that so many of us have. Mine started with me sitting locked between my mother’s legs as […]readmore