Join Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe as we celebrate 25 extraordinary years of producing professional theatre that promotes and celebrates African American history and experience!

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WBTT 25th Anniversary Celebration

Join us as we welcome Naärai Jacobs back to her hometown to perform at the theatre she helped build. This will be the first time Naärai – WBTT Founder and Artistic Director Nate Jacobs daughter – has taken the stage in WBTT’s new theatre, which opened to the public in 2020 – just in time for the pandemic to close it. 

 

During "Legends," Naärai will make her way through decades of music, paying tribute to her favorite artists: the women of song who have paved the way for her. Hear Naärai perform some of her favorites including: Dionne Warwick ("Do You Know the Way to San Jose," "Wives and Lovers," "Valley of the Dolls)," Barbra Streisand ("Evergreen"), Gladys Knight ("Heard it Through the Grapevine"), Aretha Franklin ("Until You Come Back to Me," "Bridge Over Troubled Water"), Diana Ross ("Upside Down"), Whitney Houston ("One Moment in Time") and more.

Legends: My Favorite Songs

Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe

The Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe’s, Soul Crooners, premiered on a rental stage at the Sarasota Arts Center in 2009 and has sold out at the National Black Theatre Festival twice. The show, created and adapted by Founder and Artistic Director Nate Jacobs, has been pivotal in the success of WBTT.

Soul Crooners: Solid Gold Edition

Soul Crooners Solid Gold Edition is a new updated celebration of the popular music of male artists like the O’Jays, Earth Wind and Fire, Marvin Gaye, Teddy Pendergrass, The Commodores and more! Your favorite WBTT artists sing the music that ushered in the 1970s new era of soul and croon out rich harmonies and energized choreography that will have you clapping and dancing in your seats.

International Black Theatre Festival Send-Off

Charlie Melton

Sheldon Rhoden, one of Sarasota's favorite WBTT troupe members, reprises the role of Marvin Gaye in the most-requested WBTT show. This original musical begins in the 1950s at the start of Gaye's career with Motown and follows its twists and turns until his untimely death in the mid-1980s. A gifted and innovative talent, Gaye blazed the trail for the continued evolution of popular Black music.

Marvin Gaye: Prince of Soul

Delores McKenzie

On August 3, 1952, the unthinkable happened: a Black woman murdered a white doctor in Live Oak, Florida, guaranteeing a conviction for the woman bold enough to commit such a shocking crime and bringing celebrated writer Zora Neale Hurston to town to cover the story for a northern newspaper. A powerful and haunting world-premiere musical.

RUBY

Ariel Blue

This Pulitzer Prize-winning drama is set in the segregation-era South of 1944. On a Louisiana Army base, two shots ring out. A Black sergeant is murdered. A series of interrogations triggers a gripping barrage of questions about sacrifice, service, and identity in America. One persistent investigator must race against his white leadership to unravel the crime before they unravel him.

A Soldier's Play

Join us for a WBTT annual tradition honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in spoken word and song, arranged and directed by Nate Jacobs. Reverend Charles McKenzie will return to lend his voice to Dr. King's words, and WBTT professional performers and Stage of Discovery students will fill the house with uplifting music and dance. We will also recognize the 2023 winners of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. essay contest sponsored by the Sarasota County Bar Association Council for Diversity and Inclusion.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebrating his Legacy in Spoken Word & Song

Sarasota Opera House

Celebrate the season with high-spirited, uplifting songs as only Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe's singers, dancers and musicians can perform them! A blend of new takes on traditional holiday, gospel-infused and pop songs, the production offers a joyful, soulful twist on your favorite seasonal music.

Joyful! Joyful!

Just about everyone enjoys some type of Christmas music during the holidays. And WBTT loves to present a special holiday show as its Christmas card to the community. This year, presented for the third time, A Motown Christmas will grace the main stage and have you dancing in your seat to select holiday tunes — the kind we all love singing along with. A Motown Christmas selects traditional favorite carols—the kind we can all sing along to—and pairs them with the company’s trademark mix of soulful, rocking hits from the Motown record company. Motown’s Barry Gordy had a vision that changed the music industry forever. This festive holiday revue is the culmination of that vision – a perfect blend of traditional Christmas carols paired with soulful songs made famous by such Motown celebrities as Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, the Supremes and The Jackson 5. WBTT’s sizzling signature style makes this a most memorable Christmas treat that’s fun for the whole family!

A Motown Christmas

August Wilson had a massive impact on Broadway with his play Fences, the story of Troy Maxson, a responsible, yet otherwise flawed, black garbage collector in pre-Civil Rights America and a former star of the Negro baseball leagues. Troy now works as a garbage man in 1957 Pittsburgh. Excluded from the major leagues in his prime, Troy has grown increasingly bitter, and his anger and frustration take a toll on his wife Rose and his son Cory, who now wants his own chance to play football professionally. In August Wilson's hands, Troy rises to the level of an epic hero. Deemed a "generational play," it mirrors the classic struggle of status quo, tradition, and age, versus change, innovation, and youth. 

August Wilson's Fences

An exuberant tribute to the music of rhythm and blues pioneer and alto saxophonist, Louis Jordan, Five Guys Named Moe is an international sensation. Five Guys Named Moe is about our hero, Nomax – he's broke, his lovely girlfriend Lorraine left him and he's listening to the radio at 5:00 in the morning. Out of the radio, five guys named Moe - Big Moe, Four-Eyed Moe, Eat Moe, No Moe, and Little Moe emerging from his 1930s-style radio to comfort him. Set to Jordan's iconic rhythm and blues/jazz score, the Moes encourage Nomax to turn his life around and tell Lorraine that he loves her. Five Guys Named Moe features incredible dance numbers in addition to a great musical score.

Five Guys Named Moe

WBTT produces its first tap dance revue in this original, historical musical journey through the captivating and entertaining world of tap dance. The show takes us to an avenue where all things flourish with rhythm, style, and class. This innovative musical uses dance as a universal language and features an exciting repertoire of unique arrangements on popular jazz tunes by iconic composers such Duke Ellington's "Don't Mean A Thing', Eubie Blake's "I'm Just Full Of Jazz" and Irving Berlin's "Cheek To Cheek!" The show also offers new songs arranged and created by Nate Jacobs, Lamont Brown and Louis Danowsky.

Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe

Nov 27, 2024 - Jan 5, 2025

A Motown Christmas

Jan 15 - Feb 23, 2025

August Wilson's Fences

Mar 5 - Apr 6, 2025

Five Guys Named Moe

Apr 16 - May 25, 2025

Syncopated Avenue

Nov 14, 2024

WBTT 25th Anniversary Celebration

3 - 4 Nov, 2024

Legends: My Favorite Songs

Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe