Katie Lee: What inspired you to form the “True Colors
Theater Company”?
Kenny: Actually I didn’t plan on it. When I left the Atlanta
Alliance, I was planning to do more commercial theater
and focus on my artistry as a director. Two guys; one in
Washington DC, Riley Temple and Chris Manos at Theater
of the Stars, sort of talked me into it. They said, “you need
to start a national black theater”. So, they got me thinking
about what a national black theater company would look
like. First I thought; I don’t want to start just another theater
company.Secondly, I don’t like things that are exclusionary;
I like inclusions. Also, I realized that there was a void in
this country in the production of African-American works.
So I thought about the typical model. Usually, productions
companies produce European or Anglo American works and diversifies around the edges. For example; most production companies would do one black, hispanic or one play by a
woman. So I thought, what if we placed African-Americans
at the center of a theater company? And then diversify
around the edges, hence the True Colors Company was
formed. As an artist, I am committed to the pursuit of
truth and clarity, consequently, this is also the definition
of True Colors; signifying truth and clarity. So one thing
lead to another; and now the company is about the African-
American experience at the center of its core; but includes
other cultures and perspectives. Later, I also explored
the idea of doing productions in cities outside of Atlanta,
so we started to experiment with Washington DC and
New York City, but discovered that Atlanta our home
base, has all the energy the Company needs.
Katie Lee: True Colors has reached out in numerous
ways to become a “community inclusive” theater
company. How did you go about making this happen?
Kenny: I have always had a commitment to the local
community in Atlanta. I want to give as many artist here
as possible an opportunity to work with us. I also love
the idea of having performances in different spaces. I like
going to where the community is, for instance, with Miss
Evers Boys we are at the South West Arts Center in
South West Atlanta and for the holiday season we had
the Black Nativity at the Rialto Theater located in down-
town Atlanta. I want to keep taking art to the people and
continue encouraging people to come to the arts. This
makes a perfect marriage between our choices of plays,
our artist and our community which makes for a great
dialogue between the work and people seeing the work.
Katie Lee: As a youngster, were you interested in the
theater? What sparked your interest in the arts?
Kenny: I never knew that there were careers in arts. I just
thought it was a great way to express yourself. Like when
I went to South Africa and spent time with the people there;
I found that the arts were an integral part of growing up in
South Africa. Well, it was the same thing for me growing
up in a religious household. My Grandmother forced me
to go to church. I was in church every Sunday, Tuesday
and Thursday. And because of that, I had the opportunity
to act in church plays and all of that. This, is just a way
of expressing ideas that were grounded in me very early
on, in the tradition of the Southern Baptist African-
American church.
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