Pictured: Brian L. Boyd and Warren G. Nolan Jr. Photo by Sorcha Augustine.

The West Coast Black Theatre Troupe will be opening its 2022-23 season on October 5th with their production of the Tony-award winning musical Guys and Dolls. The production, one of five headlining the West Coast Black Theatre Troupe’s season, speaks to the thematic tone of the season. “It’s about a group of guys trying to achieve the American dream–through gambling. It's a microcosm of what we’ve tried to do here and accomplish at WBTT,” says Nate Jacobs, founder and artistic director of WBTT.

Interrogating the concept of the American dream is something that the WBTT looks to achieve through all of its productions this season, which includes Langston Hughes Black Nativity and Flyin’ West - a play about a group of African-American women who flee the South and settle in Kansas in the 1890s. “We had talked about doing something new with a twist, which is kind of our signature. We develop a lot of new pieces because as the WBTT, we are the steward for Black American, Caribbean, and African culture in the region,” says Jacobs

The idea to put on Guys and Dolls was partially due to the show’s director, Jim Weaver, experience with the musical. Weaver, who is an Artistic Associate and Director of Education at the WBTT, saw a production of Guys and Dolls that featured an all African-American cast on Broadway in 1976. The key twist of the production was that it featured Mo-Town style arrangements of the original showtunes. Look for the WBTT to weave in their own versions of the production’s classic showtunes when it premieres on October 5th.

Box office: 941-366-1505, 1012 N. Orange Ave., Sarasota.

Pictured: Brian L. Boyd and Warren G. Nolan Jr. Photo by Sorcha Augustine.

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