In some of The Umbrella's most innovative programming yet since opening the new facility and launching the professional stage company, director Pascale Florestal and visual artist activist Cedric Vise1 Douglas have cooperatively planned a provocative and interactive audience experience that flows from theater to gallery, optimizing The Umbrella as a multifunction, multidisciplinary arts center.

The Colored Museum experience at The Umbrella is more than "just a play" or "just an exhibit," but a collaboration of creative, interdisciplinary artists and partner organizations committed to dismantling racism, re-envisioning cultural institutions, and foregrounding Black arts and experiences.

MEET THE DIRECTOR - PASCALE FLORESTAL

The Colored Museum has electrified, discomforted, and delighted audiences of all colors, redefining our ideas of what it means to be Black in contemporary America. Its eleven “exhibits” undermine Black stereotypes old and new and return to the facts of what being Black means.

The production is directed in a fresh, relevant new way for The Umbrella Stage Company by versatile director, dramaturge, educator, writer and collaborator Pascale Florestal, recently spotlighted in WBUR's "2021 Artery 25: Artists Of Color Transforming The Cultural Landscape" and nominated for an Elliot Norton Award for the recent and raved production of Once On This Island at Speakeasy Stage. 

“It has always been a dream of mine to bring The Colored Museum to life. George C. Wolfe beautifully articulates the Black experience in this seminal piece of theater. The Colored Museum was one of the first plays I read in high school, leading me down a path of work that would continue the conversations of race and the ways in which they affect our everyday lives.”

Read more about Pascale’s thoughts on the play here

The Cast: Head Over Heels' King Basilius and Pythio actors Damon Singletary* and Kai Clifton return to The Umbrella’s stage as part of a tremendously talented ensemble. Their castmates include Yasmeen Duncan, BW Gonzalez*, and Lorraine Victoria Kanyike.

* Appearing through an Agreement between this theater and Actor's Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

MEET THE CURATOR