Please join us for the launch of a new book, The Second Balcony: The African American Experience at the Bijou Theatre, written by Jack Neely and produced by KHP for and in close partnership with the Bijou Theatre Foundation and the Beck Cultural Exchange Center. (For this project, the late Bob Booker contributed research help and personal memories). Our narrative takes it all the way back to the original hotel building’s construction in 1816, carrying it through its hotel era, when it was actually home to several notable Black leaders—and to the era of the theater itself, which was segregated from 1909 to 1963, but (almost) always admitted Black patrons, unlike most other theaters. The research came with several surprises, like the fact that it hosted jazz-age dance contests, as well as the traveling production of Broadway’s first all-Black musical. It’s a complicated but fascinating story of creativity and incremental progress in an era of fastidious racial oppression.
The evening will feature live music, light hors d’oeuvres, and a special conversation with author Jack Neely, Rev. Reneé Kesler, president of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center, and Courtney Bergmeier, executive director of the Bijou Theatre.
This event is free and open to the public, but please RSVP so the theatre can plan for seating and refreshments. RSVP HERE
