Welcome! This year the Anthony Bean Community Theater and Acting School celebrates15 years of excellence in the performing arts.

The Anthony Bean Community Theater (ABCT) was established in Spring 2000 to meet the growing demands of New Orleans area residents seeking a quality, culturally diverse, performing arts venue. The theater also met the needs of individuals seeking to learn the art of acting, set design and theatre management. In recent years, ABCT has become a vehicle to enter New Orleans' booming "Hollywood South" film industry.

ABCT is unique in that it is not only a major theater production company, but a year-round, open enrollment acting school serving both adults and children with an eclectic group of courses designed to meet the basic needs of individuals seeking careers in stage and screen acting, set design and theatre management.  

ABCT believes that the arts have the power to transform people's lives. Our Mission is simple: "to inspire those we serve through the magic of the arts."  The Hallmark of ABCT and that which separates us from "all the rest" is - diversity.  ABCT proudly presents the most diverse theater schedule in the New Orleans area.  Our programing fare includes, the classics; Shakespeare, August Wilson and Tennessee Williams as well as popular drama (Reflections and Misery), comedy (Jar the Floor, Steal Away), and musicals (The Color Purple, Simply Irma and The Phyllis Hyman Story). Most importantly, ABCT mounts original plays such as I'd Rather Be Rich and Say Amen, and showcases our talented kids in perennial favorites: Cats, The Wiz, High School Musical and 504.  

The goal of the ABCT Acting School is to provide an intense, high quality learning and performing opportunity in an atmosphere where young people are encouraged to set goals, take risks and view mistakes as an avenue for learning. ABCT opens students up to the greatness that lies within them and creates an awareness that the Arts are a constructive vehicle of personal expression.

Anthony Bean Community Theater boasts a full professional portfolio including video DVD Productions and an ABCT clothing line. In addition to children and adult acting classes, ABCT offers a youth theater, an after-school program, and the Anthony Bean Community Theater City Choir.  During the summer months, working in conjunction with the New Orleans Recreation Department Commission - ABCT also operates a summer day camp.

We at ABCT wish to express our sincere gratitude for your ongoing support over the past 15 years and we urge you to purchase your PASS for the upcoming season. Thank you for your ongoing support. We look forward to seeing you at our next production.

Come and celebrate our Anniversary and you will agree.

"ABCT IS MORE THAN THEATER

IT'S CULTURE!"

Back ABCT! Be a part of the Anthony Bean Community Theater and Acting School! ABCT is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and all contributions are tax deductible. Donate today and keep the arts alive and exciting in our community!

2010-05-14 00:00:00.0

Based on the Negro sermon poems by James Weldon Johnson, the music will lift your spirits and rock your soul through rousing free verse and spirit-filled songs and dance. Featuring the classics--"The Creation", "The Prodigal Son", "Go Down Death" and more! This celebrated work is a moving experience that audiences will truly enjoy. Directed by Anthony Bean, Choreographed by Arieuna McGee and Musical Directions by Torrey Fingal.

New Orleans, LA. March 1, 2010 … In celebration of The Anthony Bean Community Theater 10th year Anniversary, ABCT will collaborate with Sheriff Marlin Gusman and his Prison Choir, ‘Voices of Thunder’ to present the African American classic ‘God Trombones’.

The original text is a series of seven poem-sermons, beginning and ending with odes to Creation and Judgment Day, and containing some of both Testaments’ greatest hits: The Prodigal Son, Noah’s Ark, the Crucifixion. The Anthony Bean Theater production is seen through the eyes of Sister Caroline Asbury, who is believed to be a 100 years old. It’s her birthday and she feels like talking. She was once married to a famed preacher and she begins to reminisce about the Negro preacher and what she believes to be the best sermons she heard. “He intoned, he moaned, he pleaded--he blared, he crashed, he thundered. I sat fascinated; and more, I was, perhaps against my will, deeply moved; the emotional effect upon me was irresistible.” The Musical Director of this production is organist, songwriter, producer and arranger Joel Britton. Currently, Britton serves as Musical Director of BET’s nationally syndicated television show –Sunday Best. ‘The Voices of Thunder’ is a prison male choir founded in 2002. It is composed of inmates who want to share their ministry of music with their fellow inmates and the community at large. “I am pleased to collaborate with the Anthony Bean Community Theater, “ says Sheriff Marlin Gusman.

Harold X. Evans performs ‘Go Down Death’; Derrick Deal performs ‘Let My People Go’; Tony Felix performs ‘The Creation’; Darryl Lutcher performs ‘The Prodigal Son;, Damany Comier performs ‘ The Crucifixion’; Anthony Bean performs ‘Judgment Day’; and Alfred Aubrey performs ‘Noah Built the Ark’.

Starring

Anthony Bean God's Trombone

Darryl Lutcher, Tony Felix & Harold X. Evans Darryl Lutcher, Tony Felix and Harold X. Evans. Darryl Lutcher, Tony Felix & Harold X. Evans. Darryl Lutcher, Tony Felix & Harold X. Evans

Tony Felix, (l) Darryl Lutcher & Harold X. Evans

Harold X. Evans and Tony Felix Harold X. Evans and Tony Felix Harold X. Evans and Tony Felix Harold X. Evans and Tony Felix

God's Trombones

Anthony Bean God's Trombone