Angela Bassett’s son is reviving the Black student theater group she founded at Yale University nearly five decades ago.
Slater Vance, a Yale student and the son of Bassett and actor Courtney B. Vance, relaunched the Heritage Theater Ensemble in August with co-president Chin Onwu. The organization has been renamed the Heritage Production Company and has expanded its focus to include both theater and film, according to the Yale Daily News.
Bassett founded the group in 1979 while she was a Yale student. She wanted to create more opportunities for Black students to perform and develop their work on campus.
“She originally created this space because when she was here, there were no Black roles, even in the Geffen School of Drama,” Vance told the Yale Daily News.
The ensemble became a space for Black students to perform, write and collaborate. Its past productions included Filling Basins, about the 1881 Atlanta Washerwomen Strike, and Topdog/Underdog, a play exploring race, masculinity and justice.
The group went dormant during the COVID-19 pandemic before Vance and Onwu brought it back this August. Nearly 70 students have registered as members.
The Heritage Production Company plans to produce one film and one play each semester. Its first major production is expected to be John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation in spring 2027.
Vance said he also hopes the organization will create opportunities for Black students to tell stories connected to the African diaspora and encourage more students to pursue creative work.
Bassett graduated from Yale in 1980 with a degree in African American Studies before earning an MFA from the Yale School of Drama in 1983.
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