“eta Creative Arts Foundation is for us, about us and by us. It’s authentically Black!”
These words – uttered unflinchingly by recently-returned Artistic Director Runako Jahi – capture the purpose, the mission and the vision of eta Creative Arts Foundation. The last three words — It’s authentically Black! — define it.
This year marks eta’s 50th year of providing a platform to showcase the talents of artists at its headquarters at 7955 S. South Chicago — lovingly referred to as “where the magic works.” K’ai El’Zabar, the executive director, recently presided over the 50th-anniversary celebration.
Since its beginnings, eta has been anchored by a strong support base that reads like a pantheon of Chicago’s civic, business, religious and cultural leaders. Life Trustees, with 20 years of service, include former president and CEO of the Chicago Urban League James Compton, playwright Useni Eugene Perkins, realtor, Mary Ann King, Nicor exec Dorothy Odell Foster and the late Lucille Burrus. Other stalwarts who contributed their unique strengths to eta include Father David Jones, – St. Benedict the African Church, John W. Rogers, Jr., Chairman, Co-CEO & Chief Investment Officer of Ariel Investments, Lester McKeever of the accounting firm Mitchell & Titus, and Robert Blackwell, Sr., CEO of Blackwell Consulting Services.
Nancy McKeever is a stand-alone constellation in eta’s orbit. She brings an energy, commitment, and love of eta to the various leadership roles she volunteers for or is thrust on her. Her relationship with eta began when she served as co-chair of a fundraiser feting the late Milton Davis, chair of South Shore Bank and eta’s first board chair. Eventually, she got “swept up” in the magic and her role cascaded into many other volunteer responsibilities. She’s served as a board member, where she was a mainstay on numerous subcommittees, including fundraising. Nancy’s outreaches to Harris Bank, Northern Trust, and First National Bank to host eta events and for financial support elevated eta’s profile and credibility and enshrined her as an eta treasure.
Former State Senator Donne Trotter, in whose district eta was located, describes it as a “cultural icon.” He used the power of his and former State President Emil Jones‘s leverage to secure over $1 million in funding from the State to help eta purchase the parcel of land across the street. Through their intervention, the State also made an emergency infusion of cash when the roof caved in.
Leslie Bond Jr., founder, and CEO of the investment firm Attucks Asset Management, LLC., is Chairman of the board. Bond, who professes an abiding love of theater, credits the board’s counsel, guidance, and passion as factors in eta’s success and endurance.
The eta saga is the stuff of Black theater folklore. It is a tale of Abena Joan Brown and Harold Okoro Johnson’s shared passion for Black theater. Bound by their angst over the lack of places where Black actors and Black playwrights could work and thrive, they resolved to fill that niche. Along the way, Attorney Archie Weston, Sr., and newspaper publisher Al Johnson got caught up in the rapture and joined the “movement.” All are now deceased.
eta spent several years moving from site to site. But, even as a nomadic company, its stellar productions attracted a growing patron base that followed them.
Craving for a space of its own, Abena reached out to the late real estate mogul Dempsey Travis. He identified a shuttered window factory at 7955 S. South Shore. Through creative financing, gentle buttonholing of financiers at South Shore Bank and others, matching challenges and much cajoling to grantors and financiers — capped by Abena’s power of persuasion — the building was purchased and transformed into a combo theater/art gallery/classroom space. It opened its doors in January 1979.
Today, it stands as a monument to eta’s pioneering role in creating a haven where Black artists of all platforms, hone their craft, gain exposure and acquire the tools to make a living. It is also a brick-and-mortar tribute to the genius of its visionaries –Abena and Okoro –who possessed a find-a-way-to-get-it-done determination.
Harold Okoro Johnson – co-founder, director, and playwright, was the Artistic Director for 17 years. His drama classes were laboratories of knowledge and he doled out advice that went beyond traditional teaching.
And Then There Was Abena…
Abena Joan Brown, co-founder, President, and CEO, was fierce, charismatic, had boundless energy, and was the singular person around which eta revolved. Her artistic/business acumen made her the go-to person for everything eta, and her reputation opened many doors and many funders’ wallets. She dedicated 40 years to eta.
Illinois Poet Laureate Angela Jackson, who credits Abena with helping develop her as a playwright, describes her as “an incredible force of nature. A brilliant person.”
Bond concurs: “She was a unique person who embodied all of the skill sets and brought energy to all aspects of it. That’s very difficult to do.”
At her death in 2015, tributes flowed in from all over the world with “arts powerhouse” being the descriptive most ascribed to her.
Both founders were yoked as believers that eta Creative Arts Foundation was for us, about us, and by us.
eta Creative Arts Foundation is FOR US
eta Creative Arts Foundation is renowned as a training ground, an incubator for adult and children’s plays, a business operation, a networking nexus, an art gallery, and a forum for aspiring playwrights to use their produced-at-eta plays to vault them to the next level. Actors, playwrights, and directors are paid SAG-AFTRA rates, consultants are compensated and staff salaries are competitive.
eta Creative Arts Foundation is ABOUT US…
Jahi shared the formula for eta-produced plays: Black themed whether it was a comedy, drama or musical. Even if the storyline focuses on a character with a turbulent life, as the curtain goes down, the lead must be getting help or triumphing. The plays also have to be new or a seldom-produced Black authored production.
eta Creative Arts Foundation is BY US
Everything done under the eta brand is BY US: Black folks.
The list of playwrights and directors is long and luminous: Playwrights include Angela Jackson and Useni Eugene Perkins who wrote the popular children’s play, Black Fairy. Playwright/directors were Vantile Whitfield and Charles Michael Moore, both now deceased. And the legendary Chuck Smith brought his directing genius to several eta productions.
The venerable producer and director Woodie King, a recent special Tony Awards winner, directed playwright Ron Milner’s play Checkmates, which was staged at eta in 1987. It enjoyed such an illustrious run that it debuted on Broadway in 1988 with Denzel Washington, Ruby Dee and Paul Winfield as its stars. King also directed the Broadway production. Through these luminaries, eta snared numerous awards, including the coveted Jeff.
With the pandemic’s force easing, Jahi announced that its season will open April 1 with the Oscar Brown, Jr., musical, “Journey Through Forever.”
To the happiness of fans, eta will soon be pulsating with plays, classes, and the hum of progress.
Bond conjectures that any erosion of eta’s base is due to the neighborhood. His ambitious plan for the next 50 years is to transform the eta-owned property across the street into an upscale hub of housing and entertainment — with eta and theater at its heart.
“By rebuilding the neighborhood,” he states, “we rebuild eta. This is our moment.”
