Amun Ra to Open New Venue

Amun Ra Theatre will soon have its own performance space-making it the first African-American theatre company in Nashville to open a permanent venue.

Since its founding in 2001, Amun Ra has grown from an acting ensemble into a multi-faceted performance group, with shows featuring music and dance, a teen acting company, and a summer arts camp. Until now, Amun Ra has rented halls around town for its shows, as do most of the city’s performance groups. But founder jeff obafemi carr says Amun Ra has been limited by the size and cost of those venues. He says the new space will be small–a sixty-seat black box theatre in a converted mosque near McKissack Park.

“We can have intimate shows that are highly creative and innovative and we can talk about all sorts of issues in the space of the theatre and make sure that a lot of people bet a chance to see new kinds of works that don’t get done in Nashville but would be done in similar theatres in Chicago and New York where you have intimate black-box theatres all over the place.”

The venue should be ready for its first show by the fall.

While the structure belongs to Mt. Nebo Baptist Church, Amun Ra will pay for its renovation and landscaping. carr hopes to build a new building for the theatre before the five year lease is up, leaving behind an improved space for the church and its neighborhood.