This special episode for Women's History Month features pioneering theatre founder Helen K. Mason, grandmother of Before You Go host Bryant Monteilh. Bryant and Nicole Franklin visit Phoenix, AZ history through Bryant's archived interview with his grandmother. Black Theatre Troupe's current Executive Director, David Hemphill, joins the show to reflect on her legacy.
In 1970, Black Theatre Troupe founder Helen K. Mason launched the oldest Black theatre organization in the Southwest Region of the United States while in Phoenix, AZ. She was 60 years old at the time and ready for retirement, but the neighborhood children told her performing plays was what they wished to do. The theatre still exists with a thriving season under Executive Director David Hemphill. He joins the show to reflect on her legacy. A treasured archive from Bryant's road trip from San Diego to Phoenix that captured his Grandmother's story in her own words via cassette tape, sets the scene.
This episode first aired on KBLA Talk 1580.