"We decided that it was important for people to know that there was a Black theater in Seattle."
-Teotha Dennard
A few weeks ago I sat down on Zoom with an actor named Teotha ‘Tee’ Dennard, who I was interviewing about an exhibit called ‘A Legacy Illuminated: Black Theater in the Pacific Northwest,’ running through October 3, 2026. I was set to talk to Tee for about 20 minutes, but his storytelling and good humor kept us on for nearly an hour. Tee told me about Black Arts/West, a theater in Seattle’s Central District that existed from 1968 - 1980 and staged over 75 plays. Here are a few of my favorite sections.
For a really full portrait of Tee, I highly recommend this interview that the great arts writer Jas Keimig wrote in 2024, as well as this longer series on HistoryLink about the theater.
Becoming an actor
Teotha Dennard was born in 1943 in Georgia and was raised primarily in Gary, Indiana. After a time in the air force in Germany, he and his wife made it out to Seattle in the late 60s. A few years later, while working as a social worker, he had his first experience of the theater.
I knew nothing about theater. I had no idea about theater. Never had any aspirations…I was raised in Gary, Indiana, and I came out here to get away from a bad marriage. A fellow by the name of Charles Canada dared me to audition…I walked down and there was a play being cast by the name of Black Girl. I opened the door of Black Arts/West Theater. And there were wall to wall, beautiful black ladies lined up in there reading and looking for a script. And I just knew this is the place for me. And I auditioned and…got cast as an understudy.
I got involved and I got bit by the theater bug, but it was basically a family and I learned to love theater and I learned to love the folks.
Dennard acted in a variety of shows before getting cast in Lorraine Hansberry’s ‘A Raisin In The Sun,’ one of the most important American plays ever written, in 1973. It is the story of the Younger family, a Black family on the south side of Chicago dealing with poverty as they prepare to move to a majority white neighborhood.Dennard played the role of Walter Lee, made famous by the great Sidney Poitier in the 1959 Broadway production and the 1061 film.
On ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ changing his life
The director Buddy Butler, rest in peace…he saw something in me... I was blessed and honored to be able to be cast as Walter Lee, the son. And that role called for some deep thoughts, some deep acting, and…coming out of yourself and becoming that character.
It was a defining moment in my career that let me know right then that I had been ‘acting at acting.’ I was being myself. I was being myself, but he wanted me to be Walter Lee.
So…that was a defining moment for me right there… It let me know all this stuff you've been doing, you've been doing it for the wrong reason…these people are here…they're professionals.
This is their life, and you're in here for the wrong reason. And if you are going to be here and you got the opportunity to do something like this, then you have to become an actor...from then on, I had to become those characters and it let me know how important and how necessary and how much discipline and training and commitment…that went into being an actor and, and being in a family because that's what it was, an ensemble.
After his success in ‘A Raisin in the Sun,’ Tee went to the University of Washington for some acting classes but ended up going back to acting full time. He directed a few productions at BA/W and around town. In 1978, he accepted the role of artistic director alongside Doug Johnson. However, the theater didn’t have much time left.
On the end of Black Arts/West
They sent a guy out from the National Endowment for the Arts, which is our biggest funding…fiscal sponsor.
He said, well, you guys have to start doing white theater…Most of our attendance at that time had started to be ..white audience. So Black audiences fell off and white audiences started to come. So the majority of our audience and our subscribers at that time were white people…it was an education for some whites. They had no idea about the contributions that Black people had made…because they had been swept under the rug period, you know, throughout the country.
So our audience became white, right? And so that's why they sent the International Endowment for the Arts Out. They said…you're doing Black plays, but your audience is white. Now you need to do white theater, which we could have done, but it would've ceased to be Black Arts Theater. It would've ceased to be what Doug Barnett wanted it to be. Our motto was to educate, enhance, and enrich the lives of Black people. That was the motto of Black Arts/West that Doug came up with.
So that would've just changed the whole scope of Black Arts/West…
Dennard and Johnson couldn’t find the funding to match what the NEA was giving them, and they made the decision to shut down the theater in 1980.
I was the last person there. I made sure I stayed and made sure that we were able to pay all of our vendors and to pay any actors on our payroll through her when Black Arts/West closed and finished out.
On his acting career after Black Arts/West
Dennard didn’t just act in theater, but did a variety of film and TV projects, including Black Widow (shot in Seattle), an episode of Grimm,Plain Clothes, and more. Including one very famous movie shot in Port Townsend.
I ended up having a real lucrative film career. I was in 15 major motion pictures. My claim to fame is An Officer and a Gentleman. We won an Oscar for that movie.
On the future of Black Arts/West
People need to know that it was here….this small exhibit that we have here can be phase one of renewing and possibly starting another Black theater in Seattle…a theater that has seasons, four theater productions in the winter, a summer production…a real deal.
Hopefully we can generate some, some interest through this exhibit..most of the people on the committee are seniors…so hopefully we can attract some young people that want to pick up the torch. And we can go from here. This is going to be what, that's what my focus is going to be. Where can we go from here?
Black Arts/West show at Arts At King Street Station runs through Oct 3, and Dennard says he hopes people learn about the history of the theater and what could be next.
