History Happy Hour: History, Race and Integration at Olney Theatre

Built at Davis Corner, a historically black community, Olney Theatre Center (OTC) was established as an integrated theater, meaning that performances were open to Black and white audience members.  Helen Hayes brought national attention to Olney when she refused to perform at the segregated National Theater and instead made a point of performing at the integrated Olney Theatre.

How did an integrated theater become established in the Jim Crow south, across the street from a predominantly black neighborhood?  Panelists Jim Petosa (former artistic director at OTC), Weldon Brown (sales director at OTC), and Mark Walston (historian) will paint a picture of the community before, during, and after the establishment of the theater and delve into its complicated relationship with race.