When they return to the International Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina later this month, members of Sarasota’s Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe are looking forward to reconnecting with a group of artists they don’t often get to see or meet.

The festival, which was launched in 1989 by the late Larry Leon Hamlin, is presented by North Carolina Black Rep and features dozens of theater companies from around the United States (and a few international troupes) taking part in a week of performances, panel discussions, cabaret shows, parties and community.

The Westcoast troupe has been a fixture of the festival since 2013.

“In theater, sometimes it feels like you’re in your own little bubble. Going there expanded the bubble or popped it,” said actress Jae Shanae, who is in the cast of the WBTT production of “Marvin: The Marvin Gaye Revue.” She had previously performed in productions staged by the host theater company.

“There are entire groups and communities of people doing theater and people who look like me doing it, showing stories from different perspectives, different ways of how stories are told. It’s nice to be immersed in that environment,” she said.

The 2026 festival will feature about two dozen mainstage productions, including three different plays by August Wilson, the pre-eminent theatrical chronicler of Black life in the 20th century; actress Phylicia Rashad narrating Wynton Marsalis’ “A Fiddler’s Tale;” a musical tribute to Luther Vandross; plus classic and more contemporary plays.

This year marks WBTT’s seventh visit to the festival, not including founder and Artistic Director Nate Jacobs’ earlier solo performances as his character Aunt Rudele. WBTT has become something of a standout among all the returning groups. The company usually sells out one of the largest theaters used during the festival and its performances have brought widespread attention to WBTT.

When Jacobs first brought the troupe to Winston-Salem in 2013, “I knew it would open their eyes to the broader world of theater. It would help them check the box if this is really what they want to do with their lives. There are other people of color out there doing what we’re doing. It would expose them to other artists that they would never see in Sarasota.”

Sheldon Rhoden, who returns to the stage for the fourth time as the late singer Marvin Gaye, said he first went to the festival as a fan of the troupe. “I wasn’t in a show so I was able to see some talent, able to judge that talent versus what we do here. I realized we have a real gem here.”

Jacobs recalled that Rhoden and another local actor “went from show to show and after the third show they came back to me and said, ‘We good. We really good’.”

Though they don’t get to see most of the other shows because of their own performance schedules, the troupe members have a chance to meet fellow actors at late-night parties and have learned how gauge the impact of their performances.

“The way the festival works, it’s word of mouth,” Rhoden said. “You hear by the first or second show that people are telling you which shows are the hottest. You’re either selling out or your not, and we’ve been selling out. We get great word of mouth.”

For each festival, Jacobs has created a different musical revue, whether “Soul Crooners,” “Soul Man” or the gospel revue “How I Got Over,” all of which were popular with home audiences in Sarasota.

Celebrating Marvin Gaye

Jacobs put together his first Marvin Gaye biographical musical in 2011 specifically for Rhoden, and he has refined and varied it for three other productions in Sarasota.

“It was all about making it stronger and stronger along with Sheldon’s own growth. This show was inspired by Sheldon. When we did a Motown revue at Art Center Sarasota, I gave him two Marvin Gaye songs and I noticed immediately that he can really sing these songs and the reaction of the audience was amazing.”

Rhoden was new to performing at the time and nervous about the idea of starring in a production. Jacobs said that when he first broached the idea of creating a show for him, “I was afraid he would freak out and run away.”

But he didn’t, and each time “he gets better and better. He really took to the challenge,” Jacobs said.

Rhoden said he wanted to prove any naysayers wrong. “I knew I was green. I knew I was new. I had that work ethic and I wanted to be better. At the festival, I was looking for artists I could pick up some things from. They had workshops going on. It helped me in that area.”

Jacobs said he was “so impressed with Sheldon’s work ethic. He’s like an athlete. He listened to everything that came out of my mouth. He’s a whole other artist on stage now. He has confidence and he has that natural flair.” 

“Marvin: The Marvin Gaye Revue” was created specifically for touring to the festival, removing most of the story about Gaye’s life that was featured in “Marvin Gaye: Prince of Soul.” It focuses on Gaye’s wide range of hit songs, including “How Sweet it Is,” “Can I Get a Witness,” “Sexual Healing” and “Heard It Through the Grapevine.”

It also includes music by Martha and the Vandellas, The Temptations, Four Tops and others, “to give Sheldon a little rest,” Jacobs said.

Shanae also returns as Gaye’s frequent vocal partner Tammy Terrell, who recorded numerous hits with Gaye before she died of a brain tumor at age 24 in 1970. Gaye himself died in 1984 after he was shot by his father.

The cast also includes numerous WBTT veterans, including Jazzmin Carson, Jada Carson, Michael Mejia-Mendez, Raleigh Mosely II, Leon S. Pitts II, Riki Stevens and Henry Washington.

The cast will be warming up for the festival with 11 performances July 15-24 at the Westcoast Black Theatre in Sarasota. They are working with resident choreographer Donald Frison and music director Etienne “EJ” Porter.

A Festival Connection

Jacobs said Hamlin, the festival founder, took a “personal interest in me as an artist” and encouraged his work developing WBTT in Sarasota. “Whatever Nate Jacobs did he was interested in.”

And the hundreds of festival fans who return every two years to Winston-Salem to sample the work of different theaters have shown their appreciation for WBTT by keeping theaters filled for their performances.

“We’re making a contribution to that national platform and to our culture and we get so much respect when we get there,” Jacobs said. “The cast feels it when they get there. We don’t have to audition anymore. They call and say what are you bringing? That’s really an honor.”

Other theaters also take notice of the shows that Jacobs creates. His “Motown Christmas” is being produced by the Ensemble Theatre in Houston and Cleveland’s Karamu House, the oldest Black theater in the country.

WBTT is one of just eight Black theaters across the country that owns its own theater building.

“Most Black theaters don’t run a regular season like most regional white theaters. Maybe they do one or two mainstage pieces, or maybe they rent out some community space like we did early in our history.”

The company’s local success has led some of the festival participants to dub WBTT “the miracle theater,” Jacobs said. “They can’t believe that a Black theater could succeed in a mostly white town like Sarasota.”

“Marvin: The Marvin Gaye Revue” runs July 15-24 at the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe’s Donnelly Theatre, 1012 N. Orange Ave., Sarasota. Tickets are $54 for adults; $24 for students and active military. westcoastblacktheatre.org; 941-366-1505. The production will be presented July 30-Aug. 1 at the Gerald Freedman Theatre, University of North Carolina School of the Arts during the International Black Theatre Festival. Tickets are $50. ncblackrep.org/events/marvin