BUFFALO, N.Y. — There’s a magic that comes with theater when stories are told that resonate with audiences and sometimes help start conversations.

“Ujima Theatre Company first means collective work and responsibility in Swahili, and it is the tenant and pillar that makes Ujima what it is,” said Brian Brown, the managing director for Ujima Theatre Company.

The impact the stage can have goes far beyond the walls of the theater.

“They can express their feelings of their community, of their hurt, of their trauma, of their joy,” Brown explained.

Ujima Theatre Company was founded in 1978, a multicultural space mostly focusing on Black stories and experiences.

It’s one of two such stages in Buffalo, along with the Paul Robeson Theatre, which started in 1968, the longest-running stage theater in Western New York.

“After I saw Lorna Hill, who was the founder of Ujima, in a show called 'Wit,' and she played the lead role," said Yao Kahlil Newkirk, the artistic director at the Robeson, "her performance was so amazing. That was the reason why I got interested in theater.”

For Newkirk, the pieces they present are more than just entertainment.

“It means a big deal, especially here on the east side of Buffalo," said Newkirk. "Most of my shows include talkback sessions, because for me, it's all about the conversation that follows after the show.”

They influence the way he and others see the world.

“Buffalo has gone through a lot," said Brown. "Art has a weird way of allowing you to create spaces in healing.”

While representation is growing, theaters like these still have an important role.

“In 1978, there were about 300 Black theaters that were building themselves, creating themselves, trying to tell that story. Now in 2023, there's less than 100,” said Brown.

“If I can't go anywhere else and see it, I know I can depend and I can count on going to the Paul Robeson theater or to Ujima and see something that reflects me,” added Newkirk.

It brings Newkirk back to that time seeing Lorna Hill on stage, in a role rarely played by people of color.

“She was my representation," he said. "She was the one that I saw do this and I said, 'OK, there's a space for me.' "

He keeps that in mind, as work continues on their next performance.

“I need you to say it. I need you to say out loud that first came 250 years of slavery, and then came 100 years of segregation, and then came a deliberate and systematic attempt to exclude Black people from good school districts and good jobs and to lock them up or hunt them down for doing things white people do every day,” Newkirk read from a script of their upcoming production.

Both spaces are carrying on a legacy of hard truths, tough conversations, and hopefully healing.

“Ujima is home and Ujima can be home to so many people who don't have a home or don't feel like they have a place in other theaters or other spaces," said Brown. "We really take that chance to welcome anyone here.”

Both theaters are working on shows set to hit the stage on March 10, Ujima with Choir Boy and the Robeson with The Niceties. 

For more information on showtimes and tickets, visit the Ujima Theatre Company and Paul Robeson Theatre websites.