There's little we Austinites like more than congratulating ourselves on our tolerant and liberal city, but a discomforting contradiction to this free-wheeling reputation is the marginalized and proportionately small African-American population that is dwindling just as the city's overall population expands at a brisk rate. The stellar artists at the helm of the newly formed Spectrum Theatre Company have taken a theatrical approach to help reverse this trend and are "on a mission to provide the Austin area with professionally rendered productions representative of the many shades and nuances of the African-American experience." Super luminaries Billy Harden, Carla Nickerson, Jacqui Cross, and Janis Stinson have enriched all of Austin with their performances for years; their new company may just be the artistic tonic to enhance Austin for African-Americans and to bring us all closer to the city we fancy ourselves to be.
