With a sense of hospitality that can’t be matched anywhere, NY hotels have the reputation they deserve as the finest in the world. The industry goes back a few generations here, and there are a spectacular array of cultures in the city adding their own traditions for fine hospitality to the mix. One of the greatest things about the city is that its diversity allows for a constant reinvention of the way things are done. There is absolutely a sense of local tradition here, and some of these are fiercely protected, but the east coast sensibility has an intelligence that accepts and integrates new ideas when they come around. This means that the city has a spectacular balance of the old and the new.
Some would say that it’s a precarious balance, but that’s one of the things that makes it so exciting. There’s always a sense of the unknown, and it’s often impossible to tell what will happen next. The spectacular performing arts scene bases itself on this excitement, and there’s no question that you’ll see something amazing when you’re here, if you look in the right places. If your time here is taking you to the heart of Broadway in midtown, have a look at what the Negro Ensemble Company might be up to.
They’re one of the longest running black theatres in the country, and very likely the first, or at least the first to have the mission to make theatre by and about black people for a culturally diverse audience. They began in the mid 1960s when Robert Hooks directed a short play by Douglas Turner Ward with stunning results. A few years later, they formally founded the NEC, which was hoped to be an outlet for black theatre practitioners in the country. More than 40 years and over 200 productions later, they have certainly achieve what they set out to do, and there is still much more to come. There are some fantastic talents that have passed through their doors, such as Phylicia Rashad, Gus Edwards, and Denzel Washington, and there are more coming. Their role in the Civil Rights Movement has been crucial, and the work they continue to do is risky, interesting, and continues to give young black writers, actors, and directors a place to call home.
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