When society and culture shift, artists tell stories that help us understand where we’re going by reminding us where we’ve been.
Artistic director Viera Whye has spent four decades telling stories with Tabia African-American Theatre Ensemble in San Jose. The group, which marks its 40th anniversary this year, will present an adaptation of Regina Taylor’s Crowns that runs Feb. 14-16.
“It’s fun, it’s funny,” Whye says about the play, a gospel musical about Black women who wear many hats—aka “crowns.”
“The protagonist is a teen girl from Brooklyn. Her brother gets shot in the city in the street, and her mother then sends her to live with her grandmother in the south,” Whye explains. Surrounded by these women, she is transformed by learning about their experiences.
Cloaked in a black and white garment with a bold geometric pattern and wearing eye-catching silver jewelry, Whye settles in to share her own story.
It all started in her hometown of East Towson, Baltimore, where she was the youngest of 13 children. “The essence of me is creative expression, and since I was young, I was always after the story of uniting people by telling the truth.”
Towson was predominantly white, but East Towson was home to a small Black community. “It was very much a village, and that village made me feel safe,” she recalls. “I went to a white school, and when I began elementary school, they had begun integration. So, segregation of schools based on race had just ended a few years prior. They would say things to me like ‘Go back to Africa.’”
Early experiences of injustice inspired Whye to receive two college degrees: one in theater, the other in sociology. It’s a combination that says, “I want to save the world.”
Whye explains how she juggled a three-decade career in tech while at the same time cofounding an African-American theater company. Whye was one of six people who began the troupe back in 1985.
Tabia is part of the San Jose Multicultural Artists Guild, which also includes Maiko Women’s Drum and Poetry and Teatro Familia Aztlan. Connecting with the community has been a pivotal goal for Tabia. “We helped build the Mexican Heritage Plaza, since it opened in 1999,” Whye says. “Many of the architectural meetings of how it was going to look like—we were all a part of that process.”
Unity through diversity is a paramount value for Whye in all her endeavors. “What Trump has done just in the last few weeks has rolled back civil rights. For the last five years I worked in DEI [diversity, equity, inclusion], and what he’s doing right now is mind-blowing,” Whye says.
“What we’re doing with our play, as the books are banned and history is wiped out, it’s important for us to celebrate Black history and tell this story. It’s part of what we’ve done for 40 years and it’s more intentional right now. For us as a Black community, we have to be very intentional.”
Whye touches on potential cuts in funding and emphasizes the value of the theatrical experience. “We’re building people’s personal and social skills through theater,” she says. “We have main productions, then we do our traveling shows, so we get asked to go out and perform and do some drumming, poetry and shows.
“We’ve performed at corporate events like Intel and Synopsis. Then we have arts ed, where we go out to after school programs and teach, mostly elementary schools. Most people do just one of these things, yet we’ve been doing them all for 40 years,” Whye continues.
“Things that are happening in contemporary times, these plays are responses to shifts in society. We always want people to feel united, but we’re not a monolith. I want people to feel a sense of pride and connection, whether Black or white. We are more alike than not.”
She even wants to see another side to those who commit acts of evil or harm. “There’s something missing in that person. They want to feel valued and that they matter. Something hasn’t been instilled in him,” Whye says. “All outlash from mental illness is people feeling like they aren’t important enough. They go out and do these massive things and are hurting other people because they aren’t being fed. Though we can’t solve all the issues of the world, we want just one kid to hear a message that they do matter. Then, we’ve won.”
Tabia African-American Theatre Ensemble’s production of Crowns will be performed at 8pm on Feb 14–15 and 3pm on Feb 16 at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, 1700 Alum Rock Ave., San Jose. Tickets: $35+. sjmag.org/tabia.
