Who We Are

The African American Theater Arts Troupe has several missions and goals that it is always striving to obtain. One of the primary missions of this Theater Arts Troupe is to have a direct affect on quality of life, for African American students. Additionally, AATAT provides an African American Scholarship Fund to encourage and support the professional growth of African American actors. While serving as a vehicle to expose African American theater to this campus and community, AATAT provides its students with an enriched college experience regardless of their history.

To ensure success of the students, AATAT offers four major scholarships through the African American Scholarship Fund, awarded annually to the most outstanding students. Two are based primarily on financial need, one is based on academic standing and the fourth is based primarily on leadership and support in AATAT’s current production. These are awarded based on the consultation by a five-panel committee consisting of a financial aid officer, African American Student Life Director, an African American student representative, an SAA/EOP representative, and the AATAT producer/director, Don Williams.
AATAT makes a strong effort to engage with people from the greater community of Santa Cruz. Since the Troupe's pioneer year, we have increased our outreach productions to the greater community by teaming up with the Santa Cruz Arts Commission, as well as the Seaside Arts Commission and the Community Partnership for Youth (CPY). CPY is an after school and intercession program that sponsors prevention programs for children from at-risk environments. The newest of our partnerships has been First Night Santa Cruz. The Troupe has an open door for such venues as the Louden Nelson Community Center, Cabrillo College, Monterey Peninsula College, the Oldemeyer Center at Seaside, Santa Cruz High, Harbor High, and several junior high schools in the Seaside, Monterey area.

AATAT combats the lack of support at UCSC through engaging educational activities that retain our students and help maintain quality educational programs for African American students and the wider community. We have been achieving this through the scholarship fund and exposing students to professional level productions that bring history and experience to life. AATAT served to set the tone for Rainbow Theater, produced a few years later.

​In addition to validating and affirming the cultural experiences of African Americans on campus, AATAT's goal is to raise funds for the awarding of the annual scholarships. The troupe delights in awarding at least five thousand dollars in scholarships to individuals participating in the program exhibiting exemplary academic performance. Since 1993, AATAT has raised over $120,000 in annual scholarship funding.

What We Do

​Workshops
• Workshops facilitated by AATAT students create an atmosphere to introduce theater performance and technique from a historical perspective
• Students engage in various theater games and improvisations
• Students participate in a discussion about higher education, social life, academics, and cultural awareness
Outreach
• Bring multicultural theater to high schools in Los Angeles and the greater Bay area.
• Offer information about the UC system, college and admissions in areas with a high minority population offering insight into college life, academics and the application process.
 ​Lectures
• Provide an analytical perspective on plays and playwrights of color.
• Educates students on the history of theater with an emphasis on African American playwrights, actors, directors and their presence in communities around the world.
• Explores the historic context and humanity of characters, from experiences of anxiety, depression, and trauma to compassion, love, and resilience.​

AATAT 2023: Pipeline by Dominique Morisseau​

Summary-  A mother’s hopes for her son clash with an educational system rigged against him in PIPELINE, the riveting new play by Dominique Morisseau (Skeleton Crew). 
Nya, an inner-city public high school teacher, is committed to her students but desperate to give her only son Omari opportunities they’ll never have. When a controversial incident at his upstate private school threatens to get him expelled, Nya must confront his rage and her own choices as a parent. But will she be able to reach him before a world beyond her control pulls him away? 
With profound compassion and lyricism, PIPELINE brings an urgent conversation powerfully to the fore. Don’t miss this deeply moving story of a mother’s fight to give her son a future — without turning her back on the community that made him who he is.

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AATAT 2022: 'da Kink in My Hair by Trey Anthony​

Summary - Set in a West Indian hair salon in Toronto, ’da Kink in My Hair introduces us to a group of women who tell us their unforgettable, moving, and often hilarious stories. Mixing laughter and tears—and told in words, music, and dance—the stories explore the hardship, struggles, and joys of their lives.​
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About the Play - 
da Kink in My Hair premiered to a sold-out audience at the Toronto Film Festival in 2001. Since then, the play received four NAACP Theatre awards and was the first play centering Black women to be produced at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto. It was named as one of the top ten plays in Canada’s theatrical history. da Kink has been seen in California, in London, and made its New York debut at Tisch School for the Arts at New York University in October 2010.
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Stick around after the show for a cast talk-back on Saturday, February 19th to learn more about their performance experience and character study through the lens of Black theater and mental health.

AATAT 30 Year Gala: A Message from Danny Glover

The African American Theater Arts Troupe (AATAT)

The African American Theatre Arts Troupe (AATAT) is a student-initiated and led program that came together under the leadership and direction of Donald Williams in 1991. AATAT was formed as a vehicle to create unity, higher visibility, and understanding of the African American culture here at the University of California, Santa Cruz and the greater Santa Cruz community. AATAT not only casts UCSC students from different educational backgrounds, but also casts students that have little or no experience with acting, technical, and administrative work. This allows anyone the opportunity to get involved with the program. The troupe is the only one of its kind in the UC System.

“AATAT had a vision of African American students having their voices, histories, and communities represented....”


​The story of the African American Theater Arts Troupe (AATAT), is one of heroic struggle. Starting with a small group of students and one staff mentor, AATAT had no funds, office, or access to theater resources.
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But AATAT had a vision of African American students having their voices, histories, and communities represented. Today, AATAT performs to devoted audiences on the UC Santa Cruz campus, in local communities, and high schools throughout California.

The African American Theater Arts Troupe (AATAT) is the only student African American theater troupe in the University of California system of ten campuses. For thirty years, AATAT has produced outstanding performances of playwrights such as Lorraine Hansberry, August Wilson, and Dominique Morisseau. 

“The story of AATAT is one of empowerment through uplifting others....”


Equally important is a unique place created by AATAT where African American students of all majors connect with their histories and find their voices.

​​The story of AATAT is one of empowerment through uplifting others. This calling has led each generation of AATAT students to create new forms of theater and service, including mentoring high school students and distributing over $100,000 in scholarships.

The public is invited to this special, online celebration. Admission is free and RSVP by February 17th is required.

For more information, please email cadrc@ucsc.edu