Nitro/Black Theatre Co-op

NTC - Nitro Theatre Company (NTC), formally known as Black Theatre Co-operative, was formed in 1979 to give opportunities to Black actors, writers and directors. In 1996, Felix Cross MBE became Artistic Director and three years later the company changed its name to Nitro Music Theatre, marking a new phase in its exploration of contemporary Black British musical theatre. On 31/03/2015, Felix Cross resigned from his position and the company changed its name to nitroBEAT.

The archive

The archive material dating from 1979 to 2000 contains the records of the Black Theatre Co-operative, which changed its name to Nitro in 1999. Records include administrative paperwork for the organisation such as correspondence, financial documents and minutes of meetings from 1982 onwards. Records relating to the artistic activities of the organisation include theatre, television, choirs, and youth theatre. The archive does not contain material related to the early show productions prior to 1981, except for press reviews and other articles. From 1982 to 1985, show production records consist entirely of flyers, posters, programmes, photographs and videos. From 1985 to 1991, records connected to the administration of individual shows were retained, but it was only from 1991 that it became the practice to keep administrative records of each show. Other records are related to the development of relationships with external organisations, such as the Independent Theatre Council, the Theatrical Management Association, the Arts Council of England and others. The archive contains a large number of original play scripts. The greater part of the collection (85%) is paper-based; the rest of the archive comprises photographs, and video or audio recordings. Notwithstanding the gaps referred to above, the archive comprehensively represents the activities of the organisation. Selected material dating from 2000 and 2012 that was donated more recently to Future Histories requires further cataloguing.

Online catalogue

The complete catalogue of material up to 2000 was archived by Future Histories through the Re-membering Black Performance project. Copies of the catalogue are available on the A2A website and on the Goldsmiths University Special Collections website. Further digitised material is available on the nitroBEAT website.

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