History

MPAACT was formed in 1990 when a group of student activist at the University of Illinois-Champaign decided to use the performing arts as a medium to connect with and explore African culture as expressed throughout the Diaspora. With perhaps more determination than skill, they produced, A House Divided, a collection of short pieces created by the collective. Encouraged by this experience and inspired by responsive audiences, this collective decided to forge ahead and formally organize as the Ma’at Production Association of Afrikan Centered Theatre (MPAACT).

In 1992 MPAACT set up shop in Chicago. Anchored in the Chatham community on the city’s Southside, MPAACT started performing what would become its first major production. Continuum: Visions from Yetunde premiered at the Body Politic Theatre in 1993 and received positive critical recognition. This production set the tone for MPAACT’s expression of Afrikan Centered Theatre (ACT) utilizing drama, music, and dance to delve into life within the African Diaspora.

MPAACT has grown from a collective of like-minded individuals who shared an artistic vision, to an organization that has produced a formidable body of work.

This work includes: mainstage productions, a playwright’s laboratory, standing productions, original music, a publishing company (Sakhu Publications), an arts education program, and many workshops and master classes. Artistically, MPAACT is an innovative and well-respected theatre focused on the development of new work. Most of its productions feature MPAACT’s award-winning and signature “Soundscape” textured with live music and electronic elements. Improvisational in nature the Soundscape grows and changes with each performance. This unique and sophisticated use of sound and music, along with its pursuit of crafting its own expression of ACT, has created an aesthetic that separates MPAACT from other African American companies in Chicago.