Electric Renaissance, a one-act play about the Harlem Renaissance at The Blue Room, is a perfect storm of Blackness, creativity, history and hope for the future.
Exactly 100 years ago, the Harlem Renaissance was at its peak. Black writers and artists, many living in a Harlem commune affectionately called Niggerati Manor, materialized the New Negro ideas of Alain Locke into a bold new direction of Black artistry, unshackling themselves from the stereotypes placed upon them and embracing self-worth, self-pride, and self- actualization.
Electric Renaissance, written and directed by Teresa Leggard and co-produced by The Coterie and the American Jazz Museum, is truly a production for our times. It stars the talented Robert Coppage III and Amber Underwood, who also provides musical accompaniment via flute.
The setting is a rent party hosted by Peaches (Underwood), where McKay (Coppage) works the door. Throughout the night, McKay enthralls the audience with stories from his time in Harlem, shedding a light on people and issues of that time. Interspersed with poetry by Harlem Renaissance poets and jazz accompaniment from the era and beyond, the final product simultaneously entertains, enlightens, and encourages the audience.
The gifted Coppage provides poignant yet rollicking dramatization, animating the struggles and triumphs of Black life in 1920s Harlem while interacting with Underwood in the form of call-and-response flute playing.
“Electric Renaissance has been a beautiful experience and a real learning journey for me. Performing alongside Robert Coppage has been an honor,” Underwood said. “I’ve been incredibly inspired by him and have appreciated the opportunity to watch and learn from a different lens.”
“This show is timely, but it’s also relevant, and it’s history,” Coppage said. “I think Teresa Leggard did an amazing job writing and directing this production for the Coterie.”
Leggard, a Brooklyn/Jersey-raised native with a B.A. from Spelman College and an MFA from UMKC, has crafted a moving performance that is both intellectually and performatively gratifying.
Featured poems include The Heart of a Woman by Georgia Douglas Johnson, Theme for English B by Langston Hughes, Joy in the Woods by Claude McKay and Ballad of the Landlord by Langston Hughes. Musical snippets range from Battle Hymn of the Republic and Lift Every Voice and Sing to Take the A Train, Ornithology and Billie’s Bounce.
I attended the opening performance at the Blue Room on a Sunday afternoon, and it was so good that I sat for a while after it ended and savored the energy hanging in the air. For just about an hour, we were transported away from this traumatic time to a place of hope, joy and pride sustaining itself in the midst of struggle. Great art is like a beautiful wind that carries viewers away from their current situation and into another place and time where they can see the world from a different viewpoint and then return inspired, encouraged and invigorated.
Electric Renaissance is great art.
Electric Renaissance continues June 4, 7, 11 and 14 at the American Jazz Museum, 1616 E. 18th St. For tickets: thecoterie.org/2025-2026-season/electric-renaissance/.
