Image via Morehouse Theater Ensemble 

By: Bradley Morrison, Staff Writer 

Theatre Majors attending Morehouse College have dealt with their fair share of troubles.  In February, The Maroon Tiger investigated Morehouse and Spelman College’s lack of emphasis on the performing arts. To read that story click here.

It was brought to light that Morehouse Theater majors take all of their classes at Spelman because Morehouse has no official theater department. They have to undergo the cross registration process which has yet to open. 

However, disgruntled yet inspired, a group of students have come together to enact change.

The Morehouse Theatre Ensemble (MCTE) is a Registered Student Organization (RSO) that will debut this upcoming fall. Their overall goal is to establish a theater department on Morehouse’s campus. 

On June 25, co-founder and vice president Haki Pratt announced its arrival.

Pratt detailed the journey of how the RSO started. He had trouble navigating his purpose during his freshman year. He recalled an interaction with a faculty member in the writing center.

“‘I told her I was a Theater major and she said ‘oh you mean CTEMS?’ (Cinema, Television and Emerging Media Studies), I replied no ma’am Theater, and she said, ‘oh well you’re a Spelman student,’” Pratt said. “That really bothered me and told me that something had to change.”

Unable to find like-minded people who shared a passion for theater, he realized what he needed to do. 

“I realized this is why I’m here, to bring what I know to this school so that Morehouse can become a pipeline to Broadaway or to BET,” Pratt said.

Besides Pratt, the founders of MCTE include John George and Caval Spearman Jr. Both men were first year students facing similar struggles at that time of the RSO’s inception.

Ekaundayo Bandele, the inaugural president of MCTE, had already established the first Black Repertory Theatre in his hometown of Memphis, and George and Spearman have had years of acting experience.

Despite similar organizations existing in the AUC, MCTE is solely focused on Morehouse and its students; however, people from other schools can join. 

“Our focus will be for a majority of the time putting on productions that can promote black men,” Pratt said. “This is something that we can do on our own campus versus venturing out to Spelman or Clark or things of that nature.”

Be on the lookout for the MCTE as the school year begins. There will be announcements coming soon on their instagram @mct_ensemble.

Copy Edited by: Colin Royal, Managing Editor of Print & Auzzy Byrdsell, Editor in Chief