Divine Testimonies: Sydne Mahone and Crossroads Theatre Company

Abstract

Sydne Mahone is a woman of intricate passions. As director of play development at Crossroads Theatre Company, she celebrates the art of African American theatre, bringing untold stories to the stage. Her vision-which embraces the artistic world as a "sacred space"-lands like a meteorite in a dream. Braiding together political analysis, metaphysics, history, and heartache, Mahone is both iconoclast and wisdomkeeper. As dramaturg, educator, and poet, she has shed an illuminating and glaring light on racism in the artworld, championed the black, female voice as "archeologist of spirit and psyche"; and confronted the unknown destination and survival of contemporary theatre in America. For Mahone, her search has always been for theatrical images that express the soul's journey and faith to engrave the undecipherable cry in the dark. A native of Kenosha, Wisconsin, Mahone attended Kemper Hall, an all-girl prep school, where she was introduced to Shakespeare and the classics. "I remember reading Peter Brook's The Empty Space in high school and being fascinated by theory," recollected Mahone: