Mabel Robinson

Artistic director Mabel P. Robinson was born on January 19, 1939 in Savannah, Georgia to Eva Queen Esther Huginnie and William Robinson. Robinson graduated from the High School of the Performing Arts and the Juilliard School of Music in New York City.

A director, playwright, dancer, and actress, Robinson performed on Broadway in Golden Boy in 1964, Murderous Angels in 1971, Don’t Bother Me I Can’t Cope in 1972, Treemonisha in 1975, and Your Arms Are Too Short To Box With God in 1976. While performing as the lead in Your Arms Are Too Short To Box With God, Robinson also worked as the choreographer and assistant director of a Broadway revival of Porgy & Bess, making her the first African American woman to have concurrent Broadway shows. In 1980, Robinson returned to Broadway as a choreographer for It’s So Nice to Be Civilized. Robinson also performed with numerous dance companies including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Hava Kohav Dancers, the Juilliard Dance Theatre, and the Martha Graham Dance Company. Robinson appeared in numerous national and international television shows and films including Ossie Davis’s Cotton Comes to Harlem in 1970, Jackie Cooper’s Stand Up to Be Counted in 1972, Herbert Ross’s Funny Lady in 1975, and Sidney Lumet’s The Wiz in 1978. In 1984, Robinson moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to teach dance at the North Carolina School of the Arts. As a playwright, Robinson wrote The Glory of Gospel, which was produced at the International Black Theatre Festival in 1997 and 2015 and Mahalia Queen of Gospel, which was produced at the International Black Theatre Festival in 2005 and 2007. Robinson also served as a producer for the International Black Theatre Festival. At the North Carolina Black Repertory Company, Robinson created the Teen Theatre Ensemble and became the artistic director of the North Carolina Black Repertory Company after the death of its founder, Larry Leon Hamlin, in 2007. During this period, she directed annual productions of Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity before retiring in 2015. Following her retirement, Robinson continued to work in theater as a guest director for a production of The Lates, The Greats, and Moore at the Theatre of Performing Arts of Shreveport and as the dramaturg and production consultant of Nathan R. Freeman’s Little Girl Blue in 2018.

Robinson served as a member of the Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC).

Throughout her career, Robinson received numerous awards and honors including the Seventy Over Seventy Award from the Hannan Center in 2016 and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Artists Celebrating Excellence (ACE) Awards in 2022. In 2022, the International Black Theatre Festival created the Mabel P. Robinson Emerging Artist Awards.

Mabel P. Robinson was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 19, 2023.