Presenter Terry Greiss of the Irondale Ensemble with Linda Parris-Bailey, Executive Artistic Director of the Carpetbag Theatre

2005 Recipient

The Carpetbag Theatre (CBT) is a community-based, nonprofit professional theater company serving Knoxville and the southeastern region of the United States. Founded in 1970, Carpetbag Theatre is one of the few tenured African-American professional theatre companies in the south. Its mission is to give artistic voice to those who have been historically silenced by racism, classism, sexism and ageism. Carpetbag Theatre strives to tell stories of empowerment, celebrate culture and reveal hidden stories. In the past ten years, CBT has addressed such issues as: the death penalty and its impact on the African American community, economic development and the barriers encountered by people of color in the marketplace, domestic violence and black feminism, and environmental racism. CBT's partners include the Sexual Assault Crisis Center, AIDS Response Knoxville, the Black Cultural Programming Committee, and the Detoxification Rehabilitation Initiative. CBT is also a member of the Network of Ensemble Theaters.