New York, NY – The Board of Directors of the famed uptown theater company, The Classical Theatre of Harlem (CTH) voted unanimously to appoint Ms. Peggy King-Jorde as chairperson of the 17-year-old theatrical company. Ms. King-Jorde, an architecturally trained, cultural projects consultant, who resides in Englewood, New Jersey and maintains a home in Harlem, will assume her duties effective January 1, 2017.
“I am deeply honored to be serving a company that is having as much impact as CTH, in Harlem and beyond,” said King-Jorde. “I am happy to be part of the team to help to sustain this important community-based institution, engage new audiences and make The Classical Theatre of Harlem a household name.”
Ms. King-Jorde is no stranger to board leadership, philanthropy or development work. She served as a board member at The Putney School in Vermont for more than a decade, was former Governor at the Englewood Field Club in New Jersey where she facilitated events to help raise awareness and funds for community based nonprofits and served on the Planning Board for the City of Englewood, New Jersey. In New York, Ms. King-Jorde chaired the Planning Committee for the Malcolm X Memorial with Dr. Betty Shabazz, was a board member of the Harlem Heights Historical Society, served on panels for the Percent for Art and Art in Architecture programs commissioning public art for federal and city buildings and spaces, and has currently finished her fifth term as board chair at her Harlem-based cooperative.
A native of Albany, Georgia, Ms. King-Jorde attended The Putney School in Vermont where she serendipitously landed in the theater arts realm as a costume designer for student productions. She had built her reputation via a modest business patching jeans and altering clothing for schoolmates. Later on, her studies at Bennington College fueled her passion to pursue formal studies in Theater Design and Architecture which included studying at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) and The Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA) in London, England. Ultimately, Columbia University is where King would lend focus to her advanced studies in the field of architecture. In 1995 she was awarded a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.
Her professional career includes serving as a planner in the Office of Construction and special advisor for the Mayor’s Office for the City of New York under the Koch, Dinkins and Giuliani administrations, including providing project oversight for development and construction at New York City’s museums and other cultural institutions.
In 1991, she assumed a leadership role in preserving arguably one of the oldest cultural assets of the City of New York. She was appointed as Special Advisor to the Honorable Mayor David N. Dinkins and was subsequently designated the project executive and consultant for the Memorialization of the African Burial Ground National Historic Landmark, where she coordinated and oversaw the national design competition for an interpretive center and memorial for a 17th century burial ground of free and enslaved Africans in the shadow of a Federal Office Building in Lower Manhattan.
“The baton of leadership is being passed to both an extraordinary person and leader,” said Classical Theatre of Harlem producing artistic director Ty Jones. “Ms. King-Jorde’s intelligence, integrity, grace, and charisma is exactly what CTH needs to continue our momentum.
King-Jorde is joining the company as it prepares for the second season of its critically-acclaimed holiday classic, The First Noel, running at the Apollo Theater from Saturday, December 10th through Sunday, December 18th.
“It’s a fabulous family show well worth the price of admission,” said King-Jorde.
ABOUT THE CLASSICAL THEATRE OF HARLEM
The Classical Theatre of Harlem (CTH) is an American theatre company that tells stories as seen through the lens of the African diaspora and does work that honors the cultural legacy of the neighborhood in which it was founded. CTH combines original adaptations, music, and dance to present great classics of world literature as well as contemporary works that will stand the test of time while being truly reflective of the diversity of ideas and racial tapestry that is America. Since its founding in 1999, CTH has presented works ranging from traditional classical playwrights (Anton Chekhov, Euripides and William Shakespeare), to established 20th-century playwrights (August Wilson, Langston Hughes and Jean Genet) to new plays by emerging playwrights. CTH also proudly provides theater-based training and live theater experiences to Harlem youth and their families through its arts education program, Project Classics. The organization engages new audiences, provides artistic development of new work, and gives exposure to emerging playwrights with its three free reading series: Future Classics, Playwrights’ Playground, and Revisited Classics.
For more information about CTH visit www.cthnyc.org.
Connect with CTH on Twitter (@classicalharlem), Instagram (@classicalharlem), and Facebook (CTH Facebook).
