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"MAN ABOUT TOWN WITH DONN CARL HARPER" AS WE PAY TRIBUTE "REMEMBERING ABENA JOAN BROWN ...LIVE TALK RADIO! LIVE CALL IN 646 200 0948 LISTEN LIVE OR CLICK THIS LINK:SHORT LINK: http://tobtr.com/s/7808423 CALL IN FAVORITE ABENA STORIES...DON"T BE SHY...SHE WOULD"NT BE! FRIDAY, JULY 31 ,2015....11;PM-11:30PM CST
Abena Joan Brown, one of the early pioneers of African-American theater in Chicago and the president and chief executive officer of the eta Creative Arts Foundation for 40 years, died on Sunday. She was 87.
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Articulate, passionate and intimidating to behold, Brown ran eta with uncompromising determination and old-fashioned formality, shepherding the organization to new facilities in an old window factory on S. South Chicago Avenue, near the corner of 75th Street, and always pushing for further growth
As Brown often said in interviews, her impetus for starting eta was her own inability to find work as an artist: Its precursor was founded in 1969 by Brown, alongside Okoro Harold Johnson, Al Johnson and Archie Weston.
Operating initially under the name Ebony Talent Associates, the group wanted to increase exposure and opportunities for African-American actors in Chicago. But Brown found that more training was needed for those actors, and thus eta was born.