Founded in 1986 by Yvonne Brewster, Carmen Munroe, Mona Hammond and Inigo Espejel, Talawa is one of the longest established Black theatre companies in the UK. From its first production of The Black Jacobins in 1986, Talawa has continually sought to provide high quality productions that reflect the significant creative role that black theatre plays within the UK.

Under its founding artistic director Yvonne Brewster, the company has achieved a reputation for producing work featuring some of Britain's finest actors and writers, many of whom have gone on to successful careers in theatre and television. A close look at the Black actors who have graced our screens in Eastenders, Holby City, Coronation Street and other soaps and dramas, will reveal a large percentage of Talawa alumni.

Presenting over 40 productions - including a number of award-winning plays - Talawa has taken in everything from Shakespeare to African classics, Oscar Wilde to new Black British work and Nobel-prize winning playwrights to high-voltage musicals. We also have a dedicated continuing professional development and education programme aimed at nurturing a new generation of Black artists and practitioners.

Currently led by Artistic Director Patricia Cumper, Talawa is a not-for-profit organisation and registered charity governed by a board of trustees, principally funded by the Arts Council England. This year Talawa celebrated 21 years of creating exciting theatre, and we've been celebrating our past as well as looking to the future.

Talawa's vision for its future is clear: to create the space in which a canon of Black British work can be created; to provide the stages on which this work will initially be produced; to develop the full range of practitioners to give it its best expression and to do so as an integral part of the mainstream of British theatre.