Atlanta, Georgia; Oakland, California; Cambridge, Massachusetts
Musical Theater, Theater

At Buffalo: A New Musical is a historical, musical drama that follows an ensemble of three groups of Black folk—former slaves, African immigrants, and the wealthy black elite—through the unpredictable world of the 1901 Buffalo, New York World’s Fair where they confront each other, offering competing narratives of what blackness means in America, and… a presidential assassination.

Amma Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin, Khalil Sullivan, and Joshua Williams are a national team of scholars, artists, and activists based in the Atlanta metro area, Oakland, and Cambridge. The heart of the At Buffalo’s collaborative process involves (1) their intention to tell the history “right” by experimenting with how actual archival material can live, breathe, speak, and interact on stage; (2) their conviction that theatre and performance are the most urgent vehicles to explore and explode anti-blackness; and (3) their radical openness to non-hierarchical collaboration. Selected accolades include 2014 NYMF, 2015 CAP21 Writers Residency, 2016 Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, 2017 Creative Arts Initiative Artists Residency (University at Buffalo), 2019 MAP Fund Grant, 2019 TED Talk, 2019 Apples & Oranges THEatre Accelerator, 2021 Goodspeed Musicals Johnny Mercer Grove Residency.