The Renaissance Guild was founded by Paul Riddle, Latrelle Bright and Danielle King in 2001. In 2003, they began producing the ActOne Series
to encourage the development of original works by local playwrights. By 2006, they began performing their works at the JumpStart Performance Co. theatre in the Blue Star Arts Complex, with their critically acclaimed, award-winning production of A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Antoinette Winstead. Renaissance Guild’s productions include Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart, Sterling Houston’s Living Graves, August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, David Bottrell’s and Jesse Jones’ Dearly Departed, Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity, Lynn Notage’s Fabulation or the Re-education of Undine, and Charlie Smalls’ and William F. Brown’s The Wiz.
