Stories returned to the people they come from.
MISSION
Progeny rescues Black stories from obscurity, documents and reframes the lives of the unheard, and creates theater and multimedia work rooted in the communities that inspire it.
We build decolonized methodologies in partnership with social service and activist organizations to reach intergenerational, nontraditional audiences, returning stories to the people they come from.
Progeny counters the erasure of systemic harm and affirms storytelling as a tool for truth-telling, dialogue, and transformation in cities shaped by the legacy of racial segregation.
VALUES
Explore the transcendence of multigenerational Black culture through expressions of hope and joy, while disrupting monolithic stereotypes through complex, expansive characters.
Craft a new storytelling tradition that reveals hidden realities and imagines alternate perspectives through Afro-surrealism and Afro-futurism.
Create kinship through inclusive spaces for chosen family, welcoming people across race, gender, class, age, sexuality, geography, and ability.
Uplift and illuminate Black elder playwrights through intentional programming.
Serve as a home for the work of playwright Nathan Yungerberg and a constellation of chosen family artists.
Deepen the impact of live performance through partnerships with arts, social service, and activist organizations.
Build work both within and outside traditional theater structures, free from the constraints of a collapsing industry.
IN DEVELOPMENT
Barry, The 1970s Black Sitcom That Never Happened
Barry is a new afro-surreal theater work developed as part of the PAC NYC Democracy Cycle:
Barry, The 1970s Black Sitcom That Never Happened, refracts a fictional sitcom set in Minneapolis through an Afro-surreal prism. The story exposes the city’s liberal veneer masking the daily brutality inflicted on Black families pioneering Midwestern suburbia despite America’s democratic promises.
The play unfolds on a Hollywood soundstage. Barrington “Barry” Greene—a charismatic Black news anchor hired by a Minneapolis affiliate—relocates his family, giving mainstream audiences a palatable story of racial integration. But once the taping wraps, the set warps into truer dimensions, revealing hostile neighbors, racial housing covenants, and the terror behind Minnesota Nice. Democracy fractures where the laugh track stops.
The work draws on research from Mapping Prejudice and will be developed in Minneapolis through community salons and workshops, culminating in a public presentation in Spring 2027.
FOUNDER
Nathan Yungerberg
Producing Artistic Director
Nathan Yungerberg is a playwright and storyteller whose work centers Afro-surrealism, memory, and the reimagining of Black life across time and space.
His plays and projects have been developed or presented with The Apollo Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, National Black Theatre, Cherry Lane Theatre, and Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater.
He is a former Core Writer at the Playwrights’ Center and a recipient of the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship.
Through Progeny Story Arts, he develops new work rooted in community engagement, interdisciplinary collaboration, and non-extractive storytelling practices.
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Contact:
info@progenystoryarts.org