The
Nate Holden
Performing Arts Center
is a facility of the
Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of
Los Angeles
operated by the
City of Los Angeles Department of
Cultural Affairs
and sits on the grounds of the former
Ebony Showcase
Theatre.
The Nate
Holden Performing Arts
Center sits on the grounds
of the former Ebony Showcase
Theatre. Nick and Edna
Stewart founded the Ebony
Showcase Theatre in 1950.
The legendary Nick Stewart
was famous for his role as
Lightnin' in the
Amos 'n' Andy television
series. Nick, among the
first inductees in the
Academy of Television Arts
and Science’s new Archive of
American Television, had a
full career in vaudeville,
radio, movies and theater.
He created the role of Br'er
Bear in Disney’s Song of
the South (1946) and
recreated the voice for the
Splash Mountain Ride at
Disneyland. The Ebony
Showcase Theatre, built as a
beacon for Black artists and
audiences of the period, is
now a world class,
state-of-the-art performing
arts regional center primed
for local, national and
international events of all
kinds.
