Anna Strother performs at the Trinity Choral Society Benefit concert

According to a November 24, 1951 report by “Yankee Traveler” columnist Lydia T. Brown, Strother performed at the Trinity Choral Society benefit concert which benefitted the Ernest F. Poole Memorial Fund. The concert took place at the Trinity Union Auditorium, which would later become the site of the Trinity Square Repertory Theatre. Brown described Strother as a “dramatic soprano,” and Strother remains the only musician that Brown acknowledges in her write-up of the event.

–written by Lydia Kelow-Bennett

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Anna Strother

Based on census and newspaper records, the researchers believe that Anna Strother was likely born in Virginia, but had moved to Providence, RI at some point between her birth and the 1930s. According to census records in 1940, Anna was a domestic worker for the Baldridge family. But according to Lydia T. Brown, the "Yankee Traveler" columnist for the Baltimore Afro-American, Anna was a "dramatic soprano" who served as a soloist for a local church and performed for a local benefit concert in November 1951. --written by Lydia Kelow-Bennett

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Trinity United Methodist Church

The Trinity Square Repertory Theatre was founded in 1964 by Rhode Island citizens who wanted a local, professional, resident theatre company. The first physical home that Trinity Square Repertory Theatre had was the auditorium in the educational wing of the Trinity United Methodist Church, hence the theatre company's name. The company stayed at the Trinity United Methodist Church location until 1973, when it grew large enough to move to what was then known as the Majestic Theatre in Downtown Providence. The theatre company then because the Trinity Repertory Company. Trinity United Methodist Church, located in South Providence, changed demographically with the times and the population of its community. Hence, in the 1960s, some of the productions at Trinity represented major names in Black theatre.

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