Barbara Ann Teer

Barbara Ann Teer (June 18, 1937 – July 21, 2008) was an American actress, dancer, writer, producer, and teacher who performed on Broadway between 1961 and 1966 and later founded Harlem's National Black Theatre, the first revenue-generating Black theater arts complex in the United States.

Teer was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, to Fred L. and Lila B. Teer, both educators and community leaders. She graduated from Lincoln High School at age 15 and earned a bachelor's degree in dance education magna cum laude from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign at age 19. Following graduation, she traveled to Paris to study dance with Antoine Decroaux and to Berlin to study with Mary Wigman. Her sister, Frederika Teer, served as a Congress of Racial Equality Field Secretary in the north and mid-South from 1960, a position she shared with Genevieve Hughes as one of the first women to hold that title.

After returning to New York City, Teer pursued professional dance, studying with Alwin Nikolais at the Henry Street Playhouse and with Syvilla Fort in the Katherine Dunham Technique. She toured with the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, the Louis Johnson Dance Company, and the Pearl Bailey Las Vegas Revue. In 1961, she made her Broadway debut as dance captain in the Tony Award-winning musical Kwamina, choreographed by Agnes de Mille. Her Broadway work also included Where's Daddy? A knee injury in 1962 redirected her focus from dance to acting, and she subsequently studied with Sanford Meisner, Paul Mann, Lloyd Richards, and Phillip Burton. During this period she received a Drama Desk Award and several Obie Awards. She also appeared in the film adaptation of Ossie Davis's stage play Purlie Victorious and in the 1969 motion picture Slaves.

In 1963, Teer co-founded the Group Theatre Workshop with Robert Hooks, an organization that later became the Negro Ensemble Company. Growing dissatisfied with the negative stereotypes she encountered in pursuing acting roles, she shifted her energies toward institution-building. In 1968, she published an article in The New York Times calling for the creation of cultural centers where Black artists could work freely and independently. That same year, she founded the National Black Theatre in Harlem, dedicated to cultural transformation and social change within African-American communities. The NBT developed a proprietary methodology called "TEER: The Technology of Soul," taught exclusively at the institution. In 1974, Teer established the Children's School for the Development of Intuitive and God-Conscious Art. She also wrote, directed, and produced works she described as ritualistic revivals and interactive artistic reviews. The NBT served as the sponsoring developer for a 64,000-square-foot real estate project on a city block at 125th Street and Fifth Avenue in Central Harlem, which became the first revenue-generating Black theater arts complex in the country.

In her personal life, Teer was married to actor Godfrey Cambridge from 1962 to 1965. She later had two children with Michael Adeyemi Lythcott: Michael F. "Omi" Lythcott and Barbara A. "Sade" Lythcott, who became CEO of the National Black Theatre. Teer died of natural causes in Harlem on July 21, 2008, at the age of 71.