As WashU students, we have the opportunity to interact with a variety of people from different backgrounds. We simply need to seek opportunities to learn about them in clubs, campus seminars, DEI programming, and classes, to name a few.

The 2025 Black Anthology (BA) show, titled “Echoes of Her,” runs from Friday, Feb. 7 through  Feb. 8 in the Edison Theatre. The details of the show are kept secret until the opening performance, but will live long after the curtains have closed. 

“The stories that we’re portraying — they don’t end on the stage,” junior Avery Melton-Meaux, this year’s BA director, said. “They might [end] for the actors, but they’re very much living, breathing things and experiences that people have in real life.”

Although WashU has numerous traditions on campus, the most widely known and attended are the various cultural shows put on each year. While other campus traditions foster community within their organizations, something about the cultural shows instills a sense of pride in the identity of their members. 

For many Black students, that is Black Anthology.

Having trained arts reporters who understand how to navigate writing reviews of culturally significant projects and events on campus is important.

Together, we would soon be enthralled in a tale that pondered what it meant to trade the youthful exuberance of the promising ingénue for the stress, upsets, and nuisance of a hostile work environment. In short, we would learn what it meant to be “pressed.”

This year, the Edison Theater was empty on the weekend of Washington University’s annual Black Anthology production, and audiences all over the world watched BA from their laptops.

The performance, “Essential(s),” truly embraced the gifts of the digital age and brought me fully into the story and performances of the evening. 

The production is “a cultural show that allows for a spotlight to be presented on issues that are of importance to Black students, using mediums of acting and dance to convey those themes,” show producer senior Sophia Kamanzi explained.

This year’s Black Anthology, “Masquerade,” combined masterful writing, electric performances and enthusiastic dances to create a show that was as entertaining as it was thought-provoking.

After celebrating their 30th show last year, Black Anthology will return this weekend, bringing “Masquerade” to the Edison Theatre.