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WINSTON-SALEM — The biennial National Black Theatre Festival returns Monday for six days, packed with plays, celebrity sightings, poetry, film, workshops and shopping.

Audiences can choose from among 116 performances by nearly 40 black theater companies from across the country and one from Cape Town, South Africa.

This year's festival celebrates two milestones.

It was 20 years ago that Larry Leon Hamlin founded the festival in Winston-Salem to promote black theater's survival by giving groups a national venue to showcase their talent. He even coined his own description of the event and all things wonderful: marvtastic.

It's also the 30th anniversary of his North Carolina Black Repertory Company, which has continued to produce the festival after Hamlin passed away in 2007.

Although past festivals have attracted predominantly black theatergoers, organizers aim to reach more diverse audiences with offerings and the message: "Black theater is for everyone."

"We want every race, creed, color and nationality to experience the best in theater and the best in black theater," media relations director Brian McLaughlin said.

Plays that focus on luminaries such as the Tuskegee Airmen, Josephine Baker and Rosa Parks "are our stories, but they touch everybody," McLaughlin said.

Despite the struggling economy, organizers expect 60,000 to 70,000 attendees, enticed by discount ticket packages, free events and fun.

Here are some highlights of the festival. All of the events are in Winston-Salem. For a complete schedule, visit www.nbtf.org.

Opening night gala

The festival begins at 5:30 p.m. Monday with a dinner, celebrity procession and awards at the Benton Convention Center, 301 W. Fifth St.

Leading 50 celebrities will be co-chairmen Ted Lange (Isaac from "The Love Boat") and Wendy Raquel Robinson (principal Regina Grier on "The Steve Harvey Show").

LaChanze, Tony Award winner for her role as Celie in Broadway's "The Color Purple," will be honored.

The crowd will move to the Stevens Center for a 9 p.m. performance of "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope," by the N.C. Black Repertory Company. The musical was performed at the first festival in 1989. A celebrity reception follows.

Tickets: $251.

International Colloquium

Autobiographer and poet Maya Angelou will give the keynote speech at the festival's International Colloquium at 11 a.m. Tuesday. Her talk at the Pavilion Ballroom, Embassy Suites, 460 N. Cherry St., is free and open to the public.

The colloquium on "The Voice of Women in Black Theatre" will run through Aug. 7.

Angelou's appearance is symbolic: She served as chairwoman of the first festival in 1989, and her support helped make Hamlin's vision a reality.

Celebrity performances

Several shows will feature stars of stage and screen, including Robinson, Ella Joyce, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Aloma Wright, Charlene Tilton, Kim Wayans and John Amos.

l The drama "Extremities" will star Robinson, Dorien Wilson (professor Stanley Oglevee on "The Parkers") and Denise Dowse (Mrs. Teasley on "Beverly Hills, 90210").

Performances: 8 p.m. Tuesday, 3 and 8 p.m. Wednesday, Loma Hopkins Theatre, Summit School, 2100 Reynolda Road. $40.

l The comedy "Reunion in Bartersville" features Aloma Wright (nurse Laverne Roberts in "Scrubs"), Hawthorne James ("The Five Heartbeats"), Jeris Lee Poindexter ("Everybody Hates Chris"), and Charlene Tilton (J.R.'s niece Lucy in TV's "Dallas").

Performances: 8 p.m. Tuesday, 3 and 8 p.m. Wednesday, K.R. Williams Auditorium, Winston-Salem State University, 601 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. $40.

l In "Halley's Comet," John Amos ("Good Times," "Men in Trees") plays an elderly man chronicling his life through wars, youthful missteps, nuclear bombs and fast food by way of the famed comet.

Performances: 8 p.m. Aug. 7, 3 and 8 p.m. Aug. 8, Stevens Center, Fourth and Marshall streets. $42.

l Malcolm-Jamal Warner ("The Cosby Show") and his ensemble will wrap up the festival at midnight Aug. 8 with the "Miles Long and Friends Experience," mixing jazz, funk and spoken word. Benton Convention Center North Hall. $25.

Larry Leon Hamlin Solo Performance Series

Named for the festival's founder, the series' eight shows tell stories of famous and lesser-known African Americans. Each performance pairs two shows.

l Ella Joyce (from TV's "Roc") portrays Rosa Parks in "A Rose Among Thorns." Michael Broughton plays "Jim Beckwourth: The Black Mountain Man," a freed slave who helped to settle the frontier.

Performances: 8 p.m. Tuesday, 3 and 8 p.m. Wednesday, Reynolda House Museum of American Art, 2250 Reynolda Road. $37.

l Apex actor Mike Wiley tells the story of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old murdered for whistling at a white woman in 1955 Mississippi, in "Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till." Nora Cole performs "Voices of the Spirits in My Soul."

Performances: 8 p.m. Tuesday, 3 and 8 p.m. Wednesday, Ring Theatre, Scales Fine Arts Center, 1834 Wake Forest Drive. $37.

l Sloan Robinson becomes entertainer Josephine Baker in "Bananas." K.B. Solomon plays actor Paul Robeson in the musical, "Speak of Me as I Am."

Performances: 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Ring Theatre, Scales Fine Arts Center, Wake Forest University. $37.

l In "Who Will Sing for Lena?" Vanessa Adams-Harris portrays Lena Baker, the only woman ever put to death in Georgia's electric chair. "Zora" stars Kim Brockington as Zora Neale Hurston, famed author of the Harlem Renaissance.

Performances: 8 p.m. Thursday, 3 p.m. Friday, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Reynolda House. $40.

More biographies

The Black Gents of Hollywood will present "Black Angels Over Tuskegee," the story of the first black fighter pilots in the U.S. Army Air Corps.

Performances: 3 and 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, Hanes Auditorium, Salem College, 601 S. Church St. $37.

On the musical side, "I Am Who I Am: The Teddy Pendergrass Story" traces the singer's rise to stardom, his paralyzing accident and his career in and out of the spotlight.

Performances: 8 p.m. Thursday, 3 and 8 p.m. Aug. 8, K.R. Williams Auditorium, Winston-Salem State University. $42.

College productions

N.C. A&T makes its festival debut as one of four colleges selected for NBTF Fringe. It will present "Mad at Miles: A Black Woman's Guide to Truth," writer Pearl Cleage's look at women and domestic violence. Follow three women as they evolve from abusive relationships to lives shaped by strength, peace and their own voices.

Performances: 3 and 8 p.m. Thursday, RJR Black Box, Reynolds Memorial Auditorium, 301 N. Hawthorne Road. $25.

Multimedia performance

The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting will present "Wisteria & HOPE," two works of poetry, music and photography by poet Kwame Dawes and composer Kevin Simmonds.

In "Wisteria," Simmonds sets to music the poetry of Dawes, telling the stories of women who lived through Jim Crow segregation in South Carolina. The performance ensemble includes Bennett College choir director Valerie Johnson.

"HOPE" focuses on the struggles and grace of those dealing with HIV/AIDS in Jamaica. It has received a Webby award for its Web site (www.livehopelove.com), a Knight-Batten Award for innovations in journalism and an Emmy nomination.

Performances: 8 p.m. Thursday and Aug. 7, Hanes Auditorium, Salem Fine Arts Center, Salem College.

For younger fans

See the next generation of entertainers at the youth talent showcase at noon Thursday and 11 a.m. Aug. 7. $10.

Storytelling festivals at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Thursday are appropriate for all ages. $7.

TEENtastic events include a party at 8 p.m. Wednesday, a dance contest at 8 p.m. Aug. 7 and a fashion show at 8 p.m. Aug. 8. The party is $5; other events are free.

All events will be held on the lower level of Benton Convention Center.

Celebrating local history

Old Salem Museums & Gardens will pay tribute to Africans and African Americans at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Historic St. Philips Moravian Church, 911 S. Church St.

The free event features a video of the late Larry Leon Hamlin in his one-man show, "Popa C. W. Brown and the Black Moravians." Michael O. Hartley and Martha B. Hartley will offer a historical perspective on black Moravians.

Contact Dawn DeCwikiel-Kane at 373-5204 or dawn.kane@news-record.com