Soul Rep Theatre Company was founded in 1995 by Dallas/Fort Worth natives Guinea Bennett-Price, Anyika McMillan-Herod, and Tonya Holloway. Guinea and Anyika are both products of Dallas ISD's Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (Class of ’89), while all three co-founders hold BFAs in Theater from the dynamic undergraduate programs of Howard University and Prairie View A&M University. The trio returned to Dallas in the mid 90’s after attending graduate school programs and internships at regional theaters across the country. They shared a tremendous desire to establish a theater company in Dallas dedicated to the Black experience.
From 1995 to 2003, Soul Rep blossomed from a small community theater into Dallas' celebrated professional theater company. For many years, Soul Rep produced a season of plays that included three main stage productions, in addition to an Annual New Play Festival and Cafe/Negro Arts Series, a collaboration with Cara Mia Theater Company. Several productions received critical acclaim. At the time, Soul Rep was one of a few theater companies (and the only African-American company) in the southwest to produce a new play festival that showcased works by emerging and established playwrights across Texas and the southwest. Additionally, the company established a quality Arts education program for children, youth, and adults, offering workshops, master classes and summer programs. In essence, Soul Rep was a training ground for new theater artists.
After a ten-year hiatus to focus on family, Soul Rep marked its comeback in 2013 with a revival of its signature production, THE FREEDMANS, that was first performed in 1998 to commemorate the opening of Dallas' Freedman's Cemetery Memorial and Soul Rep's third season. Written by members of Soul Rep's Writing Consortium, the production is an homage to Dallas' rich Black history of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The company kicked off its official comeback 8th season in 2014 and became a resident theater company at the South Dallas Cultural Center in 2015. Since then, Soul Rep has participated in ATTPAC's Elevator Project, produced three biennial new play festivals, several regional premieres, new works, and a world premiere.
For the last five years, Soul Rep has provided FREE or low-cost acting and playwriting classes to children, youth, and adults in South Dallas.
