The Mission of Junebug Productions is to create and present artwork of the highest quality that encourages and supports African Americans in the Black Belt South who are working to improve the quality of life available to themselves and others who are similarly oppressed and exploited.

Junebug Productions, Inc. is the organizational successor to the Free Southern Theater, (FST), which was formed in 1963 to be a cultural arm of the Civil Rights Movement—“a theater for those who have no theater.” The FST was a major influence in the Black Theater Movement. Junebug Productions’ Artistic Director, John O’Neal, was a co-founder of the FST and a guiding force throughout the organization’s existence.

The FST moved its base from Jackson, Mississippi to New Orleans in 1965 and continued to use art to support the Civil Rights Movement through a professional touring company, a community involvement program and training opportunities for local people interested in writing, performing and producing theater. Critically dependent on the Movement for it’s access to audiences and resources, the Free Southern Theater finally dissolved in 1980. A few members remained in New Orleans. “Don’t Start Me To Talking or I’ll Tell Everything I Know, Sayings from the Life and Writings of Junebug Jabbo Jones” was the last production of the Free Southern Theater and the first of Junebug Productions. In 1980, from the ashes of the FST, Junebug Productions was organized.

Born in the post-segregation era, Junebug Productions is still conscious of the bloody, difficult struggles that created the equally challenging conditions of this era. Our name, in fact, is taken from the mythic Junebug Jabbo Jones, a character invented by members of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, (SNCC), during the ‘60’s to represent the wisdom of common people.

An important lesson of the FST and Junebug Productions is that the greatest subsidies required for the development of cultural programs and products usually come from the artists themselves. Junebug Productions has therefore evolved a working style based on collaboration among creative artists, managers and community organizations who share a commitment to similar goals and a desire to maximize scarce resources.

We exist within and depend upon a growing network of organizations and persons around the country who agree that the conditions and circumstances hindering Black people in the United States are the same in principle that limit oppressed people the world over. Regardless of ethnic origin or national identity, it is essential to build bridges of shared understanding and bonds of unity that reach across regional, national, ethnic or cultural boundaries—remembering always that strong bridges must be firmly grounded at each end.