SAN DIEGO CONTINUING EDUCATION PRESIDENT RAISES FUNDS TO REFURBISH EDUCATIONAL CULTURAL COMPLEX THEATRE

During Common Ground Theatre’s 2019-2020 Theatre Season, Common Ground Theatre was honored by two renowned organizations—Epsilon Xi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and the African American Museum of Fine Arts.
Common Ground Theatre received the Excellence in Theatre Award from Epsilon Xi Omega (EXO) Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (AKA) at EXO’S 70th Anniversary Celebration on October 27, 2019. The award was presented by Deborah Davis Gillespie, president of San Diego’s Epsilon Xi Omega Chapter. The award was given in tribute to the 56 years of service to the San Diego community by Southeast Community Theatre, which was founded in 1963 and renamed Common Ground Theatre by Dr. Floyd Gaffney on its 40th Anniversary in 2003. Common Ground Theatre is the oldest African American theatre company in San Diego and one of the three oldest African American theatre companies in the United States.
A beautifully decorated and engraved award plate was presented to Charles W. Patmon, Jr., Executive Artistic Director of Common Ground Theatre and Dr. Robert Matthews, co-founder of Southeast/Common Ground Theatre 57 years ago. Francine DeWitt-Haynes, daughter of co-founder Rufus B. DeWitt and current president of Common Ground Theatre, was also present, along with members of the Board of Directors-Dorothy L. W. Smith and Tonette Salter. Loren Sharice Lott, an alumna of Common Ground Theatre was the featured soloist, singing “I Know Where I’ve Been” from the stage and film drama, “Rent” and Sandra Foster King, former Common Ground Theatre choreographer were also present.
Epsilon Xi Omega Chapter has supported Common Ground Theatre for many years with financial donations and attendance at productions. Several past presidents of Common Ground Theatre are members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, including Barbara Geiger, Carol Rainey, Donna Lynn Cook, and Dorothy L. W. Smith.
On February 8, 2020, during Black History Month, African American Museum of Fine Arts CEO Gaidi Finnie and former CGT board member, Carolyn Y. Smith, presented the “Keepers of the Culture” Award to Common Ground Theatre’s Board of Directors president Mrs. Francine DeWitt-Haynes, stating the following:
In February 2018, the San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art (SDAAMFA) hosted its first annual recognition of individuals whose contributions have resulted in retaining and expanding the cultural expressions that are uniquely African American. This recognition has become increasingly more important as we see our rich African American culture continually limited or all together omitted by major institutions.
I am writing you because the SDAAMFA Board of Directors has selected Common Ground Theatre to receive the 2020 Keepers of the Culture award in recognition of your extraordinary commitment to African American Theatre. The vision your father, the late Rufus Dewitt and Dr. Robert Matthews had to start a theater in 1963, has allowed San Diego to experience the stories and voices of the Black community for over 50 years. The importance of the efforts by you and the Board of Directors to produce works by and about people of African descent cannot be underscored and we would like to thank you publicly.