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The groundbreaking Negro Ensemble Company (NEC), founded in 1967, produced Paul Carter Harrison's award-winning play *The Great MacDaddy* in 1974. The company was cofounded by Robert Hooks, an actor, producer, and activist, and actor and playwright Douglas Turner Ward, who had met while performing in a 1960 touring production of Lorraine Hansberry's play *A Raisin in the Sun*. They shared a vision of a theater company that would nurture and showcase the work of Black theater professionals. Since its beginning, NEC has provided a forum for the voices of Harrison and other Black playwrights through workshops and performances.