THE funniest thing about the fussing that goes on in theatre boardrooms is that it is not funny at all. The fueding is such a given within some “governing” bodies that many talented people simply refuse to serve on the boards of African American theatre organizations. These people say that it is a waste of time, because the Lord God Himself must have spent the whole Second Week trying to organize an African American theatre. The questions that arise are Is theatre governance really as bad as all of that? How accurate – and fair – is the charge that African American theatres open and close like morning glories? and If the average theatre life span is shorter than a pet canary's, what can be done about it? These questions are vital because healthy African American theatre organizations are a priori essentials of schools of plays and pools of talents. Finding thoughtful answers requires, first of all, that people stop considering African American theatres as a historical monolith. Like most other things, these theatres developed in stages. There are three developmental phases, but most theatre organizations do not survive past the first or second period.