Janeece Freeman Clark, as a kid growing up in Michigan, had a lot of energy. In middle school, she found an outlet for that energy in the theater. “It very quickly became my home, like my safe space,” she says.
Clark ending up making it her life’s work. She is the founding artistic director of Montclair’s Vanguard Theater, which is celebrating its 11th year as a professional regional theater. Vanguard set out with a mission of “changing cultural and social narratives through theater,” summed up in the theater’s motto, “DREAM,” which stands for diversity, reciprocity, education, activism and mentorship.
“Everything you can imagine is represented on that stage,” says Clark. “It seems like such a simple concept, but it makes a huge difference to see yourself and to see a story told through your eyes.”
After finding the theater as a child, she went on to study performance and education at the University of Michigan. Clark then moved to New York and performed in Broadway productions including The Color Purple, Rent and West Side Story. She met her husband, the Broadway actor Dwayne Clark, while they were performing together in Urinetown.
After having kids, Clark realized that having two actors in the household was challenging, driving her to cultivate a community at Vanguard and create a theatrical home for her family.
The Best Things to Do in NJ
Sign up for the Weekend Buzz newsletter to fill up your social calendar with can’t-miss events, festivals, concerts and more fun things to do every week.
Vanguard productions have included Into the Woods, Tuck Everlasting and Hair. Clark does her best to ensure there is a fresh narrative and take on every story Vanguard tells.
“We definitely do socially relevant pieces of theater, or pieces of theater that maybe at their core were not written to be socially relevant, but the way that we cast them, the conscious casting, allows us to see them with a new lens,” says Clark.
Vanguard also offers training and mentorship programs. One such program is Summerstock, an annual sleepaway theater camp for ages 12-19 that was inspired by Clark’s experience at Michigan’s Interlochen Arts Academy. Tuition for Summerstock is priced lower than other comparable camps.
“Even at that age, I was aware that I was one of very few Black students there, and I knew that had everything to do with cost and access,” says Clark. “Talent is universal, but opportunity is not.”
Vanguard kicks off its 2026-2027 season with a production of Dominique Morisseau’s drama Pipeline, running October 8–25.
The season also features the beloved musical Annie; Lynn Nottage’s play Clyde’s, about the formerly incarcerated kitchen staff of a truck stop; and the rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar.
“I think that it’s really important work,” says Clark. “We are changing our little corner of the world, and our hope is that that ripples out.”
