Founded in 2008 as a reading series devoted to the Black Playwright, Blackboard Plays (née Blackboard Reading Series) focuses on play development.  For over a decade, their flagship program was a monthly reading, featuring a new play by a Black Playwright every 2nd Monday as well as occasional "Community Night" were writers brought up to 10 pages of new work to be cold-read by Actors, similar to a poetry open-mic.  In 2020, Blackboard partnered with the Parent Artist Advocacy League, PAAL to co-create the Black Motherhood and Parenting New Play Festival, a national, digital festival telling the stories of Black families, featuring playwrights who are Black mothers, fathers or caregivers.