By Jon W. Sparks | Special to The Commercial Appeal

Ekundayo Bandele's small theater is growing to be as big as the community.

The playwright, novelist and nonstop thinker founded the Hattiloo Theatre and has immersed himself as the executive

Mark Weber / The Commercial Appeal files
Ekundayo Bandele

and artistic director of the black repertory theater. It opened its doors in March 2006 with support from a cross-section of the community, including art professionals, volunteers and donors that include the Jeniam Foundation, the Hyde Family Foundations and the Turley Foundation.

The enterprise has brought a variety of multicultural programming to the stage. This year alone it has produced "Macbeth," Darius Wallace in "The Starry Road To Freedom," "Topdog/Underdog," "From the Mississippi Delta," a revival of its 2007 production of the musical "Mahalia," August Wilson's "Fences" and the current Christmas production of "If Scrooge Was a Brother" that runs through Jan. 4.

Bandele gets more ambitious each year, increasing the number of productions and reaching out to the community beyond what is staged at Hattiloo.

"Hattiloo and the community are joined at the hip," he says, and to that end, he continues to showcase talent at Zora's Lounge cabaret space and to develop Camp Awareness, a summer camp for kids. Taking that further, he is planning a children's theater at Hattiloo as well.

Bandele's efforts were recognized this year when he received the MPACT Maker award for arts and culture promotion from MPACT Memphis.

Hattiloo, a 66-seat venue in the Edge district, is named for Bandele's two daughters Hatti (Hatshepsut) and Loo (Oluremi).