Low-Cost Family Values

B.A.M.N. Productions is about as poor as the man and his pregnant wife who couldn’t find a room at the inn and wound up in the stable.

And that’s just the story the company is doing Tuesday night at the Barnsdall Artists Cafe, in the form of “The Black Nativity,” a gospel musical written by poet Langston Hughes in 1928.

Nefertiti Shackelford, one of the three producers, said that although the play is produced annually in New York City colleges, it is not a tradition in Los Angeles.

“We would like to establish it,” Shackelford said, “because it’s about family. And God knows, we need family values.”

B.A.M.N. stands for By Any Means Necessary, and that includes using the rent money for production costs. Shackelford and her co-producers all have other jobs to support them, as well as performing other functions for the group.

“We have no money, so we do what we have to do,” said Shackelford, who works as a production coordinator and will run the lights for the performance.

The group hasn’t actively sought grants because its goal is to build a viable business.

“I hear about these programs and then I never hear about them after the funding stops,” said Shackelford, although she has not closed the door on government money. She just isn’t going to wait for it to produce plays for the group, which wants to educate as well as entertain.

“I don’t think art is designed to serve just one purpose.” Shackelford said.

“We’re taking this from my community and bringing it the entire Los Angeles community, and when I say my community I mean my African-American community that I’m responsible for. I think this is where you achieve true multiculturalism.”

“The Black Nativity” starts at 8 p.m. in the Barnsdall Art Park’s Gallery Theatre, 4800 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles. Tickets are $8.