New Day Repertory Company, Inc. was founded in April 1963 by Rodney and Olive Douglas and was operated out of the basement of their Queens home for the first five years. It began with providing training and workshops in acting and directing and Equity showcases in the classics for Black professional actors and actresses. Many New Day-trained actors/actresses were hired by Joseph Papp's "The Public Theatre."

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The Company became a not-for-profit organization in 1970 the same year it was incorporated. The Company then moved its workshops to the Thirteenth Street Theatre in Greenwich Village and started producing as an Equity company. During the years that followed the Company moved to various locations including 112th Street, and 8th St. and Broadway in Manhattan, Ridgeburry and Middletown, New Paltz, Vassar Brothers Institute Theatre in Poughkeepsie, then to its present location at the Family Partnership Center. The organization received its tax exempt status in 1974.



In its 50 years of operation, New Day has trained and coached hundreds of beginners and professionals, providing a start for many–some of whom have been very successful and there are others now famous who have helped to forge New Day's history. Some of the early students who went on to international acclaim include Barbara Montgomery (Bewitched), Ron O'Neal (Super Fly), Gertrude Smith and Robert Earl Jones (The Sting).



The Company has performed in numerous churches, grade schools, colleges, community halls, maximum security prisons and youth detention centers, hospitals, parks, migrant camps, drug rehabilitation centers and regular theatres.