[6] On August 1, 1953, six actors founded Central Virginia's first professional theatre, and named the company in memory of a deceased college friend, Barbara Barksdale.
[8] In 1973, Barksdale produced Virginia's first professional play based on African American experience, Lorraine Hansberry's To Be Young, Gifted and Black.
[11] In 1985 Theatre IV produced Do Lord Remember Me based on the oral histories of former slaves interviewed during the Federal Writer's Project, and received the Award of Excellence from Branches of the Arts for "The most outstanding play relating to African-American experience.
It reopened in 1933 as the "Booker T," and for many years served as the leading black movie house when Richmond was segregated.
Kambis restored the Empire name and in 1979 leased it to Keith Fowler, artistic director of the American Revels Company.
On its 100th anniversary in 2011 the theater was further restored when Sara Belle and Neil November made a $2 million gift to Theatre IV and Barksdale.