Buyers compete for theater once owned by judge
An auction is scheduled in November for the former Slave Theater on Fulton Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant. The theater, which hosted countless African-American political and cultural events, was founded and owned by the late Brooklyn Judge John L. Phillips, who died in 2008.
The theater was last used in 1999, shortly before Phillips — who was known as the “kung-fu judge” because of his interest in martial arts — was declared incompetent and his estate placed into guardianship.
The story of Phillips and the theater is extremely convoluted, involving accusations of theft and incompetence by guardians, tax liens, fights between various relatives over who was the rightful heir to Phillips’ estate, and more.