#black play

[sbrown82]

Dreamgirls’ Loretta Devine, Deborah Burrell, and Sheryl Lee Ralph photographed by Martha Swope, (1981).

[milkandheavysugar]

Stephanie Mills featured with the cast of the Broadway musical ‘The Wiz’ ca. 1970s

The show went on to win seven of its eight Tony nominations, including awards for featured performers Ted Ross and Dee Dee Bridgewater and Best Musical of 1975. The production continued its run through 1979, playing 1,672 performances.

The original cast was led by 15-year-old Stephanie Mills as Dorothy and 18-year-old Hinton Battle, who made his Broadway debut as the Scarecrow. Phylicia Rashad (billed here as Phylicia Ayers-Allen) appeared in the ensemble.[X]

[jmarksthespots]

[#BLACKPLAY] Tubman A one woman play by Lacresha Berry Wednesday, March 31st | 7:30pm  I, Too Arts Collective | The Langston Hughes House | 20 East 127th Street New York, New York 10035  Admission: $20 | $10 students  For tickets, visit itooarts.com/calendar-of-events-1/  Twitter | IG:@airtubman Facebook fan page: facebook.com/airtubman/

TUBMAN, Berry’s new one woman show, presents the story of Harriet Tubman reimagined as a young woman growing up in Harlem through a theatrical lens. The performance will take the inspirational story of Harriet in the 19th century and places her in the 21st century; laced with the problems facing African-American youth all over the country, focusing specifically on the mistreatment of black girls in schools.

‘I learned of Harriet Tubman superficially in high school and college. I knew she was a famous conductor on the underground railroad but I didn’t know she was a mother, wife, scout, spy, and fighter for the lives of elderly people. I have been researching her life for the past year or so and discovering her many sides compelled me to take on telling her invigorating story,’ Berry states.

The play examines the centuries old fight with race, gender, and equality through a theatrical lens centered around the most influential woman leaders in American history. Poetry, monologue, and revolutionary music will aid in telling young Harriet's story. The performance will help benefit students and leaders searching to find their voice and searching to take an active role in defining their place through social justice theater in a racially divided country.

‘Hearing only about her strength is merely one sided. So, I took matters into my own hands and developed a unique perspective as a teacher in Harlem. How would the youth hear this story in a new and modern way? Even though she lived from 1820-1913, the issues that plagued her, still plague us today. What would happen if a young woman like Harriet became a leader in this new world? Would her struggle be the same? Would she know her power?’ Berry continues.

This story is unique in content, yet all-inclusive when it comes to the lessons learned, shared and taught. TUBMAN is a one-woman show with four original songs that evoke the ideas of freedom, flight, and courage. It is a history lesson and a musical wrapped into one dynamic show! It is a historical adventure and homage to our American heritage and ancestors. It teaches us that we are beyond just beautiful, but powerful, too.

‘When physically, mentally, and spiritually healthy, we are genuinely strong, strong enough to utilize the arts as therapy and to push through and break down societal barriers and personal challenges. Finding my voice in the arts saved my life. When my father passed, I wrote an album for him, honoring his life. Without the words and songs given to me, I wouldn't have woken up from sadness and depression. This is what my work is all about. I look forward to changing lives one song, one lyric, one verse, one stanza at a time!’ Berry states.

Attendance for the Friday, February 17 FCPS must be RSVP’d by school officials to The Lyric by phone at [phone] or emailed to [email protected]. Tickets for the Friday, February 17 and Saturday, February 18 public performances can be purchased over the phone at [phone] or online at http://www.lexingtonlyric.tix. com.

[jmarksthespots]

[#RainbowRemixNYC #PLAY #WOMENSEMPOWERMENT #WOMENSHISTORYMONTH] 'For Colored Girls...' (the remix!) ChoreoPoem *  MultiMedia * Soundscape Choreopoem/Play by Ntozake Shange's | Directed by ME Productions  Presented in partnership with the Gye Nyame Empowerment Project and LIFE Wellness  Choreography by Guerdley Cajus Saturday, March 18 | Doors open at 4pm | Show at 5pm Boys & Girls High School | 1700 Fulton Street Brooklyn, NY  Admission: FREE | No cover Suggested Donation: $10 to support the 2017 Sista-2-Sista Youth Summit in Ghana Ntozake Shange's 'For Colored Girls … is a compelling and dramatic series of stories that reveal the hardships and triumphs of black women in America.  Each story is as striking, as it is empowering, as the audience is wrapped up in the journey that leads the characters to their discovery of inner strength, hope and love. Join us for a FREE presentation of 'For Colored Girls... commemorating the 40th Anniversary of its 1976 Broadway debut. This abridged remix of the production is presented by ME Productions, in partnership with the Gye Nyame Empowerment Project and LIFE Wellness as the closing entertainment for this years 10th Sista-2-Sista Youth Summit anniversary Summit in Brooklyn, NY. Come celebrate this timeless work and help a new generation move to the end of their own rainbow! #RainbowRemixNYC  *Cover art by Mikéla Henry-Lowe

[jmarksthespots]

[#OPENCALL #CASTINGCALL #Audition #Choreopoem] For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Not Enuf Sunday, February 19 | 1pm *please arrive on time* 636 Broadway New York, NY Performance date: March 18 Come dressed to play & to explore the text in movement

[jmarksthespots]

[#PLAY] August Wilson’s Jitney  Directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson  Samuel J. Friedman Theatre | 261 West 47th Street (between Broadway and 8th Avenue) New York NY 10036  For showtimes & tickets, please visit broadway.com/shows/jitney-broadway/  Now through Mar 12th, 2017, save up to 45%, with discount code: AUGUST

Set in the early 1970s, this richly textured piece follows a group of men trying to eke out a living by driving unlicensed cabs, or jitneys. When the city threatens to board up the business and the boss’ son returns from prison, tempers flare, potent secrets are revealed and the fragile threads binding these people together may come undone at last.

[jmarksthespots]

[PLAY & MUSEUM TOUR] The 22nd Annual Commemoration of The MAAFA Speaking The Truth  Directed and Choreographed by Lakai Worrell, Co-artistic director/Co-Founder, Purelements September 22nd and 23rd, 2016 @ 7pm | Excerpts on September 21st, 2016 @ 3pm St. Paul Community Baptist Church | 859 Hendrix Street, Brooklyn, NY 11207 Admission: $25-$40 For tickets, call 718.557.2004 or visit http://bit.ly/maafa2016

The theatrical production, The Maafa, recognizes and reflects the journey of African slaves to America from 1500-1900. Attracting more than 3,000 people every year, the play follows the journey of more than 100 million slaves through the “Middle Passage” during a period of history known as the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. The MAAFA offers people from all walks of life a chance to understand the nature of the treatment the ancestors of black Americans went through upon generations of Africans in America.

The term MAAFA (pronounced Mah-AH-fah) is a Kiswahili word which gives definition to the catastrophic event experienced by millions of African people during the Middle Passage journey. The word MAAFA is the concept of Dr. Marimba Ani, African-American scholar and author, and has been adopted in contemporary scholarship. St. Paul Community Baptist Church first introduced The MAAFA under the leadership of Pastor Emeritus Rev. Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood as a way to heal the community and bring awareness to racism in American society.

The MAAFA Museum Tour As part of the annual MAAFA Presentation, the SPCBC campus also transforms into The MAAFA Museum. The visual/interactive walking tour is employed to expand participants’ knowledge-base on the period in history known as the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Visitors experience “Africans in America” in a new and enlightening way with galleries of art, authentic artifacts, wood carvings, quilts, historic vignettes and more. The MAAFA Museum tour is appropriate for adults and students grades 4 and higher.

Maafa Museum Tour dates

September 12-25, 2016 *By appointment only* To schedule an appointment, e-mail [email protected] or call 718.557.2004 or 718.257.1300 ext 174 *FREE*

Featuring Guest Speakers Reverend Dr. Jowanza Colvin, Olivett Instiutional Baptist Church (Cleveland, OH) Reverend Neichelle Guidry, M. Div., Trinity United Church of Christ, (Chicago, IL)

[afro-pessimistic]

I'm not telling you again, Tallulah Bankhead! Luxury. In your face and your fingers. You telling me what I ought to do (Sudden scream frightening the whole coach.) Well, don't! Don't you tell me anything! If I'm a middle-class fake white man . . . let me be. And let me be in the way I want. (Through his teeth.) I'll rip your lousy breasts off! Let me be who I feel like being. Uncle Tom. Thomas. Whoever. It's none of your business. You don't know anything except what's there for you to see. An act. Lies. Device. Not the pure heart, the pumping black heart. You don't ever know that. And I sit here, in this buttoned-up suit, to keep myself from cutting all your throats. I mean wantonly. You great liberated whore! You fuck some black man, and right away you're an expert on black people. What a lotta shit that is. The only thing you know is that you come if he bangs you hard enough. And that's all. The belly rub? You wanted to do the belly rub? Shit, you don't even know how. You don't know how. That ol' dipty-dip shit you do, rolling your ass like an elephant. That's not my kind of belly rub. Belly rub is not Queens. Belly rub is dark places, with big hats and overcoats held up with one arm. Belly rub hates you. Old bald-headed four-eyed ofays popping their fingers . . . and don't know yet what they're doing. They say, “I love Bessie Smith.” and don't even understand that Bessie Smith is saying, “Kiss my ass, kiss my black unruly ass.” Before love, suffering, desire, anything you can explain, she's saying, and very plainly, “Kiss my black ass.” And if you don't know that, it's you that's doing the kissing.

Amiri Baraka’s “The Dutchman”