#harlem shakespeare festival

[lboogie1906]

Jasmine Guy (born March 10, 1962) is an actress, director, singer, and dancer. She is known for her role as Dina in School Daze and as Whitley Gilbert-Wayne in A Different World. She won six consecutive NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. She is known as Roxy Harvey on Dead Like Me and as Sheila "Grams" Bennet on The Vampire Diaries. She played a small role in Grey's Anatomy. She moved to NYC to study dance at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. She began her television career with a non-speaking role, as a dancer, in seven episodes of Fame. She wrote three episodes of A Different World and directed one, in addition to appearing in every episode. She appeared in a 1991 episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. She appeared in Stompin' at the Savoy and Queen. She appeared on two episodes of Melrose Place, she appeared on Living Single. She appeared in Touched by an Angel. She lent her voice to Cyberchase and made a cameo appearance on the Moesha. She played Mary Estes Peters in Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narrative. Guy starred in Dead Like Me, she was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. She performed in The People Speak and she appeared in Secret Santa. More recently she costarred in the Quad and Harlem. She had a starring role in the off-Broadway hit musical Beehive. She has performed in several Broadway productions and national tours, including Crow in The Wiz, Mickey in Leader of the Pack, Betty Rizzo in Grease, and Velma Kelly in Chicago. She starred in Blues for an Alabama Sky and Miss Evers' Boys. She directed the world premiere of I Dream. She was a member of the cast of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. She released her self-titled debut album in 1990. The album peaked at #143 on the US Top 200 Album Chart and spawned three hit singles: "Try Me" (US R&B #14); "Another Like My Lover" (US #66, US R&B #9); and "Just Want to Hold You" (US #34, US R&B #27), with the last single cracking the main US Top 40 singles chart. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #womenshistorymonth https://www.instagram.com/p/Cpm7ju_L_ew/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[kelleah-meah]

My NYC Bucket List

OK. So this August will be my 8th anniversary living on the East Coast in the U.S. During that time, a lot has happened (to say the least). But it occurred to me that despite all the life changes, growing pains, and never-saw-coming absurdities that is my existence, I've managed to do some pretty cool things since I've moved to the tri-state area.

So with that revelation, a part of me felt the need to write down all the things I've done that might fall in the "tourist-y" category over the past 7.5 years. Which then led to me thinking about all of the tourist-y things I've yet to do.

And here we are.

Below is a list of 80 (so far) things I've either done or hope to do while living on the East Coast of the U.S. You'll notice that I don't have some popular things on the list like "visit the Top of the Rock" or "visit the top of the Empire State Building." That's because I don't care for heights that much, so that's not something I would ever want to do. With that said, if my NYC Bucket List inspires you and you want to add more vertical activities to your own list, I say go for it!

Before we dive in, please keep in mind that I'm an arts & culture geek and lifelong literature & history nerd. So if most of this seems boring to you, well ... I guess I'm just a really boring person.

Now without further ado ...

Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge ✅

Visit Chinatown and the Lower East Side ✅

Watch the NYC Pride parade during Pride weekend ✅

Eat at Sylvia's in Harlem

Drive across the George Washington Bridge ✅

Enjoy a show at Lincoln Center

Walk around Central Park ✅

Visit the Flatiron Building (outside or inside) ✅

Eat a slice at a pizzeria ✅

See a play during Shakespeare in the Park

Go on a walking tour of Greenwich Village ✅

Visit the Coney Island boardwalk ✅

Enjoy a stand-up show at a comedy club

Eat at a hot dog cart ✅

Hike in the woods at the New York Botanical Garden

Do a walking tour of Harlem ✅

See a movie at the Alamo Drafthouse ✅

Try an egg cream ✅

Enjoy a drag performance ✅

Visit that famous site-seeing spot in Dumbo near the Manhattan Bridge ✅

Take a tour of Grand Central Station

Enjoy a Broadway play ✅

Go to a NBA Knicks or Nets game

Eat at Sardi's

Drive across the Verrazano Bridge ✅

See an improv show at UCB (currently closed, but it's under new management so it may reopen soon) ✅

Visit the Statue of Liberty

Walk along 5th Avenue at Christmas time to see the department store windows ✅

Eat and people watch at Caffe Reggio ✅

Attend an art gallery opening ✅

See a show at Radio City Music Hall

Take the Staten Island Ferry

Be a part of a studio audience (ex: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Daily Show, Late Night with Seth Meyers, etc.)

Go thrift shopping or vinyl records shopping in the East Village ✅

Eat at Carnegie Deli or Katz's Deli (the former is now closed though) ✅ Carnegie only

Visit the Guggenheim, the Met, the Whitney or the MoCA ✅ Guggenheim only

Attend a performance of the New York City Ballet, the American Ballet Theater, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and/or the Dance Theatre of Harlem

Grab a drink at the Blue Bar at the Algonquin Hotel ✅

Visit the Bronx Zoo

Eat a black and white cookie ✅

Enjoy an Off-Broadway play ✅

Read a book in Bryant Park in the summer

Take a dance class at Steps on Broadway ✅

Watch the ice skaters at Rockefeller Center or Wollman Rink in Central Park (and go ice skating if you can) ✅ Watching only

Visit Little Italy in the Bronx

Go to a NHL Rangers or Islanders game

See a show at the Beacon Theatre ✅

Visit Tiffany's (and buy something small if you can afford it)

Enjoy High Tea at the Plaza

Attend the AfroPunk music festival ✅

Buy a book or two at the Strand ✅

Take a tour of the Apollo Theater

Ride in a NYC yellow taxi ✅

See a concert or show at Madison Square Garden ✅

Eat at Junior's after a Broadway show ✅

Attend a lecture or talk at the 92nd Street Y ✅

Visit the Nuyorican Poets Cafe

Read or write in the Rose Reading Room at the New York Public Library's main branch ✅

See a movie at the Roxy Cinema ✅

Enjoy a drink at the bar in the Hotel Chelsea

Get a playbill signed at the stage door after a play ✅

Go to a late night jazz concert at the Blue Note

Visit Washington Square Park ✅

Attend an event on the Columbia University or NYU campus ✅ Both Columbia and NYU

Grab a sweet at Magnolia Bakery

Buy a book or two at Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn ✅

See a concert or show at Carnegie Hall

Go to a MLB Mets or Yankees game

Have a drink at the historic Stonewall Inn ✅

Visit Prospect Park

Attend a film screening at the Tribeca Film Festival ✅

Buy a book or two at the McNally Jackson flagship store in Soho ✅

Dine at the Algonquin Hotel ✅

Go to a late night jazz concert or show at Birdland

See a play at the historic Cherry Lane Theatre

Enjoy a fancy milkshake at Black Tap

Visit the main branch of the Brooklyn Library ✅

Grab a bite or a drink at the White Horse Tavern ✅

See a burlesque show at the House of Yes

Visit the Albertine Bookstore on the Upper East Side

Take the ferry from New Jersey (Hoboken) to NYC

Believe it or not, I was hoping to come up with 100 items for the list, but I've run out of things to add. If anyone has any other ideas they'd like to suggest to help me get closer to 100, I'm all ears.

You'll probably notice that I have very little on the list for the outer boroughs, so I'd be especially interested in suggestions for Queens, Staten Island, BK or BX.

Oh, and I should also mention that I'm not really interested in visiting the High Line or anything happening at the Piers. They're just not my thing.

Of course, this list is for inspiration and gratitude purposes only. It's not meant to make me or anyone feel less than. I'm simply capturing what I've done so I can look at it when I'm feeling sorry for myself in the future about how poor I am.

But it's also a lovely reminder of what else I have left to check out when money and time are on my side. ☺️

[brookston]

Events 1.7

Holidays

Charlie Hebdo Day (France)

Distaff Day (Medieval Europe)

Estelle Reel Day (Wyoming)

Festa del Tricolour (Tricolour Day or Flag Day; Italy)

Flash Gordon Day

Harlem Globetrotter’s Day

Hydrogen Bomb Day

I'm Not Going To Take It Anymore Day

International Programmers' Day

International Silly Walk Day

Invisible Pain Day

Jupiter’s Moons Day

Limestone Day (French Republic)

Millard Fillmore Day

National Alaskan Malamute Day

National Bobblehead Day

National Job Hunting Day

National Nicholas Cage Day

National Old Rock Day

National Pass Gas Day

National Plagiarism Day (Ghana)

National Run-For-Your-Life Day

No Pants Subway Ride Day

Old Rock Day (a.k.a. Roc Day)

Pioneer’s Day (Liberia)

Remembrance Day of the Dead (Armenia)

Tommy Johnson Day

Tumbes Anniversary Day (Peru)

Usokae (Bullfinch Exchange Day; Japan)

Victory from Genocide Day (Cambodia)

World Day of the Postage Stamp

Food & Drink Celebrations

Jinjitsu (Festival of Seven Herbs; Japan)

Nanakusa no Sekku (Festival of Seven Herbs; Japan)

National Tempura Day

1st Sunday in January

Ati-Athan Festival begins (Philippines) [1st Sunday through 3rd Sunday]

Feast of the Holy Family [Sunday after Xmas]

Second Sunday of Christmas [2nd Sunday after Christmas]

Trappist Beer Day [1st Sunday]

Festivals Beginning January 7, 2024

Carnival of Limoux (France) [thru 3.17]

Golden Globe Awards

Independence & Related Days

Bascal (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]

Constitution Day (Ghana)

Empire of Agber (Declared; 1998) [unrecognized]

Matthew City (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Albert Bierstadt (Artology; Saint)

André Bessette (Canada)

Baptism of the Lord (Christian)

Bl. Widukind, Duke of Saxony (Christian; Saint)

Canute Lavard (Christian; Saint)

Charles of Sezze (Christian; Saint)

Council of the Holy Prophet John the Baptist (Romania)

Distaff Day (a.k.a. Saint Distaff’s Day; Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Easter Day (Sudan)

Feast of Sekhmet (Ancient Egypt)

Felix and Januarius (Christian; Saint)

John the Baptist (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Justicia I: Themis’s Day (Pagan)

Koshogatsu (Shinto Goddess Izanami)

Lucian of Antioch (Christian; Saint)

Merelots (Remembrance Day of the Dead; Armenian Apostolic Church)

Nativity of Christ (Orthodox Christian)

No Knitting Day (Pastafarian)

Numa (Positivist; Saint)

Orthodox Christmas (a.k.a. ...

Bozic (Serbia)

Christmas (Russia, Eastern Europe)

Christmas Remembrance Holiday (Armenia)

Coptic Christmas (Egypt)

Craciunul Pe Stil Vechi (Moldova)

Eastern Christmas (Sudan)

Genna (Ethiopia)

Krishtlindjet Ortodoske (Kosovo)

Leddet (Coptic; Eritrea)

Palestinian Martyrs’ Day

Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret (Artology)

Raymond of Penyafort (Christian; Saint)

Rudder Rabbit (Muppetism)

Russ Meyer Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Say No To Knickers Day (Pastafarian)

Sekhmet (Ancient Egyptian New Year's)

Synaxis of John the Forerunner & Baptist (Coptic)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fatal Day (Pagan) [2 of 24]

Perilous Day (13th Century England) [5 of 32]

Prime Number Day: 7 [4 of 72]

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 1 of 60)

Premieres

Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2), by Pink Floyd (Song; 1980)

The Avengers (BBC TV Series; 1961)

Bad Day at Black Rock (Film; 1955)

The B.B. Beagle Show (Hanna-Barbera TV Pilot; 1980)

The Birthday Party (Disney Cartoon; 1931)

Boston Cooking-School Cook Book (Cook Book; 1896)

Building a Building (Disney Cartoon; 1933)

The Butcher of Seville (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1944)

Cannery Woe (WB LT Cartoon; 1961)

Changes, by David Bowie (Song; 1972)

Crossroads of Twilight, by Robert Jordan (Novel; 2003) [Wheel of Time #10]

Empire (TV Series; 2015)

Fame (Film; 1982)

Fred Ott’s Sneeze (Early Short Film; 1894)

Hare-Brained Boris or The Dumb Bunny (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S5, Ep. 246; 1964)

Henry V, by William Shakespeare (Play; 1605)

Homeless Homer (Oscar the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1929)

Hooch Coochie Man, recorded by Muddy Waters (Song; 1954)

The Hustler, by Walter Tevis (Novel; 1959)

The Image of the City, by Kevin Lynch (Science Book; 1960)

Lion Hunt (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1938)

Little Quacker (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1950)

The Lone Stranger and Porky (WB LT Cartoon; 1939)

Mckeesport on the Prod or The Pennsylvania Poker (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S5, Ep. 240; 1964)

Mules and Men, by Zora Neale Hurston (Folklore; 1935)

Paranoid, by Black Sabbath (Album; 1971)

The Pelican and the Snipe (Disney Cartoon; 1944)

Pop Team Epic (a.k.a. Poptepipic, Anime TV Series; 2018)

Pretenders, by The Pretenders (Album; 1980)

Robinson Crusoe Isle (Oscar the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1935)

Saturnin, by Zdeněk Jirotka (Novel; 1942)

The Shanty Where Santa Claus Lives (WB MM Cartoon; 1933)

Spitfire Girl, by Jackie Moggridge (memoir; 1957)

The Spirit of ’43 (Disney Cartoon; 1943)

Start Mater, by Gioacchino Rossini (Opera; 1842)

Suddenly Last Summer, by Tennessee Williams (Play; 1958)

Werewolf of the Timberland (Animated TV Show;Jonny Quest #17; 1965)

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (TV Series; 2020)

Today’s Name Days

Raimund, Valentin (Austria)

Ioan, Ioana, Ivan, Ivanka, Ivayla, Ivaylo, Ivet, Kaloyan, Vanya, Vanyo, Yoan, Yoana, Zhan, Zhana (Bulgaria)

Lucijan, Rajmund, Zorislav (Croatia)

Vilma (Czech Republic)

Knud (Denmark)

Hirvo, Kanut, Nuut, Susi (Estonia)

Aku, August, Aukusti (Finland)

Aldric, Cédric, Raymond (France)

Reinhold, Valentin (Germany)

Gianna, Giannis, Ioanna, Ioannis, Jeannette, John, Prodromos, Yanna, Yannis (Greece)

Attila, Ramóna (Hungary)

Luciano, Raimondo (Italy)

Juliāns, Rota, Zigmārs (Latvia)

Julius, Liucijus, Raudvilė, Rūtenis (Lithuania)

Eldbjørg, Knut (Norway)

Chociesław, Izydor, Julian, Lucjan, Walenty (Poland)

Ioan (Romania)

Bohuslava (Slovakia)

Raimundo (Spain)

August, Augusta (Sweden)

Alda, Aldea, Alden, Aldo, Aldric, Canute, Knut, Knute, Millard, Miller (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 7 of 2024; 359 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 7 of week 1 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Beth (Birch) [Day 13 of 28]

Chinese: Month 12 (Jia-Zi), Day 26 (Geng-Wu)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 26 Teveth 5784

Islamic: 25 Jumada II 1445

J Cal: 7 White; Sevenday [7 of 30]

Julian: 25 December 2023

Moon: 17%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 7 Moses (1st Month) [Numa]

Runic Half Month: Eihwaz or Eoh (Yew Tree) [Day 13 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 18 of 89)

Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 17 of 31)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 1.7

Holidays

Charlie Hebdo Day (France)

Distaff Day (Medieval Europe)

Estelle Reel Day (Wyoming)

Festa del Tricolour (Tricolour Day or Flag Day; Italy)

Flash Gordon Day

Harlem Globetrotter’s Day

Hydrogen Bomb Day

I'm Not Going To Take It Anymore Day

International Programmers' Day

International Silly Walk Day

Invisible Pain Day

Jupiter’s Moons Day

Limestone Day (French Republic)

Millard Fillmore Day

National Alaskan Malamute Day

National Bobblehead Day

National Job Hunting Day

National Nicholas Cage Day

National Old Rock Day

National Pass Gas Day

National Plagiarism Day (Ghana)

National Run-For-Your-Life Day

No Pants Subway Ride Day

Old Rock Day (a.k.a. Roc Day)

Pioneer’s Day (Liberia)

Remembrance Day of the Dead (Armenia)

Tommy Johnson Day

Tumbes Anniversary Day (Peru)

Usokae (Bullfinch Exchange Day; Japan)

Victory from Genocide Day (Cambodia)

World Day of the Postage Stamp

Food & Drink Celebrations

Jinjitsu (Festival of Seven Herbs; Japan)

Nanakusa no Sekku (Festival of Seven Herbs; Japan)

National Tempura Day

1st Sunday in January

Ati-Athan Festival begins (Philippines) [1st Sunday through 3rd Sunday]

Feast of the Holy Family [Sunday after Xmas]

Second Sunday of Christmas [2nd Sunday after Christmas]

Trappist Beer Day [1st Sunday]

Festivals Beginning January 7, 2024

Carnival of Limoux (France) [thru 3.17]

Golden Globe Awards

Independence & Related Days

Bascal (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]

Constitution Day (Ghana)

Empire of Agber (Declared; 1998) [unrecognized]

Matthew City (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Albert Bierstadt (Artology; Saint)

André Bessette (Canada)

Baptism of the Lord (Christian)

Bl. Widukind, Duke of Saxony (Christian; Saint)

Canute Lavard (Christian; Saint)

Charles of Sezze (Christian; Saint)

Council of the Holy Prophet John the Baptist (Romania)

Distaff Day (a.k.a. Saint Distaff’s Day; Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Easter Day (Sudan)

Feast of Sekhmet (Ancient Egypt)

Felix and Januarius (Christian; Saint)

John the Baptist (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Justicia I: Themis’s Day (Pagan)

Koshogatsu (Shinto Goddess Izanami)

Lucian of Antioch (Christian; Saint)

Merelots (Remembrance Day of the Dead; Armenian Apostolic Church)

Nativity of Christ (Orthodox Christian)

No Knitting Day (Pastafarian)

Numa (Positivist; Saint)

Orthodox Christmas (a.k.a. ...

Bozic (Serbia)

Christmas (Russia, Eastern Europe)

Christmas Remembrance Holiday (Armenia)

Coptic Christmas (Egypt)

Craciunul Pe Stil Vechi (Moldova)

Eastern Christmas (Sudan)

Genna (Ethiopia)

Krishtlindjet Ortodoske (Kosovo)

Leddet (Coptic; Eritrea)

Palestinian Martyrs’ Day

Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret (Artology)

Raymond of Penyafort (Christian; Saint)

Rudder Rabbit (Muppetism)

Russ Meyer Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Say No To Knickers Day (Pastafarian)

Sekhmet (Ancient Egyptian New Year's)

Synaxis of John the Forerunner & Baptist (Coptic)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fatal Day (Pagan) [2 of 24]

Perilous Day (13th Century England) [5 of 32]

Prime Number Day: 7 [4 of 72]

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 1 of 60)

Premieres

Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2), by Pink Floyd (Song; 1980)

The Avengers (BBC TV Series; 1961)

Bad Day at Black Rock (Film; 1955)

The B.B. Beagle Show (Hanna-Barbera TV Pilot; 1980)

The Birthday Party (Disney Cartoon; 1931)

Boston Cooking-School Cook Book (Cook Book; 1896)

Building a Building (Disney Cartoon; 1933)

The Butcher of Seville (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1944)

Cannery Woe (WB LT Cartoon; 1961)

Changes, by David Bowie (Song; 1972)

Crossroads of Twilight, by Robert Jordan (Novel; 2003) [Wheel of Time #10]

Empire (TV Series; 2015)

Fame (Film; 1982)

Fred Ott’s Sneeze (Early Short Film; 1894)

Hare-Brained Boris or The Dumb Bunny (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S5, Ep. 246; 1964)

Henry V, by William Shakespeare (Play; 1605)

Homeless Homer (Oscar the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1929)

Hooch Coochie Man, recorded by Muddy Waters (Song; 1954)

The Hustler, by Walter Tevis (Novel; 1959)

The Image of the City, by Kevin Lynch (Science Book; 1960)

Lion Hunt (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1938)

Little Quacker (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1950)

The Lone Stranger and Porky (WB LT Cartoon; 1939)

Mckeesport on the Prod or The Pennsylvania Poker (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S5, Ep. 240; 1964)

Mules and Men, by Zora Neale Hurston (Folklore; 1935)

Paranoid, by Black Sabbath (Album; 1971)

The Pelican and the Snipe (Disney Cartoon; 1944)

Pop Team Epic (a.k.a. Poptepipic, Anime TV Series; 2018)

Pretenders, by The Pretenders (Album; 1980)

Robinson Crusoe Isle (Oscar the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1935)

Saturnin, by Zdeněk Jirotka (Novel; 1942)

The Shanty Where Santa Claus Lives (WB MM Cartoon; 1933)

Spitfire Girl, by Jackie Moggridge (memoir; 1957)

The Spirit of ’43 (Disney Cartoon; 1943)

Start Mater, by Gioacchino Rossini (Opera; 1842)

Suddenly Last Summer, by Tennessee Williams (Play; 1958)

Werewolf of the Timberland (Animated TV Show;Jonny Quest #17; 1965)

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (TV Series; 2020)

Today’s Name Days

Raimund, Valentin (Austria)

Ioan, Ioana, Ivan, Ivanka, Ivayla, Ivaylo, Ivet, Kaloyan, Vanya, Vanyo, Yoan, Yoana, Zhan, Zhana (Bulgaria)

Lucijan, Rajmund, Zorislav (Croatia)

Vilma (Czech Republic)

Knud (Denmark)

Hirvo, Kanut, Nuut, Susi (Estonia)

Aku, August, Aukusti (Finland)

Aldric, Cédric, Raymond (France)

Reinhold, Valentin (Germany)

Gianna, Giannis, Ioanna, Ioannis, Jeannette, John, Prodromos, Yanna, Yannis (Greece)

Attila, Ramóna (Hungary)

Luciano, Raimondo (Italy)

Juliāns, Rota, Zigmārs (Latvia)

Julius, Liucijus, Raudvilė, Rūtenis (Lithuania)

Eldbjørg, Knut (Norway)

Chociesław, Izydor, Julian, Lucjan, Walenty (Poland)

Ioan (Romania)

Bohuslava (Slovakia)

Raimundo (Spain)

August, Augusta (Sweden)

Alda, Aldea, Alden, Aldo, Aldric, Canute, Knut, Knute, Millard, Miller (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 7 of 2024; 359 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 7 of week 1 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Beth (Birch) [Day 13 of 28]

Chinese: Month 12 (Jia-Zi), Day 26 (Geng-Wu)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 26 Teveth 5784

Islamic: 25 Jumada II 1445

J Cal: 7 White; Sevenday [7 of 30]

Julian: 25 December 2023

Moon: 17%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 7 Moses (1st Month) [Numa]

Runic Half Month: Eihwaz or Eoh (Yew Tree) [Day 13 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 18 of 89)

Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 17 of 31)

[tetcny]

#RIP #AndreBraugher

An amazing stage & screen actor , here in #GLORY . Stage: NY Shakespeare Festival Twelfth Night title role of Henry V, which earned him an Obie Award. Joseph Papp's Public Theater, Folger Shakespeare Festival ,on board of CLASSICAL THEATRE OF HARLEM.

[wanderingnomad84]

Othello with all female cast.

Harlem Shakespeare Festival in partnership with The National Arts Club present William Shakespeare’s OTHELLO: The Moor of Venice, in an exciting 90-minute all-female stage-adaptation by Lisa Wolpe; with sound design by David D. Wright.  

OTHELLO stars international actress/producer, Debra Ann Byrd, who recently received the Broadway World Best Lead Actress Award for her portrayal in the title role. This live classic Zoom production is led by celebrated director Vanessa Morosco and performed by a cast of ten classically trained actresses, who tell the story of a love that defies the boundaries of race; and a hatred that defies all boundaries of reason.  Together they transform a lover’s world of sighs into a universe of hurt ... Othello: “Be careful who you trust!”

WHAT: Harlem Shakespeare Festival Classical Lab Reading Series WHEN: Monday, September 21, 2020 at 8pm ET; Zoom Room Opens at 7:30pm WHERE: Streaming Live via Zoom and Facebook RSVP: http://bit.ly/HSFOthelloRSVP

------------------------------------------ WHO’S WHO IN THE COMPANY ------------------------------------------ OTHELLO: Debra Ann Byrd IAGO: Lisa Wolpe CASSIO: Mary Hodges RODERIGO: Amanda Barron DESDEMONA: Jennifer LeBlanc MONTANO: Amy Driesler EMILA: Natasha Yannacanedo BIANCA: Kim Wuan SAILOR 1/HERALD/Female CVR: Anja Lee SAILOR 2/Male CVR: Aixa Kendrick - - - Zoom Director of Production: Norman A. Small Zoom Production Technician: Nidal Q. Harvey Marketing & Promotions: Natalie Clarke Marketing Associate: Tom Martin Associate Producer: Jackie Jeffries Producing Artistic Director: Debra Ann Byrd Associate Artistic Director: Dathan B. Williams 🎭 Producing Partner: Voza Rivers/ New Heritage Theatre Group 🎭 Producing Partner: The National Arts Club * 📷 Photo by Yasmine Lawler 💻 Graphic by dabgrafix designs 💃  Original Costume by Gail Cooper-Hecht

[shakespearenews]

That this production works so well is all the more miraculous given that “Merry Wives of Windsor” is—let’s not mince words—far from top-tier Shakespeare. Following the sexual misadventures of Falstaff, the corpulent knight from the “Henry” plays, it plays a bit like a clueless sitcom spinoff from a meaty drama, as if someone had watched “The Sopranos” and thought, “Hey, what if we put Paulie Walnuts in ‘Three’s Company’?” But Ms. Bioh’s adaptation, set among African immigrants in current-day Harlem, leans into the piece’s primary colors and goofy plotting, and under director Saheem Ali the cast plays it all to the hilt with infectious relish. A sense of festive occasion pervades even the show’s weaker moments.

[redshirtgal]

As mentioned in our previous article, our Transportation Assistant Ensign Wilson was played by Garland Lee Thompson, Sr.  He was born in 1938 in Muskogee, Oklahoma but his family moved to Portland, Oregon when he was seven. It was during high school there that he discovered his love of theater and dance. At age 20, he moved to Los Angeles. His first movie part was that of a ceremonial dancer in the Roger and Hammerstein movie, South Pacific.

His dual talents in theater and dance paid off when he landed the part of Wilson in “The Enemy Within.” According to his son, Garland Thompson, Jr., there was no stuntman coordinator to block out the moves Thompson and Shatner would have to make during the fight scene between the two of them. Luckily, William Shatner had also studied dancing and the two of them went into a corner and choreographed the movements. By the time they were finished, the filming crew was ready to roll. Shatner and Thompson hit their marks perfectly, the scene was all done in one take, and the focus puller declared the film gate was clean. Which thrilled the crew because that meant everyone could eat an early lunch. 

Garland Thompson performed on other television shows of the 60s such as The Lieutenant, Perry Mason and Bewitched. But he always preferred working on the stage. Even while he was on stage or before the camera, he still attended acting classes at various conservatories and workshops. The most influential of these was  Frank Silvera’s Theatre of Being Workshop. Frank Silvera was an accomplished black actor in film and on the stage (his performance as King Lear in the Shakespeare play of the same name, directed by Joseph Papp, is still considered one of the best). Silvera started his workshop as a way of improving racial equality in the arts by providing instruction and support for young black actors. He also helped them attain membership in the actors’ unions and he created a theater where they could perform. Garland Thompson gave full credit to Silvera for helping him attain success as an actor, a playwright, and a theater producer. His mentor’s  sudden death in 1970 at the age of 56 affected him deeply.  (photo on left is Frank Silvera and on the right is a playbill from one of his productions. Note the names Isabell Sanford and Whitman Mayo)

Garland was already learning his way around and behind the stage as well as in front of it. He had served as the stage manager for Ray Bradbury’s plays in L.A. but then moved to New York to be the original stage manager and associate director for No Place to be Somebody by Charles Gordone on its first national tour as well as twice more during its run on Broadway. He also began to dabble in writing plays. This led him to realize how hard it was for black playwrights to have their plays produced.  As a result, Garland Thompson decided to join actor/director Morgan Freeman, actress/director Billie Allen Henderson, and journalist/ theater critic to form the Frank Silvera’s Writers’ Workshop as a testament to his mentor and as a place for people of color to develop their play writing skills. He also served as its Executive Director.  Within weeks, Garland was leading Monday night readings (and later Saturday night readings) along with critical discussions at the Martinique Theater in New York, one of many theaters that housed the Frank Silvera’s Writers workshop over the years. These readings were almost always packed. But they allowed budding playwrights a chance to hear their material read aloud for the first time and critiqued. Some rewrote their plays after the first presentation and brought them back to be read and critiqued a second time. 

Over the years, around 20,000 scripts were written and read at the workshop. Thompson also helped writers get their scripts produced on stage, including Ntozake Shange’ and her award winning play For Colored Girls Who Have Consider Suicide, When the Rainbow is Enuf.  Many of the students in the workshop also learned how to work backstage in largely unseen but very important duties, such as those involving lighting and sound. This gave them a more complete education in the theater arts.  Garland Thompson even brought his own work in front of his students to be read and critiqued, then later produced.  A playbill and a newspaper advertisement illustrate production details of two of his plays. Many major figures in Black Theater participated in several aspects of the workshop. These included Ruby Dee, Angela Bassett, Adolph Caesar. Morgan Freeman, Debbie Allen,  Aduke Aremu, Samuel L. Jackson, LaTonya Richardson-Jackson, Phylicia Rashad, and Charles Dutton. 

In early 1999, Inside New York (a local TV news magazine) interviewed Mr. Thompson about the reasons he and his cofounders believed a workshop for people of color to write and produce plays was necessary. Do yourself a favor and carve yourself out some time to watch it in its entirety. This man’s charisma was  amazing as was his enthusiasm for helping young people of color enter the world of theater.  

During his lifetime, Mr. Thompson worked with and often headed many other organizations devoted to Black Theater and received many honors in connection with them. He was the founding board member of the Harlem Arts Alliance and also served on the Board of Directors. In addition to being one of the founding members of the FSWW, he served as its director and was President of the Board of Directors of the FSWW Foundation, Inc. in 1981.  The AUDELCO awards were created to promote "recognition, understanding, and awareness of the arts in the African-American community." Garland Thompson was given the Board of Directors Award in 1976 for superior and sustained contribution to community theater. He also earned another AUDELCO award in 1981 as the producer of Bessie Smith, Empress of the Blues. The photo above shows him along with two other recipients at the 1981 Awards. He also was the winner of the Washington D.C. One-Act Play Festival (according to the book Voices of Color) and the FSWW under his direction was awarded the Obie for playwrighting in 1989. 

Garland also became involved in the National Black Theater Festival, starting with its second year. He set up and directed The Readers Theatre program, which grew and expanded over the years. He is shown above with his friend Ossie Davis, who was another major figure in Black Theater and who started the Festival’s first poetry slam in 2001. 

(photo credit - Lia Chang)

Unfortunately, Garland Thompson suffered a serious fall in early November 2014  which resulted in being transported to the intensive care unit at Harlem Hospital. Unfortunately, he never regained consciousness and developed pneumonia and other serious conditions. He died on the 18th at age 76. Garland Thompson’s death was mourned by the Black Theater world. The first memorial devoted to his life and contributions was the addition of his life story to the “harlem is... Theater” Exhibition at New York’s Interchurch Center in December of 2015. Garland Lee Thompson Jr. is seen in the photo above in front of the the tribute to his father. 

On February 12th of 2015,  Representative Charles Rangel of New York gave a speech in front of the U.S. House of Representatives to celebrate the legacy of Garland Thompson. This speech became an official part of the Congressional Record. If you wish to read it, then click here: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2015-02-12/html/CREC-2015-02-12-pt1-PgE208-3.htm

Instead of a traditional funeral, there was a Three Act Performance Tribute, two of which were held on February 14th, which would have been Garland’s 77th birthday. The First Act was a Memorial held at St. James Presbyterian Church. In the photo above, Garland’s son (Garland Lee Thompson, Jr.) is holding a copy of the Congressional Record containing his father’s tribute along with a photo of his father.  Act Two was a reception later that day at the Johnson Theater for the New City. Garland Lee Thompson, Jr. and Sean C. Turner hosted an afternoon of readings, poetry, and performances which ended with a celebration of Garland Sr.’s birthday.   The final act was held in August of that year during Harlem’s National Black Theatre Festival. This is where Garland created the Readers Theater so Act III was a fitting final tribute to a man who had spent over 40 years teaching, encouraging, and nurturing writers and artists of color.  His son Garland Thompson, Jr., is a noted playwright, actor, cinematographer, poet, director and producer, although he has worn many, many other hats in the arts over the years. Since 2008, he has been the Coordinator for the Poetry Out Loud recitation contest for high school students in  Monterey County, California (this is part of a national contest funded by the National Endowment of the Arts) and hosts the Rubber Chicken Open Mic and Poetry Slam at the East Village Coffee Lounge in Monterey (which he co-founded 14 years ago). In 2014  he took over running his father’s Frank Silvera’s Writers’ Workshop in New York. 

[writemarcus]

Black LGBTQ+ playwrights and musical-theater artists you need to know

These artists are producing amazing, timely work.

By Marcus Scott Posted: Friday July 24 2020, 4:56pm

Marcus Scott is a New York City–based playwright, musical writer, opera librettist and journalist. He has contributed to Elle, Essence, Out, American Theatre, Uptown, Trace, Madame Noire and Playbill, among other publications. Follow Marcus: Instagram, Twitter

We’re in the chrysalis of a new age of theatrical storytelling, and Black queer voices have been at the center of this transformation. Stepping out of the margins of society to push against the status quo, Black LGBTQ+ artists  have been actively engaged in fighting anti-blackness, racial disparities, disenfranchisement, homophobia and transphobia.

The success of Jeremy O. Harris’s Slave Play, Donja R. Love’s one in two and Jordan E. Cooper’s Ain’t No Mo’—not to mention Michael R. Jackson’s tour de force, the Pulitzer Prize–winning metamusical A Strange Loop—made that phenomenon especially visible last season. But these artists are far from alone. Because the intersection of queerness and Blackness is complex—with various gender expressions, sexual identifiers and communities taking shape in different spaces—Black LGBTQ+ artists are anything but a monolith. George C. Wolfe, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Robert O’Hara, Harrison David Rivers, Staceyann Chin, Colman Domingo, Tracey Scott Wilson, Tanya Barfield, Marcus Gardley and Daniel Alexander Jones are just some of the many Black queer writers who have already made marks.

With New York stages dark for the foreseeable future, we can’t know when we will be able to see live works by these artists again. It is likely, however, that they will continue to play major roles in the direction American theater will take in the post-quarantine era—along with many creators who are still flying mostly under the radar. Here are just a few of the Black queer artists you may not have encountered yet: vital new voices that are speaking to the Zeitgeist and turning up the volume.

Christina Anderson A protégé of Paula Vogel’s, Christina Anderson has presented work at the Public Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Penumbra Theatre Company, Playwrights Horizons and other theaters around the U.S. and Canada. She has degrees from the Yale School of Drama and Brown University, and  is a resident playwright at New Dramatists and Epic Theatre Ensemble; she has received the inaugural Harper Lee Award for Playwriting and three Susan Smith Blackburn Prize nominations, among other honors. Works include: How To Catch Creation (2019), Blacktop Sky (2013), Inked Baby (2009) Follow Christina: Website

Aziza Barnes Award-winning poet Aziza Barnes moved into playwriting with one of the great sex comedies of the 2010s: BLKS, which premiered at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 2017 before it played at MCC Theatre in 2019 (where it earned a Lucille Lortel Award nomination). The NYU grad’s play about three twentysomethings probed the challenges and choices of Millennials with pathos and zest that hasn’t been seen since Kenneth Lonergan’s Gen X love/hate letter This Is Our Youth. Barnes is the author of the full-length collection of poems the blind pig and i be but i ain’t, which won a Pamet River Prize. Works include: BLKS (2017) Follow Aziza: Twitter

Troy Anthony Burton Fusing a mélange of quiet storm ‘90s-era Babyface R&B, ‘60s-style funk-soul and urban contemporary gospel, composer Troy Anthony has had a meteoric rise in musical theater in the past three years, receiving commissions and residencies from the Shed, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, Atlantic Theater Company and the Civilians. When Anthony is not crafting ditties of his own, he is an active performer who has participated in the Public Theater’s Public Works and Shakespeare In the Park. Works include: The River Is Me (2017), The Dark Girl Chronicles (in progress) Follow Troy: Instagram

Timothy DuWhite Addressing controversial issues such as HIV, state-sanctioned violence and structural anti-blackness, poet and performance artist Timothy DuWhite unnerves audiences with a hip-hop driven gonzo style. DuWhite’s raison d’être is to shock and enrage, and his provocative Neptune was, along with Donja R. Love’s one in two, one of the first plays by an openly black queer writer to address HIV openly and frankly.  He has worked with the United Nations/UNICEF, the Apollo Theater, Dixon Place and La MaMa. Works include: Neptune (2018) Follow Timothy: Instagram

Jirèh Breon Holder Raised in Memphis and educated at Morehouse College, Jirèh Breon Holder solidified his voice at the Yale School of Drama under the direction of Sarah Ruhl. He has received the Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award and the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award, among other honors. His play Too Heavy for Your Pocket premiered at Roundabout Underground and has since been produced in cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, Des Moines and Houston; his next play, ...What The End Will Be, is slated to debut at the Roundabout Theatre Company. Works include: Too Heavy for Your Pocket (2017), What The End Will Be (2020) Follow Jirèh: Twitter

C.A. Johnson Born in Louisiana, rising star C.A. Johnson writes with a southern hospitality and homespun charm that washes over audiences like a breath of fresh air. Making a debut at MCC Theater with her coming of age romcom All the Natalie Portmans, she drew praise for empathic take on a black queer teenage womanchild with Hollywood dreams. A core writer at the Playwrights Center, she has had fellowships with the Dramatists Guild Fellow, Page 73, the Lark and the Sundance Theatre Lab. Works include: All the Natalie Portmans (2020) Follow C.A.: Twitter

Johnny G. Lloyd A New York-based playwright and producer, Johnny G. Lloyd has seen his work produced and developed at the Tank, 59E59, the Corkscrew Festival, the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival and more. A member of the 2019-2020 Liberation Theatre Company’s Writing Residency, this Columbia University graduate is also a producing director of InVersion Theatre. Works include: The Problem With Magic, Is (2020), Or, An Astronaut Play (2019), Patience (2018) Follow Johnny: Instagram

Patricia Ione Lloyd In her luminous 2018 breakthrough Eve’s Song at the Public Theater, Patricia Ione Lloyd offered a meditation on the violence against black women in America that is often overlooked onstage. With a style saturated in both humor and melancholy and a poetic lyricism that evokes Ntozake Shange’s, the former Tow Playwright in Residence has earned fellowships at New Georges, the Dramatist Guild, Playwrights Realm, New York Theater Workshop and Sundance. Works include: Eve’s Song (2018) Follow Patricia: Instagram

Maia Matsushita The half-Black, half-Japanese educator and playwright Maia Matsushita has sounded a silent alarm in downtown theater with an array of slow-burn, naturalistic coming-of-age dramas. She was a member of The Fire This Time’s 2017-18 New Works Lab and part of its inaugural Writers Group, and her work has been seen at Classical Theatre of Harlem’s Playwright Playground and the National Black Theatre’s Keeping Soul Alive Reading Series. Works include: House of Sticks (2019), White Mountains (2018) Follow Maia: Instagram

Daaimah Mubashshir When Daaimah Mubashshir’s kitchen-sink dramedy Room Enough (For Us All) debuted at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre in 2019, the prolific writer began a dialogue around the contemporary African-American Muslim experience and black queer expression that made her a significant storyteller to watch. She is a core writer at the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis as well as a member of Soho Rep’s Writer/Director Lab, Clubbed Thumb’s Early Career Writers Group, and a MacDowell Colony Fellow. Her short-play collection The Immeasurable Want of Light was published in 2018. Works include: Room Enough (For Us All) (2019) Follow Daaimah: Twitter

Jonathan Norton Hailing from Dallas, Texas, Jonathan Norton is a delightfully zany playwright who subverts notions of post-blackness by underlining America’s obscure historical atrocities with bloody red slashes. The stories he tells carry a profound horror, often viewed through the eyes of black children and young adults. Norton’s work has been produced or developed by companies including the Actors Theatre of Louisville (at the 44th Humana Festival), PlayPenn and InterAct Theatre Company. He is the Playwright in Residence at Dallas Theater Center. Works include: Mississippi Goddamn (2015), My Tidy List of Terrors (2013), penny candy (2019) Follow Jonathan: Website

AriDy Nox Cooking up piping hot gumbos of speculative fiction, transhumanism and radical womanist expression, AriDy Nox is a rising star with a larger-than-life vision. The Spelman alum earned an MFA from NYU TIsch’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program and has been a staple of various theaters such as Town Stages. A member of the inaugural 2019 cohort of the Musical Theatre Factory Makers residency, they recently joined the Public Theater’s 2020-2022 Emerging Writers Group cohort. Works include: Metropolis (in progress), Project Tiresias (2018) Follow AriDy: Instagram

Akin Salawu Akin Salawu’s nonlinear, hyperkinetic work combines heart-pounding suspense chills with Tarantino-esque thrills while excavating Black trauma and Pan-African history in America. With over two decades of experience as a writer, director and editor, the prize-winning playwright is a two-time Tribeca All Access Winner and a member of both the Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group and Ars Nova’s Uncharted Musical Theater residency. A graduate of Stanford, he is a founder of the Tank’s LIT Council, a theater development center for male-identifying persons of color. Works include: bless your filthy lil’ heart (2019), The Real Whisperer (2017), I Stand Corrected (2008) Follow Akin: Twitter

Sheldon Shaw A playwright, screenwriter and actor, Sheldon Shaw studied writing at the Labyrinth Theater Company and was part of Playwrights Intensive at the Kennedy Center. Shaw has since developed into a sort of renaissance man, operating as playwright, screenwriter and actor. His plays have been developed by Emerging Artist Theaters New Works Festival, Classical Theater of Harlem and the Rooted Theater Company. Shaw's Glen was the winner of the Black Screenplays Matter competition and a finalist in the New York Screenplay Contest. Works include: Jailbait (2018), Clair (2017), Baby Starbucks (2015) Follow Johnny: Twitter

Nia O. Witherspoon Multidisciplinary artist Nia Ostrow Witherspoon’s metaphysical explorations of black liberation and desire have made her an in-demand presence in theater circles. The recipient of multiple honors—include New York Theatre Workshop’s 2050 Fellowship, a Wurlitzer Foundation residency and the Lambda Literary’s Emerging Playwriting Fellowship—she is currently developing The Dark Girl Chronicles, a play cycle that, in her words, “explores the criminalization of black cis and trans women via African diaspora sacred stories.” Works include: The Dark Girl Chronicles (in progress) ​Follow Nia: Instagram

Brandon Webster A Brooklyn-based musical theatre writer and dramaturg, Brandon Webster has been a familiar figure in the NYC theater scene, both onstage and behind the scenes. With an aesthetic that fuses Afrofuturist and Afrosurrealist storytelling, with a focus on Black liberation past and present, the composer’s work fuses psychedelic soul flourishes with alt-R&B nuances to create a sonic smorgasbord of seething rage and remorse. He is an alumnus of the 2013 class of BMI Musical Theater Workshop and a 2017 MCC Theater Artistic Fellow. Works include: Metropolis (in progress), Headlines (2017), Boogie Nights (2015) Follow Brandon: Instagram

[lboogie1906]

Georg Stanford Brown (born June 24, 1943) is an actor and director, known as one of the stars of The Rookies, he played the character of Officer Terry Webster.

He was seven when his family moved from Havana to Harlem. At 15, he formed the singing group ‘The Parthenons’, which had a single TV appearance shortly before breaking up. He quit high school at 16, after being invited to do so by a few frustrated teachers. He left New York to move to Los Angeles at 17. After a few years of not being sure what he wanted to do, he decided to go back to school. He passed the college entrance exam and was admitted to Los Angeles City College where he majored in Theater Arts. He ended up enjoying it and returned to New York to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. He worked as a school janitor to pay his tuition. He met his wife Tyne Daly while at AMDA. They were married for 24 years, from 1966 to 1990. They have three daughters.

He says he feels acting is just something he “fell into”. He appeared in Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival and next appeared in his first credited feature film, The Comedians with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. His work then took him to Africa for four and a half months, Paris, then Southern France. And a chance meeting with Alex Haley who was on his way to Africa to work on a story he was writing (which turned out to be Roots).

He had a variety of roles in films and TV, including The Comedians, Dayton’s Devils, and Bullitt. His films included Colossus: The Forbin Project, The Man, and Wild in the Sky, Roots, Roots: The Next Generation, Stir Crazy, The Jesse Owens Story, North & South, House Party 2, Linc’s, and Nick/Tuck.

He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for directing the final episode in season 5 of Cagney & Lacey. His directing career continued with the television film Alone in the Neon Jungle.

He co-starred in the comedy sequel House Party 2, and Linc’s. He directed several second-season episodes of the television series Hill Street Blues. He had a recurring role on Nip/Tuck. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[blackkudos]

Maxine Sullivan

Maxine Sullivan (May 13, 1911 – April 7, 1987), born Marietta Williams in Homestead, Pennsylvania, was an American jazz vocalist and performer.

As a vocalist, Maxine Sullivan was active for half a century, from the mid-1930s to just before her death in 1987. She is best known for her 1937 recording of a swing version of the Scottish folk song "Loch Lomond". Throughout her career, Sullivan also appeared as a performer on film as well as on stage. A precursor to better-known later vocalists such as Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, Maxine Sullivan is considered one of the best jazz vocalists of the 1930s. Singer Peggy Lee named Sullivan as a key influence in several interviews.

Career

Sullivan began her music career singing in her uncle's band, The Red Hot Peppers, in her native Pennsylvania, in which she occasionally played the flugelhorn and the valve trombone, in addition to singing. In the mid 1930s she was discovered by Gladys Mosier (then working in Ina Ray Hutton's big band). Mosier introduced her to Claude Thornhill, which led to her first recordings made in June 1937. Shortly thereafter, Sullivan became a featured vocalist at the Onyx Club in New York City. During this period, she began forming a professional and close personal relationship with bassist John Kirby, who became her second husband in 1938.

Early sessions with Kirby in 1937 yielded a hit recording of a swing version of the Scottish folk song "Loch Lomond" featuring Sullivan on vocals. This early success "branded" Sullivan's style, leading her to sing similar swing arrangements of traditional folk tunes mostly arranged by pianist Claude Thornhill, such as "If I Had a Ribbon Bow" and "I Dream of Jeanie". Her early popularity also led to a brief appearance in the movie Going Places with Louis Armstrong.

In 1940, Sullivan and Kirby were featured on the radio program Flow Gently Sweet Rhythm, making them the first black jazz stars to have their own weekly radio series. During the 1940s Sullivan then performed with a wide range of bands, including her husband's sextet and groups headed by Teddy Wilson, Benny Carter, and Jimmie Lunceford. Sullivan performed at many of New York's hottest jazz spots such as the Ruban Bleu, the Village Vanguard, the Blue Angel, and the Penthouse. In 1949, Sullivan appeared on the short-lived CBS Television series Uptown Jubilee, and in 1953 starred in the play, Take a Giant Step.

In 1956, Sullivan shifted from her earlier style and recorded the album A Tribute to Andy Razaf; originally on the Period record label, the album featured Sullivan's interpretations of a dozen tunes featuring Razaf's lyrics. The album also highlighted the music of Fats Waller, including versions of "Keepin' Out of Mischief Now", "How Can You Face Me?", "My Fate Is in Your Hands", "Honeysuckle Rose", "Ain't Misbehavin'", and "Blue Turning Grey Over You". Sullivan was joined by a sextet that was reminiscent of John Kirby's group of 15 years prior, including trumpeter Charlie Shavers and clarinetist Buster Bailey.

From 1958 Sullivan worked as a nurse before resuming her musical career in 1966, performing in jazz festivals alongside her fourth husband Cliff Jackson, who can be heard on the 1966 live recording of Sullivan's performance at the Manassas Jazz Festival. Sullivan continued to perform throughout the 1970s and made a string of recordings during the 1980s, despite being over 70 years old. She was nominated for the 1979 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical (won by Carlin Glynn) for her role in My Old Friends, and participated in the film biography Maxine Sullivan: Love to Be in Love, shortly before her death.

Personal life

Sullivan married four times; her second husband was the band leader John Kirby (married 1938, divorced 1941), while her fourth husband, whom she married in 1950, was the stride pianist Cliff Jackson, who died in 1970. She had two children, Orville Williams (b. 1928) and Paula Morris (b. 1945). [1][2]

Death

Maxine Sullivan died aged 75 in 1987 in New York City after suffering a seizure. She was posthumously inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1998.

Discography

Leonard Feather Presents Maxine Sullivan 1956 (Period, 1956)

Leonard Feather Presents Maxine Sullivan, Vol. II (Period, 1956)

Close as Pages in a Book with Bob Wilber (Monmouth Evergreen, 1969)

Live at the Overseas Press Club (Chiaroscuro, 1970)

Sullivan, Shakespeare & Hyman with Dick Hyman (Monmouth Evergreen, 1971)

We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye (Audiophile, 1978)

Maxine Sullivan with the Ike Isaacs Quartet (Audiophile, 1981)

The Queen Maxine Sullivan & Her Swedish Jazz All Stars (Kenneth records, 1981)

Maxine with Ted Easton (Audiophile, 1982)

Great Songs from the Cotton Club (Stash, 1984)

On Tour with the Allegheny Jazz Quartet (Jump, 1984)

Sings the Music of Burton Lane with Keith Ingham (Stash, 1985)

Uptown with Scott Hamilton (Concord Jazz, 1985)

Good Morning, Life! (Audiophile, 1985)

I Love to Be in Love (Tono, 1986)

Enjoy Yourself! (Audiophile, 1986)

Together with Keith Ingham (Atlantic, 1987)

Swingin' Sweet with Scott Hamilton (Concord Jazz, 1988)

Spring Isn't Everything with Loomis McGlohon (Audiophile, 1989)

At Vine St. Live (DRG, 1992)

The Music of Hoagy Carmichael (Audiophile, 1993)

1937–1938 (Classics, 1997)

Love...Always (Baldwin Street Music, 1997)

As guest

Bobby Hackett, Live from Manassas (Fat Cat's Jazz,)

World's Greatest Jazz Band of Yank Lawson and Bob Haggart, On Tour II (World Jazz, 1977)

Charlie Shavers, The Complete Charlie Shavers with Maxine Sullivan (Bethlehem, 1957)

Film and television credits

1938 - Going Places (Film)

1939 - St. Louis Blues (Film)

1942 - Some of These Days (Short)

1949 - Sugar Hill Times Episode 1.2 (TV series)

1958 - Jazz Party (DuMont TV Series)

1970 - The David Frost Show (TV series)

1986 - Brown Sugar (Documentary)

1994 - A Great Day in Harlem (Documentary)

Theater credits

1939 - Swingin' the Dream

1953 - Take a Giant Step

1954 - Flight From Fear (directed by Powell Lindsay, a play about the numbers racket)

1979 - My Old Friends

[brookston]

Holidays 1.7

Holidays

Charlie Hebdo Day (France)

Constitution Day (Ghana)

Distaff Day (Medieval Europe)

Festa del Tricolour (Tricolour Day; Italy)

Flash Gordon Day

Harlem Globetrotter’s Day

I'm Not Going To Take It Anymore Day

International Programmers' Day

International Silly Walk Day

Invisible Pain Day

Jupiter’s Moons Day

Nanakusa no Sekku (Festival of Seven Herbs; Japan)

National Alaskan Malamute Day

National Bobblehead Day

National Job Hunting Day

National Nicholas Cage Day

National Old Rock Day

National Pass Gas Day

National Plagiarism Day (Ghana)

National Run-For-Your-Life Day

Pioneer’s Day (Liberia)

Remembrance Day of the Dead (Armenia)

Rock Day (a..k.a. Roc Day)

Usokae (Bullfinch Exchange Day; Japan)

Victory from Genocide Day (Cambodia)

World Day of the Postage Stamp

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Tempura Day

1st Saturday in January

Great Fruitcake Toss (Manitou Springs, Colorado) [1st Saturday]

National Bacon Day [1st Saturday]

National Rib Day [1st Saturday]

National Play Outside Day [1st Saturday of Every Month]

Independence Days

Bascal (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]

Empire of Agber (Declared; 1998) [unrecognized]

Kingdom of Matthew City (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

André Bessette (Canada)

Canute Lavard (Christian; Saint)

Charles of Sezze (Christian; Saint)

Feast of Sekhmet (Ancient Egypt)

Felix and Januarius (Christian; Saint)

Koshogatsu (Shinto Goddess Izanami)

Lucian of Antioch (Christian; Saint)

Nativity of Christ (Christian; Saint)

No Knitting Day (Pastafarian)

Numa (Positivist; Saint)

Orthodox Christmas (a.k.a. ...

Bozic (Serbia)

Christmas (Russia, Eastern Europe)

Christmas Remembrance Holiday (Armenia)

Coptic Christmas (Egypt)

Craciunul Pe Stil Vechi (Moldova)

Eastern Christmas (Sudan)

Genna (Ethiopia)

Krishtlindjet Ortodoske (Kosovo)

Leddet (Eritrea)

Raymond of Penyafort (Christian; Saint)

Rudder Rabbit (Muppetism)

Russ Meyer Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Say No To Knickers Day (Pastafarian)

Sekhmet (Ancient Egyptian New Year's)

Synaxis of John the Forerunner & Baptist (Julian Calendar)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fatal Day (Pagan) [2 of 24]

Perilous Day (13th Century England) [5 of 32]

Prime Number Day: 7 [4 of 72]

Sakimake (先負 Japan) [Bad luck in the morning, good luck in the afternoon.]

Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 1 of 60)

Premieres

Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2), by Pink Floyd (Song; 1980)

The Avengers (BBC TV Series; 1961)

Bad Day at Black Rock (Film; 1955)

The Birthday Party (Disney Cartoon; 1931)

Building a Building (Disney Cartoon; 1933)

Changes, by David Bowie (Song; 1972)

Crossroads of Twilight, by Robert Jordan (Novel; 2003) [Wheel of Time #10]

Empire (TV Series; 2015)

Fame (Film; 1982)

Fred Ott’s Sneeze (Early Short Film; 1894)

Henry V, by William Shakespeare (Play; 1605)

Hooch Coochie Man, recorded by Muddy Waters (Song; 1954)

Paranoid, by Black Sabbath (Album; 1971)

The Pelican and the Snipe (Disney Cartoon; 1944)

Pop Team Epic (a.k.a. Poptepipic, Anime TV Series; 2018)

Pretenders, by The Pretenders (Album; 1980)

The Spirit of ’43 (Disney Cartoon; 1943)

Start Mater, by Gioacchino Rossini (Opera; 1842)

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (TV Series; 2020)

Today’s Name Days

Raimund, Valentin (Austria)

Ioan, Ioana, Ivan, Ivanka, Ivayla, Ivaylo, Ivet, Kaloyan, Vanya, Vanyo, Yoan, Yoana, Zhan, Zhana (Bulgaria)

Lucijan, Rajmund, Zorislav (Croatia)

Vilma (Czech Republic)

Knud (Denmark)

Hirvo, Kanut, Nuut, Susi (Estonia)

Aku, August, Aukusti (Finland)

Aldric, Cédric, Raymond (France)

Reinhold, Valentin (Germany)

Gianna, Giannis, Ioanna, Ioannis, Jeannette, John, Prodromos, Yanna, Yannis (Greece)

Attila, Ramóna (Hungary)

Luciano, Raimondo (Italy)

Juliāns, Rota, Zigmārs (Latvia)

Julius, Liucijus, Raudvilė, Rūtenis (Lithuania)

Eldbjørg, Knut (Norway)

Chociesław, Izydor, Julian, Lucjan, Walenty (Poland)

Ioan (Romania)

Bohuslava (Slovakia)

Raimundo (Spain)

August, Augusta (Sweden)

Alda, Aldea, Alden, Aldo, Aldric, Canute, Knut, Knute, Millard, Miller (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 7 of 2023; 358 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 6 of week 52 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Beth (Birch) [Day 14 of 28]

Chinese: Month 12 (Dōngyuè), Day 16 (Yi-Chou)

Chinese Year of the: Tiger (until January 22, 2023)

Hebrew: 14 Teveth 5783

Islamic: 14 Jumada II 1444

J Cal: 7 Aer; Sunday [7 of 30]

Julian: 25 December 2022

Moon: 99%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 7 Moses (1st Month) [Numa]

Runic Half Month: Eihwaz (Yew) [Day 14 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 18 of 90)

Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 17 of 30)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 1.7

Holidays

Charlie Hebdo Day (France)

Constitution Day (Ghana)

Distaff Day (Medieval Europe)

Festa del Tricolour (Tricolour Day; Italy)

Flash Gordon Day

Harlem Globetrotter’s Day

I'm Not Going To Take It Anymore Day

International Programmers' Day

International Silly Walk Day

Invisible Pain Day

Jupiter’s Moons Day

Nanakusa no Sekku (Festival of Seven Herbs; Japan)

National Alaskan Malamute Day

National Bobblehead Day

National Job Hunting Day

National Nicholas Cage Day

National Old Rock Day

National Pass Gas Day

National Plagiarism Day (Ghana)

National Run-For-Your-Life Day

Pioneer’s Day (Liberia)

Remembrance Day of the Dead (Armenia)

Rock Day (a..k.a. Roc Day)

Usokae (Bullfinch Exchange Day; Japan)

Victory from Genocide Day (Cambodia)

World Day of the Postage Stamp

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Tempura Day

1st Saturday in January

Great Fruitcake Toss (Manitou Springs, Colorado) [1st Saturday]

National Bacon Day [1st Saturday]

National Rib Day [1st Saturday]

National Play Outside Day [1st Saturday of Every Month]

Independence Days

Bascal (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]

Empire of Agber (Declared; 1998) [unrecognized]

Kingdom of Matthew City (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

André Bessette (Canada)

Canute Lavard (Christian; Saint)

Charles of Sezze (Christian; Saint)

Feast of Sekhmet (Ancient Egypt)

Felix and Januarius (Christian; Saint)

Koshogatsu (Shinto Goddess Izanami)

Lucian of Antioch (Christian; Saint)

Nativity of Christ (Christian; Saint)

No Knitting Day (Pastafarian)

Numa (Positivist; Saint)

Orthodox Christmas (a.k.a. ...

Bozic (Serbia)

Christmas (Russia, Eastern Europe)

Christmas Remembrance Holiday (Armenia)

Coptic Christmas (Egypt)

Craciunul Pe Stil Vechi (Moldova)

Eastern Christmas (Sudan)

Genna (Ethiopia)

Krishtlindjet Ortodoske (Kosovo)

Leddet (Eritrea)

Raymond of Penyafort (Christian; Saint)

Rudder Rabbit (Muppetism)

Russ Meyer Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Say No To Knickers Day (Pastafarian)

Sekhmet (Ancient Egyptian New Year's)

Synaxis of John the Forerunner & Baptist (Julian Calendar)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fatal Day (Pagan) [2 of 24]

Perilous Day (13th Century England) [5 of 32]

Prime Number Day: 7 [4 of 72]

Sakimake (先負 Japan) [Bad luck in the morning, good luck in the afternoon.]

Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 1 of 60)

Premieres

Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2), by Pink Floyd (Song; 1980)

The Avengers (BBC TV Series; 1961)

Bad Day at Black Rock (Film; 1955)

The Birthday Party (Disney Cartoon; 1931)

Building a Building (Disney Cartoon; 1933)

Changes, by David Bowie (Song; 1972)

Crossroads of Twilight, by Robert Jordan (Novel; 2003) [Wheel of Time #10]

Empire (TV Series; 2015)

Fame (Film; 1982)

Fred Ott’s Sneeze (Early Short Film; 1894)

Henry V, by William Shakespeare (Play; 1605)

Hooch Coochie Man, recorded by Muddy Waters (Song; 1954)

Paranoid, by Black Sabbath (Album; 1971)

The Pelican and the Snipe (Disney Cartoon; 1944)

Pop Team Epic (a.k.a. Poptepipic, Anime TV Series; 2018)

Pretenders, by The Pretenders (Album; 1980)

The Spirit of ’43 (Disney Cartoon; 1943)

Start Mater, by Gioacchino Rossini (Opera; 1842)

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (TV Series; 2020)

Today’s Name Days

Raimund, Valentin (Austria)

Ioan, Ioana, Ivan, Ivanka, Ivayla, Ivaylo, Ivet, Kaloyan, Vanya, Vanyo, Yoan, Yoana, Zhan, Zhana (Bulgaria)

Lucijan, Rajmund, Zorislav (Croatia)

Vilma (Czech Republic)

Knud (Denmark)

Hirvo, Kanut, Nuut, Susi (Estonia)

Aku, August, Aukusti (Finland)

Aldric, Cédric, Raymond (France)

Reinhold, Valentin (Germany)

Gianna, Giannis, Ioanna, Ioannis, Jeannette, John, Prodromos, Yanna, Yannis (Greece)

Attila, Ramóna (Hungary)

Luciano, Raimondo (Italy)

Juliāns, Rota, Zigmārs (Latvia)

Julius, Liucijus, Raudvilė, Rūtenis (Lithuania)

Eldbjørg, Knut (Norway)

Chociesław, Izydor, Julian, Lucjan, Walenty (Poland)

Ioan (Romania)

Bohuslava (Slovakia)

Raimundo (Spain)

August, Augusta (Sweden)

Alda, Aldea, Alden, Aldo, Aldric, Canute, Knut, Knute, Millard, Miller (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 7 of 2023; 358 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 6 of week 52 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Beth (Birch) [Day 14 of 28]

Chinese: Month 12 (Dōngyuè), Day 16 (Yi-Chou)

Chinese Year of the: Tiger (until January 22, 2023)

Hebrew: 14 Teveth 5783

Islamic: 14 Jumada II 1444

J Cal: 7 Aer; Sunday [7 of 30]

Julian: 25 December 2022

Moon: 99%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 7 Moses (1st Month) [Numa]

Runic Half Month: Eihwaz (Yew) [Day 14 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 18 of 90)

Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 17 of 30)

[dulwichdiverter]

Culture and community at this year’s Dulwich Festival

The Dulwich Festival is back this May, promising a celebration of art, music, theatre, literature and history for all.

In these uncertain times, this year’s theme is “belonging” and as ever, the community event has plenty to appeal to people of all ages and tastes.

The festival will celebrate the local artistic community with the perennially popular Artists’ Open House event, which sees hundreds of artists open their doors to the public. 

Music lovers will enjoy this year’s programme, which features a wide range of sounds and styles. The ever-popular festival ceilidh and the Dulwich Festival choir night will both return.

The Harlem Meer Cats are also back by popular demand. The group will recreate the music heard at the Cotton Club in the 1920s and 30s, playing the hits of Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway among others.

Renowned blues singer-songwriter Adam Norsworthy will also return this year after two sold-out shows. He will perform with London Symphony Orchestra violinist Tom Norris and with his blues band The Mustangs.

Dulwich’s beautiful Christ’s Chapel will be hosting a chapel organ open afternoon and acclaimed ensemble Onyx Brass will play at the 400-year-old venue.

One of our top picks from this year’s programme is a performance by the brilliant Caleb Femi, former young people’s laureate for London. Caleb draws upon childhood memories of Nigeria and Peckham in his powerful poetry.

He will be joined by another Peckham voice, writer and poet Yomi Sode, who explores Nigerian and British culture through work that can be humorous, loving, self-reflective and uncomfortable.

Eighty years ago 10,000 children arrived in Britain as unaccompanied refugees on the Kindertransport from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia to escape the Nazis. A screening and panel discussion with two former kinder will explore how they adapted to life in Britain.

At Bell House, catch a discussion with Jocelyn Catty and Trevor Moore, editors of Words in Pain, with readings from their embellished centenary edition of the collected letters of writer, thinker and rationalist Olga Jacoby.

For youngsters the children’s art competition will return, and the Kingsdale Foundation School will play host to a youth concert, where local schools and music groups will showcase their talented young musicians.

Award-winning children’s theatre will be on offer at St Barnabas Parish Hall with the fantastical tale of Tommy Foggo – Superhero, a magical multimedia story of a life saved by music, composed by award-winning Stephen Deazley and cellist, baritone and actor Matthew Sharp.

The Dulwich Festival Fair on Goose Green will provide further fun for all the family with a range of stalls and activities, including the colourful community chain of pom-poms and donkey rides. The Love West Dulwich and Dulwich Park fairs will take place on the final weekend of the festival, with a host of entertainments for children and grandparents alike.

Another family-friendly outing will see the London Wildlife Trust lead a spring orchard tree-care event and picnic. The orchard is being developed by the Dulwich Estate to mark 400 years since Edward Alleyn founded a school, chapel and almshouse in Dulwich. The day promises nature-themed activities for all.

Meanwhile to mark the 400th anniversary of Burbage Road’s namesake, Richard Burbage, artist Lionel Stanhope will be creating a mural to celebrate the actor, who famously founded the Globe theatre.

The HandleBards will perform an original take on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, while Tim Crouch will present his one-man show I, Malvolio, which reimagines Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night from the point of view of its abused steward. It’s a charged, amusing and sometimes unsettling show, which sees Malvolio ask the audience to confront some uncomfortable truths.

The popular walks programme will feature a street-art walk that will take visitors on a tour of the Dulwich Outdoor Gallery. Ian McInnes will lead a walk giving an insight into Dulwich’s Georgian heritage, Lette Jones will give a tree walk and Brian Green will lead a walk on local history.

The Dulwich Festival runs from May 10-19. For full listings and to book tickets for events, please visit dulwichfestival.co.uk

[logobosskingdom]

Monster walter dean myers study guide

Film review from The Hollywood Reporter.

Watch Mandler and Harrison discuss the movie here!.

The indie film, directed by Anthony Mandler, stars Kelvin Harrison Jr., Jennifer Ehle, Jennifer Hudson, and Jeffrey Wright.

Monster, a movie adaptation of the novel, premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.

Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare.

Guilt - The novel examines the difference between innocent and "not guilty" as demonstrated by the characters present in the trial. Justice - Through illustrating the damaging emotional effects of imprisonment and being on trial, Myers makes an argument about the injustice that overwhelms the justice system. Lies and Betrayal - Steve makes the critical mistake of trusting the wrong people key characters in the trial lie for self-preservation or to protect others.

Engage with the text in creative ways, such as dramatic performance and analysis of illustrations.

Evaluate how Steve's time in jail affects him emotionally and develops him as a character.

Examine the author's choice of using two main formats-journal entries and a screenplay.

Trace themes regarding discrimination in the criminal justice system, deception, and the effects of peer pressure.

Discuss to what extent Steve is guilty and in what way.

Draw the distinction between legal and moral guilt as it relates to the characters.

Extracting the truth from Steve's unreliable narration.

Keeping track of all the key characters in the trial.

The interesting format of journal entries and screenplay excerpts.

What Your Students Will Love about Monster Despite being found innocent in the end, he is plagued by the trial's aftermath.Ĭontent Warning: Although middle-grade readers are the intended audience for Monster, the novel contains references to violence, drug use, and sex, so the maturity of your class should be considered. Forced to confront the consequences of his choices, Steve grapples with guilt and self-perception as he endures brutality in jail and institutional racism in court. Harmon describes his emotionally challenging experiences in prison through a series of journal entries and the events of the trial in a screenplay format. Part epistle, part screenplay, Monster tells the story of 16-year-old Steve Harmon, a teenager from Harlem on trial as an accomplice to murder. Printz Award for Excellence in Literature for Young Adults

Awards: 1999 National Book Award Finalist, 2000 ALA Best Books for Young Adults, New York Times Notable Book of the Year, 2000 Michael L.

And if the retail value of your order is at least $2,500, you'll save 35% on all your paperbacks. If the retail value of your order is at least $500, you'll save 30%. You'll always save at least 25% on any paperback you order. Facilitate classroom discussion about the degree to which Myers succeeds in creating an empathetic character, and how Steve's introspection and experiences both limit and expand the story.Ĭourt is in session: Learn everything you need to know about Monster below!

Authors often uses these tactics to emphasize a character's humanity, with struggles and flaws. Students who enjoy the visual arts will appreciate applying themes from the novel to analysis of these illustrations.īeyond making the novel structurally interesting, Myers makes unique narrative choices, employing literary devices such as flashback, stream of consciousness, and unreliable perspective. Additionally, the author incorporates thought-provoking artwork by his son, Christopher Myers.

To further engage your class, consider having students perform parts of the screenplay or write journal entries from the perspective of another key character. Instead of using the traditional chapter-to-chapter format, Myers structured Monster as a work of confessional literature, shifting between Steve's emotional journal entries and a screenplay Steve wrote about the trial. Moreover, how does each type of guilt affect the characters differently? Which kind has a more lasting impression? Additionally, the role Steve's race plays in how he is perceived by the jury can lead to an in-depth discussion about prejudice and discrimination. As they read, students should note which characters are guilty and in what manner. Myers subtly draws a distinction between legal guilt and moral guilt through the actions and emotional state of each character involved in the trial. The core themes of this novel address justice, institutional racism, deception, guilt, and the effects of peer pressure. A teenager named Steve Harmon finds himself on trial, facing the death penalty, for being the "lookout" during what turned out to be a lethal burglary. Sometimes, a small choice has monstrous consequences, and there's no better example of this predicament than the story told in Walter Dean Myers's award-winning novel Monster.

[everydayinferno]

Quicksand Interview: Sam Ogilvie, playing “Al Jolson/Ensemble”

IRT Presents Everyday Inferno Theatre Company’s QUICKSAND By Regina Robbins

IRT Theater

154 Christopher St, NYC December 1st-15th, 2018 Tickets: $5-35

“They say that if one stands on the corner of 135th street and 7th avenue long enough, one will eventually see all the people one has ever known. It’s pretty true, I guess. Everyone comes to Harlem sooner or later.”

In Regina Robbins' Quicksand, heightened theatricality, live music, and dance combine to immerse the audience in the 1920s: an era of incredible progress and unimaginable inequality. As we follow the journey of Helga Crane, a biracial woman, from the deep south, through Chicago, New York, Denmark, and back, historical figures of the period appear unexpectedly; Broadway star Al Jolson sings “April Showers” on a New York City street, W.E.B. Du Bois lectures in a lady’s bedroom, and Paul Robeson performs a scene from The Emperor Jones. Infused with the flavor of the roaring 20s, this lively production will pull you back to a past eerily similar to our present.

What about the play resonates with you most/are you most excited to share and why?

I know I'm not allowed to say EVERYTHING. So I'll make an actual decision... The large group sections. A lot of the creation of these different places are done by the ensemble and its movement. The limited set means that we have more variety and also create the scenes through our interactions with the world and each other.

What's your favorite line from the show and why?

HELGA - I'm no apologist for the white race, but I wonder, if they're so thoroughly reprehensible, why we accept their dirty money for our schools and foundations.

ANNE - It's the money they've made through the oppression of our people. They owe us that, and more.

I love this interaction because it displays the complicated discussions about race that members of the black community were having (and still are), in terms of working with or against white people when fighting oppression. Helga's position here is more uncertain because of her mixed-race heritage, and though she identifies more with her black friends, she feels a lack of belonging as they decide to attack white people in general. She feels like they attack her as well.

What's the biggest challenge this piece has posed to you?

Not losing character choices in the shuffle. Our show is incredibly fast-paced and moves from location to location very quickly. The biggest challenge as part of this ensemble is making big and unique choices for even the smallest characters. Otherwise, we could lose the audience as they attempt to identify where we are on the map. This also means learning about five different accents (including a foreign language).

SAM OGILVIE (Al Jolson/Ensemble) is an NYC-based actor and a Core Member of Everyday Inferno. Select theater: Reigning Women (Spicy Witch), The Fall (FringeNYC), Roaring Girl (Everyday Inferno), A Map to Somewhere Else (Everyday Inferno), Signal Season of Dummy Hoy (NYDT); Workshops: Rape of Lucrece (Shakespeare Exchange), Maybe a Mexican? (Toccara Castleman); TV: Hamilton: Building America (History Channel); Web: Adventures of Hot Head, Adventure Capital. Adventure Capital will be appearing throughout festival circuits around the country. Beyond acting, Sam also moonlights as a professional zombie, appearing in plays, music videos, and commercial events in his brain-eating form. In the writing realm, his first full-length play, The Music Box, is currently in development with Everyday Inferno. BFA: NYU-Tisch. Website - www.sam-ogilvie.com.