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blackkudos · 5 years ago

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Carl Hancock Rux

Carl Hancock Rux (born March 24, 1975) is an American poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, actor, director, singer/ songwriter. He is the author of several books including the Village Voice Literary Prize-winning "Pagan Operetta," the novel, Asphalt, and the Obie Award-winning play, Talk. Rux is also a singer/songwriter with four CDs to his credit, as well as a frequent collaborator in the fields of dance, theater, film, and contemporary art . Notable collaborators include Nona Hendryx, Toshi Reagon, Bill T. Jones, Ronald K. Brown, Nick Cave, Anne Bogart, Robert Wilson, Kenny Leon, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Jonathan Demme, Stanley Nelson Jr., Carrie Mae Weems, Glenn Ligon and others. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Doris Duke Award for New Works, the Doris Duke Charitable Fund, the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Prize, the Bessie Award and the Alpert Award in the Arts, and a 2019 Global Change Maker award by WeMakeChange.Org. . His archives are housed at the Billy Rose Theater Division of the New York Public Library, the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution as well as the Film and Video/Theater and Dance Library of the California Institute of the Arts.

Early life

Rux was born Carl Stephen Hancock in Harlem, New York. His biological mother, Carol Jean Hancock, suffered from chronic mental illness, was diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, and was institutionalized shortly after the birth of his older brother. Rux was born the result of an illegitimate pregnancy (while his mother was under the care of a New York City psychiatric institution) and the identity of Rux's biological father is unknown. Rux was placed under the guardianship of his maternal grandmother, Geneva Hancock (née Rux), until her death of cirrhosis of the liver due to alcoholism. At four years of age he entered the New York City foster care system where he remained until he was eventually placed under the legal guardianship of his great uncle (grandmother's brother) James Henry Rux and his wife Arsula (née Cottrell) and raised on a step street in the Highbridge section of the Bronx, later used as the filming location for the stairway dance scene in the 2019 film Joker.

Rux attended PS 73, Roberto Clemente Junior High School and received a scholarship to the Horace Mann School, an independent Ivy college preparatory school in the Riverdale section of the Bronx before transferring to the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts where he studied visual art. Exposed to jazz music by his legal guardians, including the work of Oscar Brown Jr., John Coltrane, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln, Rux eventually double-majored in music/voice, and sang with the Boys Choir of Harlem. He also became a member of the Harlem Writers Workshop, a summer journalism training program for inner-city youth founded by African-American journalists, sponsored by Columbia University and The Xerox Corporation. At the age of 15, Rux was legally adopted by his guardians and his surname changed to Rux. Upon graduation from high school he entered Columbia College where he studied in the Creative Writing Program; took private acting classes at both HB studios; and trained with Gertrude Jeanette's Hadley Players as well as actor Robert Earl Jones (father of actor James Earl Jones). Rux continued his studies at Columbia University, American University of Paris, as well as the University of Ghana at Legon.

Career

Working as a Social Work Trainer while moonlighting as a freelance art and music critic, Rux became a founding member of Hezekiah Walker's Love Fellowship gospel choir and later found himself influenced by the Lower East Side poetry and experimental theater scene, collaborating with poets Miguel Algarin, Bob Holman, Jayne Cortez, Sekou Sundiata, Ntozake Shange; experimental musicians David Murray, Mal Waldron, Butch Morris, Craig Harris, Jeanne Lee, Leroy Jenkins as well as experimental theater artists Laurie Carlos, Robbie McCauley, Ruth Maleczech, Lee Breuer, Reza Abdoh and others.

He is one of several poets (including Paul Beatty, Tracie Morris, Dael Orlandersmith, Willie Perdomo, Kevin Powell, Maggie Estep, Reg E. Gaines, Edwin Torres and Saul Williams) to emerge from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, most of whom were included in the poetry anthology Aloud, Voices From the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, winner of the 1994 American Book Award. His first book of poetry, Pagan Operetta, received the Village Voice Literary prize and was featured on the weekly's cover story: "Eight Writers on the Verge of (Impacting) the Literary Landscape". Rux is the author of the novel Asphalt and the author of several plays. His first play, Song of Sad Young Men (written in response to his older brother's death from AIDS), was directed by Trazana Beverly and starred actor Isaiah Washington. The play received eleven AUDELCO nominations. His most notable play is the OBIE Award-winning Talk, first produced at the Joseph Papp Public Theater in 2002. Directed by Marion McClinton and starring actor Anthony Mackie, the play won seven OBIE awards.

Rux is also a recording artist, first featured on Reg E. Gaines CD Sweeper Don't Clean My Streets (Polygram). As a musician, his work is known to encompass an eclectic mixture of blues, rock, vintage R&B, classical music, futuristic pop, soul, poetry, folk, psychedelic music and jazz. His debut CD, Cornbread, Cognac & Collard Green Revolution (unreleased) was produced by Nona Hendryx and Mark Batson, featuring musicians Craig Harris, Ronnie Drayton and Lonnie Plaxico. His CD Rux Revue was recorded and produced in Los Angeles by the Dust Brothers, Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf. Rux recorded a follow up album, Apothecary Rx, (selected by French writer Phillippe Robert for his 2008 publication "Great Black Music": an exhaustive tribute of 110 albums including 1954's "Lady Sings The Blues" by Billie Holiday, the work of Jazz artists Oliver Nelson, Max Roach, John Coltrane, rhythm and blues artists Otis Redding, Ike & Tina Turner, Curtis Mayfield, George Clinton; as well as individual impressions of Fela Kuti, Jimi Hendrix, and Mos Def.) His fourth studio CD, Good Bread Alley, was released by Thirsty Ear Records, and his fifth "Homeostasis" (CD Baby) was released in May 2013. Rux has written and performed (or contributed music) to a proportionate number of dance companies including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company; Jane Comfort & Co. and Ronald K. Brown's "Evidence" among others.

Literature

Books by author

Elmina Blues (poetry)

Pagan Operetta (poetry/Short Fiction/SemioText)

Asphalt (novel/Simon & Schuster)

Talk (drama/TCG Press)

Literary fiction

Asphalt (novel) (Atria, Simon & Schuster)

The Exalted (novel) forthcoming

Selected plays

Song of Sad Young Men

Talk

Geneva Cottrell, Waiting for the Dog to Die

Smoke, Lilies and Jade

Song of Sad Young Men

Chapter & Verse

Pipe

Pork Dream in the American House of Image

Not the Flesh of Others

Singing In the Womb of Angels

Better Dayz Jones (Harlem Stage)

"Stranger On Earth" (Harlem Stage)

The (No) Black Male Show

Mycenaean

Asphalt (directed by Talvin Wilkes)

Etudes for the Sleep of Other Sleepers (directed by Laurie Carlos)

Steel Hammer (co-written by Will Power, Kia Cothran and Regina Taylor for the SITI company, directed by Anne Bogart).

The Exalted (directed by Anne Bogart)

NPR Presents WATER ± (co-written by Arthur Yorinks, directed by Kenny Leon)

Selected essays

"Eminem: The New White Negro

"Dream Work and the Mimesis of Carrie Mae Weems"

"Belief and the Invisible Playwright"

"In Memoriam: Ruby Dee (1922–2014)"

"Up From The Mississippi Delta"

"Democratic Vistas of Space and Light"

"A Rage In Harlem"

Selected anthologies

Experiments in a Jazz Aesthetic: Art, Activism, Academia, and the Austin Project University of Texas Press

Soul: Black Power, Politics, and Pleasure NYU Press

Heights of the Marvelous NYU Press

Juncture: 25 Very Good Stories and 12 Excellent Drawings Soft Skull Press

Da Capo Best Music Writing 2004: The Year's Finest Writing on Rock, Hip-hop, Jazz, Pop, Country, and More, DeCapo Press

Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam, Counterpoint Press

Humana Festival 2014: The Complete Plays, Playscripts, Incorporated

Action: The Nuyorican Poets Cafe Theatre, Simon & Schuster

Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, Three Rivers Press

The African American Male, Writing, and Difference: A Polycentric Approach to African American Literature, Criticism, and History, State University of New York Press

Meditations and Ascensions: Black Writers on Writing, Third World Press

Plays from the Boom Box Galaxy: Theater from the Hip-hop Generation, Theatre Communications Group

Bad Behavior, Random House

Verse: An Introduction to Prosody, John Wiley & Sons Press

Significations of Blackness: American Cinema and the Idea of a Black Film, UMI Press

So Much Things to Say: 100 Poets from the First Ten Years of the Calabash International Literary Festival, Akashic Books

Black Men In Their Own Words, Crown Publishers

Bulletproof Diva, Knopf Doubleday

Race Manners: Navigating the Minefield Between Black and White Americans, Skyhorse Publishing

In Their Company: Portraits of American Playwrights, Umbrage Press

Listen Again: a Momentary History of Pop Music, Duke University Press

Journalism

Rux has been published as a contributing writer in numerous journals, catalogs, anthologies, and magazines including Interview magazine, Essence magazine, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, aRude Magazine, Nka Journal of Contemporary African Art (founded by fellow art critics Okwui Enwezor, Chika Okeke-Agulu and Salah Hassan) and American Theater Magazine.

Libretti

Makandal (music by Yosvaney Terry, stage design and costumes by Edouard Duval Carrie, directed by Lars Jan) Harlem Stage

Blackamoor Angel (music by Deidre Murray; directed by Karin Coonrod) Bard Spiegeltent/Joseph Papp Public Theater

Kingmaker (music by Toshi Reagon) BRIC Arts Media

Perfect Beauty" (music by Tamar Muskal)

Music

Solo albums

Cornbread, Cognac, Collard Green Revolution

Rux Revue Sony/550 Music

Apothecary Rx Giant Step

Good Bread Alley Thirsty Ear

Homeostasis CD Baby

Singles

"Miguel" (Sony) 1999

"Wasted Seed" (Sony) 1999

"Fall Down" (Sony) 1999

"No Black Male Show" (Sony) 1999

"Good Bread Alley" (Thirsty Ear) 2006

"Thadius Star" (Thirsty Ear) 2006

"Living Room" (Thirsty Ear) 2006

"Disrupted Dreams" (Giant Step) 2010

"Eleven More Days" (Giant Step) 2010

"I Got A Name" (Giant Step) 2010

"Living Room" (Kevin Shields Remix) (Mercury) 2013

12-inch singles

"Lamentations (You, Son)" Giant Step Records

Carl Hancock Rux Live at Joe's Pub (forthcoming)

Collaborations

Sweeper Don't Clean My Streets Reg E. Gaines Polygram

Eargasms Vol. 1

70 Years Coming R. L. Burnside Bongload/Acid Blues Records

Our Souls Have Grown Deep Like the Rivers: Black Poets Read Their Works, Rhino

Bow Down to the Exit Sign David Holmes Go! Beat

Love Each Other Yukihiro Fukutomi Sony/ Japan

Optometry DJ Spooky Thirsty Ear Recordings

The Temptation of Saint Anthony (Studio Cast Recording)

Inradio 5 Morningwatch 2004

Thirsty Ear Presents: Blue Series Sampler (Thirsty Ear)

Poetry on Record: 98 Poets Read Their Work, 1888-2006 Box Set Shout! Factory (2006)

More Than Posthuman-Rise of the Mojosexual Cotillion Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber, TruGROID

The Dogs Are Parading David Holmes Universal

Life Forum Gerald Clayton Concord Jazz

Tributary Tales Gerald Clayton

Tomorrow Comes The Harvest Jeff Mills Tony Allen Decca Records

Humanist Rob Marshall Ignition Records

Songwriter

Mckay Stephanie McKay Universal Music

Contemporary Dance (text & music)

Movin' Spirits Dance Co.

Kick The Boot, Raise the Dust An' Fly; A Recipe for Buckin (chor: Marlies Yearby, co-authors: Sekou Sundiata, Laurie Carlos, music: Craig Harris ) Performance Space 122, Maison des arts de Créteil (France)

Totin' Business & Carryin' Bones (chor. Marlies Yearby), Performance Space 122, Maison des arts de Créteil (France)

The Beautiful (chor: Marlies Yearby, co-author:Laurie Carlos), Judson Church, Tribeca Performing Arts Center

Of Urban Intimacies (chor: Marlies Yearby), Lincoln Center Serious Fun!, Central Park Summerstage, National Tour

That Was Like This/ This Was Like That(chor: Marlies Yearby, music: Grisha Coleman), Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Central Park Summerstage, National Tour

Anita Gonzalez

Yanga, (chor: Anita Gonzalez, music: Cooper-Moore, composer), Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Montclair State College

Jane Comfort & Co.

Asphalt (dir/chor: Jane Comfort; vocal score: Toshi Reagon, music: DJ Spooky, David Pleasant, Foosh, dramaturgy: Morgan Jenness, costumes: Liz Prince, lighting design: David Ferri ), Joyce Theater, National Tour

Urban Bush Women

Soul Deep (chor: Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, composer: David Murray), Walker Arts Center, National Tour

Shelter (chor: Jawole Willo Jo Zollar, music: Junior Gabbu Wedderburn) International Tour

Hair Stories (chor: Jawole Willa jo Zollar) BAM Theater/Esplanade Theater (Singapore) Hong Kong Arts Festival

Jubilation! Dance Co.

Sweet In The Morning (chor: Kevin Iega Jeff)

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Shelter (chor: Jawole Willo Jo Zollar, music: Junior Gabbu Wedderburn) City Center, International Tour

Uptown (chor: Matthew Rushing) Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Four Corners (chor: Ronald K. Brown) Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 2014

Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble (Ailey II)

Seeds (chor: Kevin Iega Jeff) Aaron Davis Hall, Apollo Theater, National Tour

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Theater

The Artificial Nigger (chor: Bill T. Jones) Arnie Zane Bill T. Jones Dance Co; music: Daniel Bernard Roumain National Tour

Roberta Garrison Co.

Certo! (chor: Roberta Garrison, music: Mathew Garrison) Scuola di Danza Mimma Testa in Trastevere (Rome, Italy) Teatro de natal infantil Raffaelly Beligni (Naples, Italy)

M'Zawa Dance Co.

Seeking Pyramidic Balance/Flipmode (chor: Maia Claire Garrison) 651 Arts

Robert Moses Kin

Helen (chor: Robert Moses) Yerba Buena Performing Arts Center

Nevabawarldapece (chor: Robert Moses) Yerba Buena Performing Arts Center

Topaz Arts Dance

Dreamfield (chor: Paz Tanjuaquio) Hudson River Park NY

Actor

Theater

Rux studied acting at the Hagen Institute (under Uta Hagen); the Luleå National Theatre School (Luleå, Sweden) and at the National Theater of Ghana (Accra). Rux has appeared in several theater projects, most notably originating the title role in the folk opera production of The Temptation of St. Anthony, based on the Gustave Flaubert novel, directed by Robert Wilson with book, libretto and music by Bernice Johnson Reagon and costumes by Geoffrey Holder. The production debuted as part of the Ruhr Triennale festival in Duisburg Germany with subsequent performances at the Greek Theater in Siracusa, Italy; the Festival di Peralada in Peralada, Spain; the Palacio de Festivales de Cantabria in Santander, Spain; Sadler's Wells in London, Great Britain; the Teatro Piccinni in Bari, Italy; the Het Muziektheater in Amsterdam, Netherlands; the Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao and the Teatro Espanol in Madrid, Spain. The opera made its American premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music / BAM Next Wave Festival in October 2004 and official "world premiere" at the Paris Opera, becoming the first all-African-American opera to perform on its stage since the inauguration of the Académie Nationale de Musique - Théâtre de l'Opéra. Combining both his dramatic training and dance movement into his performance, Rux's performance was described by the American press as having "phenomenal charisma and supreme physical expressiveness...(achieving) a near-iconic power, equally evoking El Greco's saints in extremis and images of civil rights protesters besieged by fire hoses." Rux has also appeared in several plays and performance works for theater, as well as in his own work.

Film/Television

Radio

Carl Hancock Rux was the host and artistic programming director of the WBAI radio show, Live from The Nuyorican Poets Cafe; contributing correspondent for XM radio's The Bob Edwards Show and frequent guest host on WNYC as well as NPR and co-wrote and performed in the national touring production of NPR Presents Water±, directed by Kenny Leon.

Performance Art Exhibitions/Curator

The Whitney Museum "Beat Culture and the New America, 1950-1965"

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum "Carrie Mae Weems: Live"

Thread Waxing Space "Sacred Music"

The Foundry Theater "Roundtable on Hope"

The Kitchen "Sapphire: Black Wings & Blind Angels"

Harlem Stage "We Da People Cabaret"

The New School "Comrades and Lovers" Glenn Ligon

Mass MoCA "Until" Nick Cave

Kennedy Center/Spoleto Festival "Grace Notes"; Carrie Mae Weems

Grace Farms "Past Tense"; Carrie Mae Weems

Selected Directorial Credits

"Chapter & Verse" by Carl Hancock Rux /Dixon Place; Nuyorican Poets Cafe

"Mycenaean" by Carl Hancock Rux CalArts/BAM Next Wave Festival

"Third Ward" by Tish Benson/Nuyorican Poets Cafe

"Girl Group" by Tish Benson, Latasha Nevada Diggs, Sarah Jones/Aaron Davis Hall

"Stranger On Earth" by Carl Hancock Rux/ Live Arts; Harlem Stage

"Poesia Negra" by Carl Hancock Rux /RedCat; Lincoln Center; Aaron Davis Hall; BAM Next Wave. *"Who 'Dat Who Killed Better Days Jones?" by (Various Artists)/ Aaron Davis Hall

"blu" by Virginia Grise/ New York Theatre Workshop

"Welcome to Wandaland" by Ifa Bayeza/ Rights & Reasons Theater/Brown University

"String Theory" by Ifa Bayeza/ Rights & Reasons Theater, Brown University

"Bunky Johnson Out of The Shadows" by Ifa Bayeza/Shadows on the Teche

Academia

Rux is formally the Head of the MFA Writing for Performance Program at the California Institute of Arts and has taught and or been an artist in residence at Brown University, Hollins University, UMass at Amhurst, Duke University, Stanford University, University of Iowa, University of Wisconsin at Madison, and Eugene Lang New School for Drama, among others.

He has mentored award-winning writers including recipients of the Yale Drama Prize, Whiting Writers Award, Princess Grace Award, and BBC African Performance Playwriting Award.

Personal life

Rux's great uncle, Rev. Marcellus Carlyle Rux (January 8, 1882 - January 5, 1948) was a graduate of Virginia Union University, and principal of The Keysville Mission Industrial School (later changed to The Bluestone Harmony Academic and Industrial School), a private school founded in 1898 by several African-American Baptist churches in Keysville Virginia at a time when education for African-Americans was scarce to non-existent. For about 50 years the school had the largest enrollment of any black boarding school in the east and sent a large number of graduates on to college. For the first five years, Marcellus Carlyle Rux was a teacher in the institution. Such was the record he made that he was promoted to the principalship in 1917. Under his administration, the school reached its highest enrollment and had its greatest period of prosperity. The post-Civil war school was one of the first of its kind in the nation and was permanently closed in 1950. The school's still existent structure once featured a girl's and boy's dormitory and President's dwelling and is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Marcellus Carlyle Rux is listed in History of the American Negro and his Institutions.

Rux's younger brother is a New York City Public School Teacher and his cousin a New York City middle school principal. Rux's older brother died of AIDS-related complications.

Rux's home, a Victorian Brownstone in the Fort Greene Brooklyn section of New York City, has been photographed by Stefani Georgani and frequently featured in home decor magazines and coffee table books internationally, including Elle Decor UK.

Activism

Rux was a co-producer (through a partnership between MAPP International and Harlem Stage) and curator of WeDaPeoples Cabaret, an annual event regarding citizens without borders in a globally interdependent world. A longtime resident and homeowner in Fort Greene Brooklyn, Carl Rux worked with the Fort Greene association and New York philanthropist Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel to erect a cultural medallion at the Carlton Avenue home where novelist Richard Wright lived and penned his seminal work, Native Son. Rux is a member of Take Back the Night, a foundation seeking to end sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual abuse and all other forms of sexual violence.

Honors, awards, and grants

Rux was featured in Interview Magazine's "One To Watch" and New York Times Magazine's "Thirty Under Thirty". His essay Eminem: The New White Negro was selected for Da Capo's Best Music Writing 2004. Rux's radio documentary "Walt Whitman: Songs of Myself" was awarded the New York Press Club Journalism award for Entertainment News.

#03/24

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mariposany-blog · 5 years ago

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PRLS 2105/Brooklyn College/Fall 2019

The Nuyorican Poets Café

The definition of a latino/a in the United States has changed overtime. These changes can be attributed to initial situations, like that of a 1st generation immigrant in the late 1800′s to present day metamorphosis of precisely this word, Latinx. It is a blending of the circumstances, and all others to follow, of the integration of multicultural and multi-artistic expressions of life as we experience it. This plurality has led to much debate regarding the essence and “truism” of the Latinx experience and the entitlement that many may have attached to it, constricting its plurality to one essential meaning or fit, if you may. But a one size fits all model is not the solution to such a complex sociological construction made up by a large variation of different thoughts and experiences that somehow merge together in a city like New York. How can we measure the immensity of such an expression and feeling? Platforms that allow for this expression sample and expose the high volume of variation and similarities within the Latinx community. One of those platforms is the Nuyorican Poets Café.

The Nuyorican Poets Cafe was co founded by a group of people who shared, amongst other things, a love of expression. Although these expressions were different in the sense that they originated based on the self experiences each artist put forth, it was the ultimate experience as a latino/a in New York City, that brought them together. So these “encuentros” in the living room of a small apartment grew to such extent that the Nuyorican Poets Cafe was born out of a necessity to “give voice to a diverse group of rising poets, actors, fimmakers and musicians. The Cafe champions the use of poetry, jazz, theater, hip-hop and spoken word as means of social empowerment for minority and underprivileged artist”. (WEBSITE) In the short documentary of the Nuyorican Poets Café, Miguel Algarín, co-founder, recognized that the new generations have “recogido una necesidad oral de explicar quiénes son.” He adds that the Café is not purely puertorican; instead, the puertorican culture that is sold has the kindness to include any other culture that wants to ”arrimarse”. In essence, the Cafe offers the opportunity to discover the plurality of being, first and foremost, and any other branch(es) that come thereafter: ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic, race, religion, language, culture, and politics. In the case of the co-founders, there existed a shared co experience; “El latino vivo en Nueva York”. This shared experience facilitates “el espacio”, a space open to that sharing of common experiences. That space (physical and non-physical) is crucial and alive in many of the works of these cofounders and others, such as Miguel Algarin’s contemplation of conversation in “HIV”as an example of a non-physical space. Miguel Piñero’s Do Wop scene in the movie “Short Eyes” is an example of a physical space, specifically a jail space which opens the opportunity for sharing of cultural and artistic expressions of the African-American and Latino experience. These two examples highlight the consequential purpose of the Nuyorican Poets Café; a mirror image of the outcome of such gatherings in such spaces.

This plurality of language, culture and the arts is obvious throughout the works of the artist who have used the Nuyorican Poets Café as a platform. It is evident in Miguel Algarin’s poem “HIV”(1994) and “New Year’s Eve December 31st. 1975″. It is the ultimate expression of plurality of the Latinx community. In these poems, Algarin expresses his reality as a New Yorker living within a time frame of health panic in the 80′s and 90′s as the AIDS epidemic was palpable. It also reflects the Latino man in all of his machismo, living in a society where the norms and expectations often times do not leave room or make it difficult for self questioning and self discovery. But he refers to a human experience of despair and reaction to the societal catastrophes that encompass this “being” and existence. In his poem “HIV”, he plays with words such as revelation and revel, rebel and regret; all referencing the human interpretation of experience. He defines language as a verb, “to tongue into sounds”. This is an interpretation of the human experience, perhaps as an affirmation of an existence as opposed to a reaction of the need to explain latinidad. Algarín re-introduces this oral need to communicate in his poem “New Year’s Eve” when he describes a man practically unable to use language and states “I'm overloaded crisis that results in nausea, asphyxiation and the swallowing of my tongue hay algo hay un epileptic fit trying to reduce me into a trembling mass of jellied nerves...”. His works allude to being a Latino and New Yorker, not a Latino that happens to be in New York, referencing again the plurality of existence.

Sandra Maria Esteves also references the plurality of Latinidad as she recreates poetic images of life itself in this city, the recognition of New York serving as the stage for two worlds merged into one experience. Using the platform of a child’s coming to be (birth), Esteves highlights the struggles that are put forth early on in this identity formation, “The meaning of war defined her. Gasping and innocent, before she knew her mother, before she discovered herself, barely alive”. She also alludes to societal struggles, those which the child will have to prepare itself for, “The world did not want another brown, another slant-eyed-olive-indian-black-child...especially another rock-the-boat poet, another voice opened wide...” The element of war, struggle, and fight to declare this identity is also evident in “Fighting demons” as the title suggests. Esteves utilizes New York as an intersection/crossroad of all the elements that shape us as people. It is the venue that allows us to go beyond barriers and borders. In “Fighting demons”, she frames the question “What is the difference between here and there?” She subtly intertwines roots and utilizes linguistic images to represent ancestry with reality, creating a new road map to existence and the similarities within that existence.

With a similar background, Miguel Piñero uses his existence, his reality to express Latinidad and its plurality. His poems are bred with cultural aspects alive in his existence in New York, this place in between where he exists as he states in “Lower East Side”, “ I don't wanna be buried in Puerto Rico I don't wanna rest in Long Island Cemetery...don't take me far away keep me near by...the Lower East Side.” Piñero makes reference to the varying dynamics of latinidad, his experience and New York, the element that perhaps shapes his experiences evermore. In “Black Woman With The Blond Wig On”, he exposes the fine lines oftenly crossed in the intersections of diversity in New York and utilizes his reality to question the result of the behavior presented when he states “Think that head blanket... will make the residents of forest hills lay out a black carpet to their blond streets”.

In a very similar fashion, Peggy Robles-Alvarado utilizes her experience of New York to help illustrate or map the latino identity. In her poem “Teeth”, Maria de los Ángeles enters a state of latent dreams and she wrestles with her roots and her reality, the New York backdrop as she subtly includes words like “she has always preferred her city of asphalt...” to the cool mountain-side wind. But she also explores other elements of her existence and just like Miguel Algarín and Miguel Piñero, expose their gender and at times its cultural definitions, questioning or confirming how it shapes their identity within the latinx and sociopolitical context. In the short video provided, “Plantando Banderas”, Robles-Alvarado expresses the power of the skirt, a teaching from her mother, which allows for empowerment and strength. Both of these are abstract but she carefully integrates it into a physically existent power, a seemingly life-less skirt that almost wears her. She uses words like “I know my place” and “Hija, your skirt can be your crutch or your soul...bridging your soul and determination”.

Overall, the art sampling provided and the backdrop of the Nuyorican Poets Café allowed for a broader examination of the circumstantial New York Latino and how it adds to the definition of being Latino. Its useful addition of human experience allows for a universal Latino, one who recognizes the difference in experience but also embraces the elements that unite a people.

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annethshirley-blog · 5 years ago

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Week 3: September 9th and 11th.

Nuyorican Poets reaction.

An anthology of Puerto Rican Words and feelings, (1975), Miguel Algarin.

Poem 1: HIV (1994) After reading this poem I thought it would be good to search up a little bit more about HIV in the United States. According to HIV.gov during the year of 1994, the year this poem was edited/written HIV became the number one cause of death (ages 25-44) in the United States. As I read the poem I thought about how difficult it could be for a man to admit being a victim of HIV, especially, a man who most likely grew up in a culture where men are supposed to act tough “Macho.” Also, if we look back HIV was targeted or most likely to be related to minorities such as homosexuals in minority communities like the black and Latino Community. When I read this poem, I think of the value that a person with HIV / AIDS must have to confess something that is so judged by society. Making such a confession is like condemning oneself to no longer being able to be with someone sexually or not being able to have a stable relationship with someone for fear of being rejected or “contaminating” someone else and after being the cause of such plague in someone else more carrying the blame of someone being infected.

Poem 2: New Year’s Eve December 31, 1975. I have read this poem so many times, trying to understand the poet but the only thing that comes to my mind is how different Christmas/New Year’s Eve is in different places such as Puerto Rico and the United States. When I first read the poem and the first lane mentioned maracas I thought the poem was going to be something less tragic than it actually is. Well, maybe it is because I have spent New Year’s Eve in Nicaragua and also in the United States I think of how different the vibes are, for example, its rare to hear about death and usually a new year starts positively. I can only imagine how tragic it is to be in such position like the one he described in the poem, ‘ Being in the subway, while other passengers look at him with pity and a cop kicks him and then being put into an asylum because that's what the doctor thought was best for him.’ For me, this poem was really hard to analyze, I can only say that since it was written by a Puerto Rican I thought it’d be a happier poem.

Poem 3: Not tonight but Tomorrow (1978)

As I read these poems the first thing that comes to my mind is that Miguel Algarin view and experience in New York was not a positive one. To me, it seems that New York was a place of violence, pain, and suffering. In his third poem, the author makes it seem that he isn't living anymore he's just trying to survive in New York. When I read “not tonight: to me that equals NY in the eyes of the author, but “but tomorrow” means maybe his home country Puerto Rico.

The Early Days of Nuyoricans Poets Cafe/ Pictures.

I had no idea what this place was and I would like to visit it one day. I like to find out that people strive and start doing anything to get what they want, as did Miguel Algarin and his colleagues. A place that surely for many poets of minority communities feels welcoming and as a home, this place sounds that cozy at least is what they imply in the article. Really proud of a hardworking Puerto Rican to have established a place like the Nuyorican poets cafe.

Short Documentary: Seeing this documentary and trying to understand every single word in Spanish was easier than I thought. Miguel Algarin seems and speaks in a happier manner than in his poems. it looks that there has been a growth in him and his work. I get happy to hear stories like his and to know that it started small “puramente” for Puerto Ricans del Norte and Now they have. people coming from other countries just to perform in the Nuyorican cafe Stage. This what I like about the Latin Culture, my culture, we are so passionate about the things we do, and we are there for each other and we make other communities and cultures want to learn about us.

The background sound of the documentary felt so familiar, some shoots in the video like the one showing la Virgen, all those things felt so familiar to me, and I hope that people like him continue to inspire Latin@s and other to learn about our beautiful culture.

#latinx #culture

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latinxcounterstory · 4 years ago

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Nuyorican Poets Café

In The Poet X (2018), Xiomara performs her poetry for the first time at the Nuyorican Poets Café. The location is critical: it’s a cultural landmark for many Latinx people, specifically those who live in New York, and many performers that began reading their poetry here have become widely known poets, musicians, and visual artists.

Below you will find information about the history of the Nuyorican Poets Café taken from their website:

“Over the last 40 years, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe has served as a home for groundbreaking works of poetry, music, theater and visual arts. A multicultural and multi-arts institution, the Cafe gives voice to a diverse group of rising poets, actors, filmmakers and musicians. The Cafe champions the use of poetry, jazz, theater, hip-hop and spoken word as means of social empowerment for minority and underprivileged artists. Our community of spectators, artists and students is a reflection of New York City’s diverse population; Allen Ginsberg called the Cafe ‘the most integrated place on the planet.’

Founded in 1973, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe began as a living room salon in the East Village apartment of writer and poet Miguel Algarin along with other playwrights, poets, and musicians of color whose work was not accepted by the mainstream academic, entertainment or publishing industries. By 1975, the performance poetry scene had started to become a vital element of urban Latino and African-American culture marked by the release of a ‘Nuyorican Poetry’ anthology, and Miguel Piñero’s ‘Short Eyes,’ which was a hit on Broadway. By 1981, the overflow of audience and artists led the Cafe to purchase a former tenement building at 236 East 3rd Street, and to expand its activities and programs from the original space on East 6th Street.

Over the past several decades, the Cafe has emerged as one of the country’s most highly respected arts organizations. Our programming includes poetry slams, open mics, Latin Jazz and Hip-Hop concerts, theatrical performances, educational programs, and visual art exhibits. Our weekly poetry slams draw thousands of spectators each year and have popularized competitive performance poetry. Our educational programs (which are funded in part by the city and state of New York and the NEA) provide literacy and public speaking to thousands of students and many school groups each year. Our theater program has been awarded over 30 Audelco Awards and was honored with an OBIE Grant for Excellence in Theater.

Our Latin Jazz Jams on Thursday nights fill the space with stellar tunes by celebrated musicians. Our Hip Hop events include open mics and competitions for poets, freestylers and emcees, as well as collaborations for storytellers and jazz musicians. We are proud that our ongoing efforts to provide affordable support for the creative life of underprivileged artists have given the Cafe a crucial role in the artistic life of New York City” (Source).

En The Poet X (2018), Xiomara performa su poesía por primera vez en el Nuyorican Poets Café. La ubicación es fundamental: es un sitio cultural para muchas personas latinas, específicamente para aquellos que viven en New York, y muchos artistas que comenzaron a leer su poesía aquí se han convertido en poetas, músicos y artistas visuales ampliamente conocidos.

A continuación encontrará información sobre la historia del Nuyorican Poets Café de su sitio:

“Durante los últimos 40 años, el Nuyorican Poets Café ha servido como hogar para obras pioneras de poesía, música, teatro y artes visuales. Una institución multicultural y de múltiples artes, el Café da voz a un grupo diverso de poetas, actores, cineastas y músicos en ascenso. El Café defiende el uso de la poesía, el jazz, el teatro, el hip-hop y la palabra hablada como medios de empoderamiento social para los artistas minoritarios y desfavorecidos. Nuestra comunidad de espectadores, artistas y estudiantes es un reflejo de la población diversa de la ciudad de New York; Allen Ginsberg llamó al Café ‘el lugar más integrado del planeta.’

Fundado en 1973, el Nuyorican Poets Café comenzó como un salón en el apartamento de East Village del escritor y poeta Miguel Algarin junto con otros dramaturgos, poetas y músicos de color cuyo trabajo no fue aceptado por las principales industrias académicas, del entretenimiento o editoriales. . Para 1975, la escena de la poesía escénica había comenzado a convertirse en un elemento vital de la cultura urbana latina y afroamericana marcada por el lanzamiento de una antología de ‘Poesía Nuyorican’ y ‘Short Eyes’ de Miguel Piñero, que fue un éxito en Broadway. En 1981, el desbordamiento de público y artistas llevó al Café a comprar un antiguo edificio de viviendas en 236 East 3rd Street y ampliar sus actividades y programas desde el espacio original en East 6th Street.

Durante las últimas décadas, el Café se ha convertido en una de las organizaciones artísticas más respetadas del país. Nuestra programación incluye poesía, micrófonos abiertos, conciertos de jazz latino y hip-hop, representaciones teatrales, programas educativos y exhibiciones de artes visuales. Nuestros slam semanales de poesía atraen a miles de espectadores cada año y han popularizado la poesía de interpretación competitiva. Nuestros programas educativos (que son financiados en parte por la ciudad y el estado de New York y la NEA) brindan alfabetización y oratoria a miles de estudiantes y muchos grupos escolares cada año. Nuestro programa de teatro ha sido galardonado con más de 30 premios Audelco y fue honrado con una Beca OBIE para la Excelencia en Teatro.

Nuestras Latin Jazz Jams en los jueves por la noche llenan el espacio con melodías estelares de músicos célebres. Nuestros eventos de Hip Hop incluyen micrófonos abiertos y concursos para poetas, freestylers y maestros de ceremonias, así como colaboraciones para narradores y músicos de jazz. Estamos orgullosos de que nuestros continuos esfuerzos por brindar un apoyo asequible para la vida creativa de los artistas desfavorecidos le hayan dado al Café un papel crucial en la vida artística de la ciudad de Nueva York” (Sitio).

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universesnyc · 4 years ago

Video

vimeo

Freedom Suite/Around the way - for Miguel Algarin Tribute from UNIVERSES Theater Company on Vimeo.

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trascapades · 4 years ago

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🎙✍🏿🕊#ArtIsAWeapon Peaceful journeys #MiguelAlgarín, the visionary #poet, #activist and founder of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Thank you for creating a vibrant space for creatives and a movement for the artistic voices of marginalized communities to be heard.

VIA www.nuyorican.org

We reflect on the legacy of our organization's founder, Miguel Algarín, who passed on November 30 after a decades-long career as a poet, activist, #educator, #leader and #advocate for the literary and performing arts.

In his Lower East Side apartment, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe was born as an outspoken and passionate collective of #poets, #musicians, #theaterartists and activists.

Miguel was a brilliant poet, an influential professor and leader, and a supportive mentor who inspired and guided generations of artists.

He edited popular anthologies of poetry and theater, including Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and Action; he helped launch the Nuyorican Literary movement; and he played an instrumental role in popularizing spoken word and performance poetry across the United States and around the world.

Miguel and the Cafe's co-founders amplified the voices and championed the work of Latinx, Black, LGBTQ+ and immigrant artists who were not accepted by the academic, entertainment or publishing industries.

Thanks to their pioneering work, and thanks to our community of friends and supporters, the Cafe has remained a vibrant home for creative expression since 1973.

The literary world owes Miguel a debt of gratitude. He will be greatly missed.

_____________________

New York Times: www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/arts/miguel-algarin-nuyorican-poets-cafe-appraisal.html

#nuyoricanpoetscafe #ArtsAdvocate #Nuyorican #Loisaida #spokenword #literaryarts #ArtistActivist #NYC #TraScapades

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sadoldjonny · 4 years ago

Link

#puerto rico

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viciousminuteshour · 5 years ago

Audio

'Nuyorican Angel,' a poem by Miguel Algarin, read by RM.

#miguel algarin #nuyorican angel #poem #poems #spoken word #lit #literature

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slagglasscity · 7 years ago

Photo

Today in Stories from Insulted Cities: We honor the life and legacy of Nuyorican poet Miguel Piñero. Piñero was born in Garubo, Puerto Rico in 1946 to a family that soon immigrated to New York City. Growing up, his dad abandoned him, and Piñero joined a gang in order to survive.��He wrote his first play, Short Eyes, while he was in jail for robbery. From there, he went on to write many other successful plays, and Short Eyes was nominated for six Tony awards.

His plays dealt the kind of life he knew best: a rough one. His plays featured prostitutes, violent jails, drugs, and crime. His most successful plays include Sideshow, The Sun Always Shines for the Cool, and Playland Blues. He also coedited the 1975 anthology Nuyorican Poetry: An Anthology of Puerto Rican Words and Feelings with Miguel Algarín.

Piñero unfortunately died of liver cirrhosis in 1988. He was regarded as the first Puerto Rican to be accepted and successful as a major playwright.

#puerto rico #nuyorican #Miguel pinero #garubo #new york city #short eyes #the sun always shines on cool #nuyorican cafe #playland blues #sideshow #stories from insulted cities #Miguel Algarin #living cities #lit history

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blackkudos · 7 years ago

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Carl Hancock Rux

Carl Hancock Rux (born March 24, 1975) is an American poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, actor, director, singer/ songwriter. He is the author of several books including the Village Voice Literary Prize winning collection of poetry, "Pagan Operetta" , the novel Asphalt (novel) and the OBIE award-winning play Talk. Rux's essay "The New White Negro" was selected for Best American Music Writing 2004. Rux is also a singer/songwriter with four CDs to his credit, as well as a frequent collaborator in the fields of dance, theater, film, and contemporary art . Notable collaborators include Nona Hendryx, Toshi Reagon, Bill T. Jones, Ronald K. Brown, Nick Cave, Anne Bogart, Robert Wilson, Kenny Leon, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Jonathan Demme, Stanley Nelson Jr., Carrie Mae Weems, Glenn Ligon and others. His archives are housed at the Billy Rose Theater Division of the New York Public Library, the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution as well as the Film and Video/Theater and Dance Library of the California Institute of the Arts. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Doris Duke Awards for New Works, the Doris Duke Charitable Fund, the New York Foundation for the Arts Prize, the Bessie Schonberg (New York Dance and Performance Awards, informally known as the Bessie Awards) and the Alpert Award in the Arts.

Early life

Born Carl Stephen Hancock in Harlem, New York, Rux's biological mother (Carol Jean Hancock) suffered from chronic mental illness, diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic and institutionalized shortly after the birth of his older brother. Born the result of an illegitimate pregnancy while his mother was under the care of a New York City operated psychiatric institution, the identity of Rux's biological father is unknown. Rux was placed under the guardianship of his maternal grandmother, Geneva Hancock (née Rux), until her death of cirrhosis of the liver due to alcoholism. At four years of age he entered the New York City foster care system where he remained until he was eventually placed under the legal guardianship of his great uncle (grandmother's brother) James Henry Rux and his wife Arsula (née Cottrell) and raised in the Highbridge section of the Bronx. Rux attended PS 73, Roberto Clemente Junior High School and received a scholarship to the Horace Mann School, an independent Ivy college preparatory school in the Riverdale section of the Bronx before transferring to the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts where he studied visual art. Exposed to jazz music by his legal guardians, including the work of Oscar Brown Jr., John Coltrane, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln, Rux eventually double majored in music/voice, as well as sang with the Boys Choir of Harlem. He also became a member of the Harlem Writers Workshop, a summer journalism training program for inner city youth founded by African-American journalists, sponsored by Columbia University and The Xerox Corporation. At the age of 15, Rux was legally adopted by his guardians and his surname changed to Rux. Upon graduation from high school he entered Columbia College where he studied in the Creative Writing Program; took private acting classes at both HB studios, Gertrude Jeanette's Hadley Players as well as privately with actor Robert Earl Jones (father of actor James Earl Jones). Rux continued his studies at Columbia University, American University of Paris as well as the University of Ghana at Legon.

Career

Working as a Social Work Trainer while moonlighting as a writer of film and music criticism, Rux became a founding member of Hezekiah Walker's Love Fellowship gospel choir and later found himself influenced by the Lower East Side poetry and experimental theater scene, collaborating with poets Miguel Algarin, Bob Holman, Jayne Cortez, Sekou Sundiata, Ntozake Shange; experimental musicians David Murray, Mal Waldron, Butch Morris, Craig Harris, Jeanne Lee, Leroy Jenkins as well as experimental theater artists Laurie Carlos, Robbie McCauley, Ruth Maleczech, Lee Breuer, Reza Abdoh and others. He is one of several poets (including Paul Beatty, Tracie Morris, Dael Orlandersmith, Willie Perdomo, Kevin Powell, Maggie Estep, Reg E. Gaines, Edwin Torres and Saul Williams) to emerge from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, most of whom were included in the poetry anthology Aloud, Voices From the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, winner of the 1994 American Book Award. His first book of poetry, Pagan Operetta, received the Village Voice Literary prize and was featured on the weekly's cover story: "Eight Writers on the Verge of (Impacting) the Literary Landscape". Rux is the author of the novel Asphalt and the author of several plays. His first play, Song of Sad Young Men (written in response to his older brother's death from AIDS), was directed by Trazana Beverly and starred actor Isaiah Washington. The play received eleven AUDELCO nominations. His most notable play is the OBIE Award-winning Talk, first produced at the Joseph Papp Public Theater in 2002. Directed by Marion McClinton and starring actor Anthony Mackie, the play won seven OBIE awards. Rux is also a recording artist, first featured on Reg E. Gaines CD Sweeper Don't Clean My Streets (Polygram). As a musician, his work is known to encompass an eclectic mixture of blues, rock, vintage R&B, classical music, futuristic pop, soul, poetry, folk, psychedelic music and jazz. His debut CD, Cornbread, Cognac & Collard Green Revolution (unreleased) was produced by Nona Hendryx and Mark Batson, featuring musicians Craig Harris, Ronnie Drayton and Lonnie Plaxico. His CD Rux Revue was recorded and produced in Los Angeles by the Dust Brothers, Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf. Rux recorded a follow up album, Apothecary Rx, (selected by French writer Phillippe Robert for his 2008 publication "Great Black Music": an exhaustive tribute of 110 albums including 1954's "Lady Sings The Blues" by Billie Holiday, the work of Jazz artists Oliver Nelson, Max Roach, John Coltrane, rhythm and blues artists Otis Redding, Ike & Tina Turner, Curtis Mayfield, George Clinton; as well as individual impressions of Fela Kuti, Jimi Hendrix, and Mos Def.) His fourth studio CD, Good Bread Alley, was released by Thirsty Ear Records, and his fifth "Homeostasis" (CD Baby) was released in May 2013. Rux has written and performed (or contributed music) to a proportionate number of dance companies including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company; Jane Comfort & Co. and Ronald K. Brown's "Evidence" among others.

Literature

Books by author

Elmina Blues (poetry) 1995

Pagan Operetta (poetry/Short Fiction/SemioText) 1998

Asphalt (novel/Simon & Schuster) 2004

Talk (drama/TCG Press) 2002

Literary fiction

Asphalt (novel) (Atria, Simon & Schuster) 2004

The Exalted (novel) forthcoming

Selected plays

Song of Sad Young Men

Talk

Geneva Cottrell, Waiting for the Dog to Die

Smoke, Lilies and Jade

Song of Sad Young Men

Chapter & Verse

Pipe

Pork Dream in the American House of Image

Not the Flesh of Others

Singing In the Womb of Angels

Better Dayz Jones (Harlem Stage)

"Stranger On Earth" (Harlem Stage)

The (No) Black Male Show

Mycenaean

Asphalt (directed by Talvin Wilkes)

Etudes for the Sleep of Other Sleepers (directed by Laurie Carlos)

Steel Hammer (co-written by Will Power, Kia Corthran and Regina Taylor for the SITI company, directed by Anne Bogart).

The Exalted (directed by Anne Bogart)

NPR Presents WATER ± (co-written by Arthur Yorinks, directed by Kenny Leon)

Selected essays

"Eminem: The New White Negro"

"Dream Work and the Mimesis of Carrie Mae Weems"

"Belief and the Invisible Playwright"

"In Memoriam: Ruby Dee (1922–2014)"

"Up From The Mississippi Delta"

"Democratic Vistas of Space and Light"

"A Rage In Harlem"

Selected anthologies

Experiments in a Jazz Aesthetic: Art, Activism, Academia, and the Austin Project University of Texas Press

Soul: Black Power, Politics, and Pleasure NYU Press

Heights of the Marvelous NYU Press

Juncture: 25 Very Good Stories and 12 Excellent Drawings Soft Skull Press

Da Capo Best Music Writing 2004: The Year's Finest Writing on Rock, Hip-hop, Jazz, Pop, Country, and More, DeCapo Press

Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam, Counterpoint Press

Humana Festival 2014: The Complete Plays, Playscripts, Incorporated

Action: The Nuyorican Poets Cafe Theatre, Simon & Schuster

Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, Three Rivers Press

The African American Male, Writing, and Difference: A Polycentric Approach to African American Literature, Criticism, and History, State University of New York Press

Meditations and Ascensions: Black Writers on Writing, Third World Press

Plays from the Boom Box Galaxy: Theater from the Hip-hop Generation, Theatre Communications Group

Bad Behavior, Random House

Verse: An Introduction to Prosody , John Wiley & Sons Press

Significations of Blackness: American Cinema and the Idea of a Black Film, UMI Press

So Much Things to Say: 100 Poets from the First Ten Years of the Calabash International Literary Festival, Akashic Books

Black Men In Their Own Words, Crown Publishers

Bulletproof Diva, Knopf Doubleday

Race Manners: Navigating the Minefield Between Black and White Americans, Skyhorse Publishing

In Their Company: Portraits of American Playwrights, Umbrage Press

Listen Again: a Momentary History of Pop Music, Duke University Press

Journalism

Rux has been published as a contributing writer in numerous journals, catalogues, anthologies, and magazines including Interview magazine, Essence magazine, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, aRude Magazine, Nka Journal of Contemporary African Art (founded by fellow art critics Okwui Enwezor, Chika Okeke-Agulu and Salah Hassan) and American Theater Magazine.

Libretti

Makandal (music by Yosvaney Terry, stage design and costumes by Edouard Duval Carrie, directed by Lars Jan) Harlem Stage

Blackamoor Angel (music by Deidre Murray; directed by Karin Coonrod) Bard Spiegeltent/Joseph Papp Public Theater

Kingmaker (music by Toshi Reagon) BRIC Arts Media

Perfect Beauty" (music by Tamar Muskal)

Music

Solo albums

Cornbread, Cognac, Collard Green Revolution (unreleased/1997)

Rux Revue Sony/550 Music (1999)

Apothecary Rx Giant Step (2004)

Good Bread Alley Thirsty Ear (2006)

Homeostasis CD Baby (2013)

Singles

"Miguel" (Sony) 1999

"Wasted Seed" (Sony) 1999

"Fall Down" (Sony) 1999

"No Black Male Show" (Sony) 1999

"Good Bread Alley" (Thirsty Ear) 2006

"Thadius Star" (Thirsty Ear) 2006

"Living Room" (Thirsty Ear) 2006

"Disrupted Dreams" (Giant Step) 2010

"Eleven More Days" (Giant Step) 2010

"I Got A Name" (Giant Step) 2010

"Living Room" (Kevin Shields Remix) (Mercury) 2013

12-inch singles

"Lamentations (You, Son)" Giant Step Records 2001

Collaborations

Sweeper Don't Clean My Streets Reg E. Gaines Polygram (1995)

Eargasms Vol. 1 (1996)

70 Years Coming R. L. Burnside Bongload/Acid Blues Records (1998)

Our Souls Have Grown Deep Like the Rivers: Black Poets Read Their Works, Rhino (2000)

Bow Down to the Exit Sign David Holmes Go! Beat (2000)

Love Each Other Yukihiro Fukutomi Sony/ Japan (2001)

Optometry DJ Spooky Thirsty Ear Recordings (2002)

The Temptation of Saint Anthony (Studio Cast Recording) (2004)

Inradio 5 Morningwatch 2004

Thirsty Ear Presents: Blue Series Sampler (Thirsty Ear) 2006

Poetry on Record: 98 Poets Read Their Work, 1888-2006 Box Set Shout! Factory (2006)

More Than Posthuman-Rise of the Mojosexual Cotillion Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber, TruGROID (2006)

The Dogs Are Parading David Holmes Universal (2010)

Life Forum Gerald Clayton Concord Jazz (2013)

Tributary Tales Gerald Clayton 2017

Songwriter

Mckay Stephanie McKay Universal Music 2003

Contemporary Dance (text & music)

Movin' Sprits Dance Co.

Totin' Business & Carryin' Bones (chor. Marlies Yearby), Performance Space 122, Maison des arts de Créteil (France)

The Beautiful (chor: Marlies Yearby, co-author:Laurie Carlos), Judson Church, Tribeca Performing Arts Center

Of Urban Intimacies (chor: Marlies Yearby), Lincoln Center Serious Fun!, Central Park Summerstage, National Tour

That Was Like This/ This Was Like That(chor: Marlies Yearby, music: Grisha Coleman), Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Central Park Summerstage, National Tour

Anita Gonzalez

Yanga, (chor: Anita Gonzalez, music: Cooper-Moore, composer), Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Montclair State College

Jane Comfort & Co.

Asphalt (dir/chor:Jane Comfort; vocal score: Toshi Reagon, music: DJ Spooky, David Pleasant, Foosh, dramaturgy:Morgan Jenness, costumes: Liz Prince, lighting design: David Ferri ), Joyce Theater, National Tour

Urban Bush Women

Soul Deep (chor: Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, composer: David Murray), Walker Arts Center, National Tour

Shelter (chor: Jawole Willo Jo Zollar, music: Junior Gabbu Wedderburn) International Tour

Hair Stories (chor: Jawole Willa jo Zollar) BAM Theater/Esplanade Theater (Singapore) Hong Kong Arts Festival

Jubilation! Dance Co.

Sweet In The Morning (chor: Kevin Iega Jeff)

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Shelter (chor: Jawole Willo Jo Zollar, music: Junior Gabbu Wedderburn) City Center, International Tour

Uptown (chor: Matthew Rushing) Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Four Corners (chor: Ronald K. Brown) Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 2014

Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble (Ailey II)

Seeds (chor: Kevin Iega Jeff) Aaron Davis Hall, Apollo Theater, National Tour

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Theater

The Artificial Nigger (chor: Bill T. Jones) Arnie Zane Bill T. Jones Dance Co; music: Daniel Bernard Roumain National Tour

Roberta Garrison Co.

Certo! (chor: Roberta Garrison, music: Mathew Garrison) Scuola di Danza Mimma Testa in Trastevere (Rome, Italy) Teatro de natal infantil Raffaelly Beligni (Naples, Italy)

M'Zawa Dance Co.

Seeking Pyramidic Balance/Flipmode (chor: Maia Claire Garrison) 651 Arts

Robert Moses Kin

Helen (chor: Robert Moses) Yerba Buena Performing Arts Center

Nevabawarldapece (chor: Robert Moses) Yerba Buena Performing Arts Center

Topaz Arts Dance

Dreamfield (chor: Paz Tanjuaquio) Hudson River Park NY

Actor

Theater

Rux studied acting at the Hagen Institute (under Uta Hagen); the Luleå National Theatre School (Luleå, Sweden) and at the National Theater of Ghana (Accra). Rux has appeared in several theater projects, most notably originating the title role in the folk opera production of The Temptation of St. Anthony, based on the Gustave Flaubert novel, directed by Robert Wilson with book, libretto and music by Bernice Johnson Reagon and costumes by Geoffrey Holder. The production debuted as part of the RuhrTriennale festival in Duisburg Germany with subsequent performances at the Greek Theater in Siracusa, Italy; the Festival di Peralada in Peralada, Spain; the Palacio de Festivales de Cantabria in Santander, Spain; Sadler's Wells in London, Great Britain; the Teatro Piccinni in Bari, Italy; the Het Muziektheater in Amsterdam, Netherlands; the Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao and the Teatro Espanol in Madrid, Spain. The opera made its American premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music / BAM Next Wave Festival in October 2004 and official "world premiere" at the Paris Opera, becoming the first all African American opera to perform on its stage since the inauguration of the Académie Nationale de Musique - Théâtre de l'Opéra. Combining both his dramatic training and dance movement into his performance, Rux's performance was described as having "phenomenal charisma and supreme physical expressiveness" and achieving "a near-iconic power, equally evoking El Greco's saints in extremis and images of civil rights protesters besieged by fire hoses." Rux has also appeared in several plays and performance works for theater, as well as in his own work.

Film/Television

Radio

Curator/performance & art exhibitions

The Whitney Museum "Beat Culture and the New America, 1950-1965"

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum "Carrie Mae Weems: Live"

Thread Waxing Space "Sacred Music"

The Foundry Theater "Roundtable on Hope"

The Kitchen "Sapphire: Black Wings & Blind Angels"

Harlem Stage "We Da People Cabaret"

The New School "Glenn Ligon " Comrades and Lovers"

Mass MoCA "Nick Cave: Until"

Academia

Rux has mentored thousands of award-winning writers including recipients of the Yale Drama Prize, Whiting Writers Award, Princess Grace Award, and BBC African Performance Playwriting Award. Rux is formally the Head of the MFA Writing for Performance Program at the California Institute of Arts and has taught and or been an artist in residence at Brown University, Hollins University, UMass at Amhurst, Duke University, Stanford University, University of Iowa, University of Wisconsin at Madison, and Eugene Lang New School for Drama, among others.

Personal life

Rux's younger brother is a New York City Public School Teacher and his cousin a New York City middle school principal. Rux's older brother died of AIDS-related complications.

Rux was briefly engaged to marry a childhood sweetheart, and later, dated singer/songwriter Morley while both artists were signed to Sony Music. He has also been associated with television actress Deborah Joy Winans and aspiring actress, E'Dena Hines, the adopted step-granddaughter of Academy Award winning actor Morgan Freeman, who was brutally murdered by her ex-boyfriend, in Manhattan in the summer of 2015 In 2011 Rux married his longtime partner in a private ceremony in the Tribeca loft of a close friend.

Activism

Rux joined New Yorkers Against Fracking, organized by singer Natalie Merchant, calling for a fracking ban on natural gas drilling using hydraulic fracturing. A concert featuring Rux, Merchant, actors Mark Ruffalo and Melissa Leo and musicians Joan Osborne, Tracy Bonham, Toshi Reagon, Citizen Cope, Meshell Ndegeocello and numerous others was held in Albany and resulted in public protests. Subsequently, New York Governor Mario Cuomo banned hydraulic fracking. New York follows Vermont as the only other U.S. state to ban fracking, joining such economic superpowers as France and Bulgaria. Rux was a co-producer ( through a partnership between MAPP International and Harlem Stage) and curator of WeDaPeoples Cabaret, an annual event regarding citizens without borders in a globally interdependent world. A longtime resident and homeowner in Fort Greene Brooklyn, Carl Rux worked with the Fort Greene association and New York philanthropist Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel to erect a cultural medallion at the Carlton Avenue home where novelist Richard Wright lived and penned his seminal work, Native Son. Rux is a member of Take Back the Night, a foundation seeking to end sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual abuse and all other forms of sexual violence.

Awards/grants/honors

Alpert Award in the Arts

OBIE Award

Bessie Schönburg Award

New York Foundation for the Arts Prize

CINE Golden Eagle Award (television documentary)

MNSWA Urban Griot Award (poetry)

Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX) 10 Arts & Artists in Progress Award

New York Press Club Journalism Award for Entertainment News

Brooklyn Borough Hall City Council Black-American Achievement Award

Kitchen Theater Artist Award

Fresh Poet Prize

African Diasporic Artist in Residence (Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Miami)

National Endowment for the Arts Playwright in Residence Fellow

New York Foundation for the Arts Gregory Millard Fellow

Rockefeller Map Grant

Rockefeller Multi-Arts Production Fund

Creative Capital Fund

Creative Capital Multi-Arts Production Fund

Creative Capital Artists Initiative Grant

Doris Duke Awards for New Works

Doris Duke Charitable Fund

National Endowment for the Arts Grant

New York State Council on the Arts Grant

Mary Flagler Cary Foundation

Time Out Top 10 Plays Citation (Theater)

DeCapo’s Best Music Writing (Essay)

New York Times "Thirty Artists under Thirty (Most Likely to Influence Culture)"

New York Times Best Alternative Music

Vibe Magazine "Ones to Watch"

Village Voice Literary Prize

Interview Magazine Artists Award

Hermitage Artist Fellow

United States Artist Fellowship (shortlist)

Isadora Duncan Award/Outstanding Text and Dance (nominated)

Yale University Hayden Artist in Residence

Wikipedia

#Carl Hancock Rux #03-24

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