Art

Broadway Luminaries to Perform in ‘Let Freedom Ring’ Concert

WASHINGTON INFORMER — This year, two performers usually associated with theater, Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell, will share the marquee to present a new incarnation of the musical tribute to King.

Published

5 years ago

January 18, 2019

Eve M. Ferguson

By Eve M. Ferguson

The year 2019 has dawned as a different sort for many reasons, and not all good ones. But this year, the annual “Let Freedom Ring” concert, presented by Georgetown University in partnership with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, is taking a new approach to the talent slated to perform with the Let Freedom Ring Choir, celebrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the annual holiday program.

This year, two performers usually associated with theater, Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell, will share the marquee to present a new incarnation of the musical tribute to King. The two African-American luminaries are considered among the finest in musical theater currently performing.

McDonald is a multiple award winner for her roles in theatrical performances from “Carousel” to “Master Class.” As the youngest recipient of three Tony Awards before the age of 30, she also has a dedication to African-American theater and music. Her legacy has been compared to that of Judy Garland and Barbara Streisand.

In 2004, she won a Tony for her role in “A Raisin in the Sun” and went on to reprise the performance in the made-for-television version with Sean “Diddy” Combs. She also received critical acclaim for her solo performance in “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill” adapted from the Broadway play for HBO.

She has also played major African-American characters in “Porgy and Bess” and was instrumental in reviving the Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake 1921 musical revue, “Shuffle Along,” which she had to withdraw from performing to take an unexpected maternity leave.

“Maybe it is because my uncle and my parents were always very involved with the civil rights movement, so I just grew up and I was raised that you have to speak out and look out for your fellow man, woman and child,” McDonald said.

Brian Stokes Mitchell (Courtesy of brianstokes.com)

[/media-credit] Brian Stokes Mitchell

It is no coincidence that she will perform with Brian Stokes Mitchell, her frequent co-star who has played alongside her in “Shuffle Along” and also the Broadway version of “Ragtime,” where Mitchell took on the role of protagonist Coalhouse Walker.

Dubbed the “Last Leading Man” by the New York Times, Mitchell’s resume on Broadway and beyond is nearly unmatched by any performer, regardless of race.

Mitchell recently took the stage at Carnegie Hall for his solo debut, despite his long history in theater. The sold-out event where he performed with a 42-piece orchestra conducted by Paul Gemignani, saw him joined by some of his past leading ladies including Reba McEntire, Heather Headley and Phylicia Rashad.

Mitchell is best known for his work on the Broadway stage, where he has received impressive accolades, including Broadway’s highest honor, the Tony Award. Mitchell appeared most recently on Broadway in the revival of “Man of La Mancha,” portraying the dual roles of Cervantes and Don Quixote and earning a Tony nomination and a Helen Hayes Award for his work.

The pair will perform part of the concert with the Let Freedom Ring Choir, created in 2006 for the King Day celebration. The choir, made up of local church choir singers and students from Georgetown University, is directed by Rev. Nolan Williams Jr., a local musician and scholar whose resume includes minister of music for Metropolitan Baptist Church and chief music editor of the critically acclaimed “The African American Heritage Hymnal.”

The concert also includes the annual bestowal of a humanitarian award to a community activist who has played a significant role in the betterment of life through the lens of King’s legendary work.

The yearly concert, held on the King holiday, is free and open to the public, with tickets to the concert being distributed onsite at the Kennedy Center’s Hall of Nations beginning at 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 21.

This article originally appeared in the Washington Informer.

Eve M. Ferguson

Posts by Eve M. Ferguson

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Art

Marin County: A Snapshot of California’s Black History Is on Display

The Marin County Office of Education, located at 1111 Las Gallinas Ave in San Rafael, will host the extraordinary exhibit, “The Legacy of Marin City: A California Black History Story (1942-1960),” from Feb. 1 to May 31, 2024. The interactive, historical, and immersive exhibit featuring memorabilia from Black shipyard workers who migrated from the South to the West Coast to work at the Marinship shipyard will provide an enriching experience for students and school staff. Community organizations will also be invited to tour the exhibit.

Published

4 days ago

April 16, 2024

Oakland Post

Early photo of Marin City in the exhibit showing the first department store, barber shop, and liquor store. (Photo by Godfrey Lee)

By Post Staff

The interactive, historical, and immersive exhibit featuring memorabilia from Black shipyard workers who migrated from the South to the West Coast to work at the Marinship shipyard will provide an enriching experience for students and school staff. Community organizations will also be invited to tour the exhibit.

All will have the opportunity to visit and be guided by its curator Felecia Gaston.

The exhibit will include photographs, articles and artifacts about the Black experience in Marin City from 1942 to 1960 from the Felecia Gaston Collection, the Anne T. Kent California Room Collection, The Ruth Marion and Pirkle Jones Collection, The Bancroft Library, and the Daniel Ruark Collection.

It also features contemporary original artwork by Chuck D of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group Public Enemy, clay sculptures by San Francisco-based artist Kaytea Petro, and art pieces made by Marin City youth in collaboration with Lynn Sondag, Associate Professor of Art at Dominican University of California.

The exhibit explores how Marin City residents endured housing inequities over the years and captures the history of plans to remove Black residents from the area after World War II. Throughout, it embodies the spirit of survival and endurance that emboldened the people who made Marin City home.

Felecia Gaston is the author of the commemorative book, ‘A Brand New Start…This is Home: The Story of World War II Marinship and the Legacy of Marin City.’ Thanks to the generous contribution of benefactors, a set of Felecia’s book will be placed in every public elementary, middle, and high school library in Marin.

In addition, educators and librarians at each school will have the opportunity to engage with Felecia in a review of best practices for utilizing the valuable primary sources within the book.

“Our goal is to provide students with the opportunity to learn from these significant and historical contributions to Marin County, California, and the United States,” said John Carroll, Marin County Superintendent of Schools.

“By engaging with Felecia’s book and then visiting the exhibit, students will be able to further connect their knowledge and gain a deeper understanding of this significant historical period,” Carroll continued.

Felecia Gaston adds, “The Marin County Office of Education’s decision to bring the Marin City Historical Traveling Exhibit and publication, ‘A Brand New Start…This is Home’ to young students is intentional and plays a substantial role in the educational world. It is imperative that our community knows the contributions of Marin City Black residents to Marin County. Our youth are best placed to lead this transformation.”

The Marin County Office of Education will host an Open House Reception of the exhibit’s debut on Feb. 1 from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.. All school staff, educators, librarians, and community members are encouraged to attend to preview the exhibit and connect with Felecia Gaston. To contact Gaston, email MarinCityLegacy@marinschools.org

Oakland Post

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Activism

Alternative Outcome to Slayings by Police Explored in One-Man Play

BLACK MEN EVERYWHERE! is the explosive new one man play written, directed, and performed by Jinho “Piper” Ferreira. Set against the backdrop of a presidential election, the play explores how political and cultural leaders wield the myth of the dangerous Black man to manipulate the masses for personal gain. Piper penned the follow-up to his ground-breaking solo play, “Cops and Robbers,” after an impromptu cross-country Black history tour.

Published

2 months ago

February 16, 2024

Oakland Post

BLACK MEN EVERYWHERE! is the explosive new one man play written, directed, and performed by Jinho “Piper” Ferreira.

Special to The Post

What would happen if police officers who have gotten off for killing unarmed Black people started turning up dead?

Piper penned the follow-up to his ground-breaking solo play, “Cops and Robbers,” after an impromptu cross-country Black history tour.

“My wife and I had been talking about it for years,” Ferreira said. They had taken their three children to Brazil several times and West Africa but had yet to explore their history as Black people in this country. “It was Juneteenth last year and I realized we had a few weeks to make it happen, so we just jumped in the car and left” Piper said.

Three weeks later the family had seen everything from the African American Museum of History and Culture in Wash., D.C., to the phenomenally preserved Whitney Plantation in Louisiana. They’d stood outside of the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., and paid their respects at the Africa Town cemetery – where the passengers of the Clotilda (the last known U.S. slave ship to smuggle captured Africans into this country) were buried near Mobile, Ala.

“We had the kids keep a journal of the trip and my wife and I took notes, but once we got back home, I knew I had to make the pen move,” he said.

Ferreira plays 21 characters in the 60-minute emotional roller coaster ride; personalities we all know. While brilliantly weaving in themes of revolution, treachery, and revenge, “Black Men Everywhere!” is surprisingly — more than anything else — a love story.

“I wrote the play for Black men and everyone who loves us,” Ferreira said. “The play is narrated by a sistah and performed in front of the deeply spiritual artwork of Nedra T. Williams, an Oakland priestess of Olokun. It’s called ‘Black Men Everywhere!’ but we don’t exist without the Black woman.”

For tickets, please go to: http://tinyurl.com/5dm3mhra

Oakland Post

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Art

City of Stockton Seeks Applications for Public Art Murals

The City of Stockton Arts Commission (SAC) has announced the opportunity for artist(s) and/or artist teams to apply to design and paint original artwork on City-owned property through a Public Art Mural Program. The deadline for applications is Friday, March 8, 2024, at 5 p.m. Applications and additional information are available online at www.stocktonca.gov/publicart.

Published

3 months ago

January 24, 2024

Oakland Post

The Public Art Mural Program incentivizes mural installations by providing city funding and the means of curating the City’s collection of murals.

City of Stockton

The deadline for applications is Friday, March 8, 2024, at 5 p.m. Applications and additional information are available online at www.stocktonca.gov/publicart.

The Public Art Mural Program incentivizes mural installations by providing city funding and the means of curating the City’s collection of murals.

This program has $50,000 in available funds for artist(s) and is also available for those who have already identified funds and would like to complete a mural project on city-owned property. Applications will be reviewed on a competitive basis and selected by the SAC.

To learn more about the Stockton Arts Commission (SAC) or qualifications and eligibility for Public Art Mural Program, please visit www.stocktonca.gov/publicart or call the Community Services Department at (209) 937-8206.