Art

Psalmayene 24 Tackles Complex Issues with Pieces Inspired by “Native Son”

THE AFRO — The Mosaic Theater, at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H Street NE, is tackling complex subjects and complicated work with the arrival of “Native Son” written by playwright Nambi E. Kelley, and adapted for the stage from Richard Wright’s classic source material, the novel “Native Son.”

Published

7 years ago

April 17, 2019

Oakland Post

By George Kevin Jordan

The Mosaic Theater, at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H Street NE, is tackling complex subjects and complicated work with the arrival of “Native Son” written by playwright Nambi E. Kelley, and adapted for the stage from Richard Wright’s classic source material, the novel “Native Son.”

The website describes the play like so: “Richard Wright’s iconic novel about oppression, freedom, and justice comes to life on stage in this ground-breaking adaptation. Suffocating in rat-infested poverty on the South Side of Chicago in the 1930s, 20-year-old Bigger Thomas struggles to find a place for himself in a world whose prejudice has shut him out. After taking a job in a wealthy white man’s house, Bigger unwittingly unleashes a series of events that violently and irrevocably seal his fate. Adapted with theatrical ingenuity by Chicago’s own Nambi E. Kelley, this Native Son captures the power of Richard Wright’s novel for a whole new generation.”

For renowned playwright, director and actor Psalmayene 24, who will direct “Native Son,” the production had some interesting creative twists and turns. Originally he was tapped by the Mosaic’s founding artistic director Ari Roth to direct a workshop reading of “Native Son” about a year and a half ago. But because of timing of the original play and concerns the source material, particularly the way some characters are portrayed, Psalmayene 24 was asked to write a response play inspired by the criticism author/playwright James Baldwin had for Wright’s “Native Son.”

Since the original play was not quite ready yet, Psalmayene 24’s piece was also bumped up to full production. Hence “Les Deux Noirs: Notes on Notes of a Native Son” emerged as the companion play.

The Mosaic Theater describes Les Deux this way: “Set in the legendary Parisian café Les Deux Magots in 1953, Les Deux Noirs: Notes on Notes of A Native Son reimagines the meeting between Native Son author Richard Wright and essayist/activist James Baldwin. It explores the tension between Baldwin’s searing critiques of Native Son and Wright’s unbridled indignation in response—a confrontation between two mighty African-American artists, with echoes of a present-day rap battle.”

Psalmayene 24 said he understand why some people may have been troubled with Wright’s work.

“Part of the reason why I think people have challenges with the source material is because Richard Wright wrote a piece that people would be forced to grapple with until societal circumstances had changed,” he said. “I feel his uncompromising willingness to tell the truth about the African-American experience is something a lot of people can’t face even today.”

“Unfortunately as time moves on “Native Son seems more relevant today than it did when it came out in 1940.”

For Psalmayene 24, his journey to become one of the District’s premiere writers and directors, has been informative and transformational. His resume shows someone embedded in the DMV theater scene. His directing credits include ”Word Becomes Flesh,” (Helen Hayes Award winner for Outstanding Direction,Play), “TheShipment,” “ NotEnufLifetimes,” and “Read: White and Blue.” He is the recipient of an Individual Artist Award in Playwriting from the Maryland State Arts Council and has received grants from the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities and the Boomerang Fund for Artists Inc. He is currently the Master Teaching Artist at Arena Stage and is the Artist-in-Residence at Bowie State University.

But the Brooklyn native he came to D.C., like many before him, by way attending an HBCU – namely Howard University. He admits to having one vision that developed into the career we see now.

His original plan was to be a revolutionary in the vein of Malcolm X and Huey P. Newton but says, “I fell in love with the arts and I feel like as an artist I still have that desire for revolution particularly when it comes to uplifting the black community and particularly when it comes to uniting people across color lines as well.”

He pivoted from film production, to dance and finally leaving as an acting major. The rational is a revolutionary and traditional as they come.

“To be honest I’ve always loved to act but then one day I was walking in front of the Fine Arts Building and I saw the most beautiful women coming in an out of the building and I said that’s where I need to be,” he said with a laugh.

The ladies may have brought him into that fine arts building, but he didn’t squander the artistic opportunities. He founded a dance company with friends, experimenting with hip-hop, club and street dance mixed with African dance. His group started performing around the area. And then he began to take theater more seriously, more acting and writing jobs began to materialize. “So it’s been sort of this organic journey that i’ve been taken through arts and entertainment,” Psalmayene 24 said.

And what is his secret with listening to his gut instincts and moving so seamlessly through the arts?

“Keeping your eyes and ears open and being conscious about where you are in your life and being responsive to opportunities that come your way,” he said. “Also having a vision for where you’re going. You may have a plan but God’s plan may trump your plan. So there’s this orchestration that seems to be happening that is honestly bigger than me.”

“Native Son” runs through April 28, while “Les Deux Noirs” runs through April 27. For more information on both plays and to purchase tickets please go to: https://www.mosaictheater.org/native-son.

This article originally appeared in The Afro.

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Oakland Museum Presents Landmark Retrospective Celebrating Beloved Bay Area Artist Mildred Howard

“Poetics of Memory” coincides with a year of major recognition for Howard. In 2026, she received the California Arts Council’s 50th Anniversary Award, honoring artists whose work has shaped California’s cultural and civic life, as well as the Museum of the African Diaspora’s Artist Impact Award. In 2025, she was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in recognition of her transformative contributions to American cultural life.

Published

1 week ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Mildred Howard. Photo by Christine Cueto for the Oakland Museum of California, 2025.

Special to The Post

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) opened “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory,” the first major museum survey of Bay Area artist Mildred Howard, on June 12.

The exhibition spans five decades of Howard’s influential work, bringing together immersive installations, found-object sculptures, archival materials, and new commissions that explore memory, identity, and power in American life.

Howard was born in San Francisco in 1945 and raised in the East Bay, where she went on to study Afro-Haitian dance, make and sell clothing, and experiment with collage and sculpture.

Her multimedia art practice emerged from these experiences, later becoming associated with West Coast conceptual art, San Francisco funk, and a vibrant community of artists like Oliver Jackson, Betye Saar, and Raymond Saunders. Since the 1970s, she has used found materials and family stories to explore memory—both individual and collective.

At OMCA, visitors enter “Poetics of Memory” through a series of intimate galleries featuring Howard’s early mixed-media pieces and sculptures, along with a large video projection of a number of her public artworks.

Together, they emphasize Howard’s interest in everyday objects as powerful carriers of individual and shared stories. Highlights include collages that remix images of the artist herself; found-object sculptures like The History of the United States with a few Parts Missing (2007) that address omissions in dominant narratives; and public works like “Locks and Keys for Harry Bridges” (2001) that transform urban space into a meditation on access and labor.

This culminates in a richly detailed “studio” environment, where works in progress, archival exhibition flyers, historic photographs of Howard and her community, postcards from fellow artists, and other materials offer insight into her creative process and daily life.

The exhibition then opens into a high-ceilinged, dramatically lit space that brings together Howard’s signature immersive installations. On one end, “Crossings” (1997/2026) – a field of hundreds of ceramic eggs leading to an ornate mirror – suggests cycles of birth, motherhood, and transition, while drawing on the emotional echoes of the Middle Passage. On the other end, “Blackbird in a Red Sky” (a.k.a. “Fall of the Blood House”) (2002) – a red glass shack bordered by a pond – also uses reflection and transparency to draw viewers into the work and prompt consideration of themes of identity and home.

Howard’s newest video installation, “Moving Stills” (2026), repurposes never-before-seen family footage she took as a teenager on a train trip to the American South. Projected onto cascading layers of translucent fabric that stretch across an entire gallery wall, the piece immerses viewers in a layered meditation on memory, migration, and time.

The “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory” exhibit will be on display through Oct. 11 at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland, CA 94612. Museum hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours on Fridays to 9 p.m.

This story is sourced from the Oakland Museum of California press office.

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Oakland Director Boots Dazzles Once Again in ‘I Love Boosters’

Riley’s creative output is influenced by progressive ideals. His work, which includes six albums, the 2018 film “Sorry to Bother You,” and the 2023 comedy series “I’m a Virgo,” always shows that the alienation working-class people feel is inevitable under capitalism, he recently told The Guardian.

Published

3 weeks ago

June 10, 2026

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Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, and Keke Palmer star in “I Love Boosters” playing now in theaters. Directed by Oakland resident Boots Riley. Image courtesy of Neon.

“I feel lonely,” Keke Palmer’s character Corvette says in the first few minutes “I Love Boosters,” the new comedy adventure film from Oakland-based director Boots Riley.

“I wish I could feel lonely,” Naomi Ackie’s character Sade responds. “Try having kids.”

“I Love Boosters” teems with kaleidoscopic colors, sharp playful social critique, otherworldly plot twists, and fast-paced action, but it’s grounded in its main characters’ simple and relatable motivations: They want to be less isolated, and more free to pursue their own creative endeavors.

They’d like to design clothes and run a fashion boutique, but, unfortunately, they’re mostly busy surviving. Corvette and Sade, along with Mariah, played by Taylour Page, hustle and scheme through their brilliant scrappy organized crime group, the Velvet Gang. The gang regularly boosts clothes in the Bay Area and sells them at discounted prices.

Riley portrays the gang in a positive light in “I Love Boosters,” echoing the sentiment and title of a song he recorded 20 years ago with his hip-hop band, The Coup, where he praises boosters for providing poor communities with nice clothes they can afford: like a Robin Hood of the ’hood. But while morally righteous, materially, the gang is troubled. Corvette is haunted by unpaid bills and fears getting kicked out of the building where she squats, a shuttered fast-food chicken joint.

One thing that separates Riley’s film from most others about criminal gangs is that the Velvet Gang’s members work for a living. Theirs isn’t a greedy fantasy of becoming filthy rich, or for one last hit: Boosting is a job that still doesn’t pay nearly enough.

Visually, the film is a mix of psychedelia, afro-surrealism, noir, and perhaps a comic book.

The villain, Christie Smith, played by Demi Moore, an evil genius billionaire and fashion designer who runs the expensive clothing company the gang boosts from. She repeatedly appears on the news to put a target on the Velvet Gang members’ backs. When the gang ends up connecting with those who Christie directly exploits –workers here in the Bay Area, but also those in sweatshops overseas– the fight against Christie can commence; and uncoincidentally, Corvette starts to feel less lonely.

I don’t want to say much about that fight, but it’s delightful. Sci-Fi elements (which appear connected to Marxist theory) enter into the narrative to tie what’s become a pretty scatterbrained story together. Grounded by Palmer’s acting, “I Love Boosters” is a total joy and a refreshing break from the typical narratives we see these days. It’s totally over-the-top, but it knows it is.

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After 10-Year Wait, Fillmore Heritage Center Reopens in San Francisco

After serving as the economic and cultural hub of the Fillmore’s historically Black community for more than a decade, the center’s closure ended what was called the “Rebirth of the Cool,” referring to the neighborhood’s role during the height of Black Jazz in the United States.

Published

3 weeks ago

June 10, 2026

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Rev. Amos Brown of Third Baptist Church addresses community members at the Fillmore Heritage Center ribbon cutting. Photo by Linda Parker Pennington.

By Linda Parker Pennington, Special to The Post

Last Saturday morning, the cloudy skies cleared just as the highly anticipated ribbon-cutting ceremony began, marking the reopening of the Fillmore Heritage Center at 1330 Fillmore and Eddy.

The complex – which had once included Yoshi’s Jazz Club, the Lush Life Art Gallery, the Koret Heritage Lobby, a 54-seat microcinema, and the Black-owned 1300 On Fillmore restaurant – shuttered in 2015.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie announcing the reopening of the Fillmore Heritage Center. Erika Scott, owner of Honey Art Studio, looks on with pride. Photo by Linda Parker Pennington.

“The Fillmore is the most important neighborhood in San Francisco’s history for centering Black culture, music, business, and community, and has shaped this City and influenced the entire country,” said San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie to the gathering of more than 100 community leaders, business owners, and public officials. “This building reflects the deep roots of the Fillmore. Urban renewal left deep scars that are still felt today. This Center celebrates a strong Black community that continues to shape San Francisco. I am proud to join the community as we reopen the Fillmore Heritage Center.”

Although the previous stakeholders will not be returning to the center, spaces are available for nonprofit organizations and ventures, such as Fillmore native Ericka Johnson’s Honey Art Studio.

“This Center will be an economic engine and a thriving venue that shines a light on the Black-owned businesses in this neighborhood and lifts the entire district,” Lurie continued. “Our City is committed to this community for the long term.”

“We’re excited to collaborate with the City to finally reopen these doors,” said Ken Johnson, a videographer and community leader who’d been lobbying for the reopening of the center. “It’s an opportunity to showcase the entrepreneurship and creative spirit of this ‘Harlem of the West’ and the ‘Rebirth of the Cool,’ grounded in our uniquely gifted Fillmore community.”

This month, through its Office of Economic and Workforce Development, the city will begin renting the building’s noncommercial spaces for pop-up events celebrating local talent, arts, and entertainment primarily centered in the Fillmore.