Dr. Reagon is a Freedom Singer who highlights her forty year journey as a cultural activist, scholar and artist. Founder of "Sweet Honey In the Rock", she renders her passionate convictions in a moving and memorable mixture of song and spoken word, drawing on the life stories of 19th and 20th century African American women whose struggles for freedom guide her in this moving presentation.
Performing Arts Programs
Best-known for her Obie Award-winning play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, Ntozake Shange's work is informed by her passionate interest in issues relating to race and feminism. Named "A Living Legend" by the National Black Theatre Festival, Shange has declared herself "a poet first, and a playwright second". Her work empowers women to take responsibility for their lives by learning to love themselves and challenge their oppressors.
Kathleen Hanna was the lead singer of the influential 90s punk band Bikini Kill and the more recent, highly acclaimed multimedia group LeTigre. She was the pivotal figure of "Riot Grrl," the feminist music movement that took place between 1990 and 1996.
Kate Clinton is a faith-based, tax-paying, America-loving political humorist and family entertainer. Clinton uses humor as a force for social change and has been performing nationwide for 28 years. Her "standup" lecture reviews theories of contemporary comedy, debunks the premature report of the death of irony, and reveals the secret human longing for the wild ride of smart, challenging humor. Oh, and it entertains you. Really entertains you.
Called "the most accomplished documentary filmmaker of his generation" by The New York Times, Ken Burns is the creator of such acclaimed PBS series as "Baseball", "The Civil War" - the highest rated series in the history of American Public Television - and most recently "Unforgiveable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson."
With his work both praised and attacked for the forceful vision and social critiques they bring to audiences, the provocative director and producer has become an American film icon, and continues to lead the way in defining the African American experience for millions of people. Lee talks about movies, money, race and the need for greater diversity in film, media and life.
Cult movie icon in the Evil Dead series, star on the hit TV show Burn Notice, and author of books like "If Chins Could Kill", Bruce Campbell's multimedia talk offers a hilarious and insightful look at his career and Hollywood pretension.
"Dynamic", "heartwarming" and "soulful" are words often used to describe Lucas' portrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His uncanny resemblance to King is breathtaking, and his performance consistently brings standing ovations and a deeper appreciation of King's life, work and vision.
From the coal mines of Kentucky to the war-ravaged Bosnian countryside, Barbara Kopple documents people struggling to achieve their rights and respect in the world. Renowned documentary film maker and winner of two Academy Awards. Ms. Kopple shares the film process and the politics behind each with her audiences.
Called "America's multi-mediatrix" and a "modern renaissance artist and agent provocateur," Laurie Anderson is one of the most important artists of our time. She was one of the first to recognize the profound effect emerging technologies like the Internet are having on our global culture.
Jeff Stetson is an internationally acclaimed award-winning playwright and screenwriter for film and television.He is the author of "The Meeting" and "Blood on the Leaves."
When singer Toshi Reagon and her mother Bernice Johnson Reagon collaborate, their performances are dynamic and compelling. Their musical style not only transcends classification, but also expresses a political consciousness.
In 1859, Frederick Douglass, a relentless anti-slavery orator, was being sought by the state of Virginia with a warrant of arrest for his alleged activity in the armed assault on the Federal Arsenal at Harpers Ferry. This historical moment beset with national and personal drama is the setting for "Frederick Douglass, 1859." Guy Peartree renders Frederick Douglass with sensitivity to the historical and folkloric features of this period in American history.
Steven Fales is a professional actor who first came to national attention with his critically acclaimed, autobiographical Off-Broadway one-man play, Confessions of a Mormon Boy directed by Tony Award-winner Jack Hofsiss. Having rubbed shoulders with professionals and protestors, prostitutes and prophets, the multi-talented Fales is a self-proclaimed "Oxy-Mormon" who shares his humorous, compassionate, and clear-eyed perspective of the world through his writing and performing.
The only group in America that attempts to be funnier than the Congress, Capitol Steps is a troupe of current and former Congressional staffers who provide musical political satire on current issues. Capitol Steps has been featured on National Public Radio as well as on "Good Morning America," "The Late Show," "20/20," and NBC's "Nightly News," and has recorded twenty-four albums.
Author of "Black Film/White Money," filmmaker Jesse Rhines discusses the portrayal of African Americans on and behind the silver screen as well as the historic and present-day contributions of African American men and women to the motion picture industry from 1915 to the present.
Chan stars in the one woman play "Unbinding Our Lives" which shatters the exotic, subservient, “China doll” image. In this powerful show Ms. Chan portrays three real Chinese American women from China in the 1800's and their personal stories of being sold into child slavery, prostitution, and abandonment. An unforgettable look at forgotten history.
Abolitionist and suffragist Sojourner Truth's life is told in her own words using her speeches and songs in this dramatic presentation by Kathryn Woods. Born a slave, Isabella Baumfree walked away from slavery to become an evangelist, when she wasn't being a maid or laundress. In her travels she met preachers and advocates of all sorts, and evolved into Sojourner Truth.
Comedian and Actress Diana Yanez, tells a powerful and fantastically funny, personal account of growing up Cuban, Catholic and closeted in Miami! She is Winner of the Overall Excellence Award at the 2010 New York International Fringe Festival and has appeared Off-Broadway in Margaret Cho's “Sensuous Woman” as well as with Cyndi Lauper, Debbie Henry and Rosie O'Donnell.
June Cross follows news coverage and cultural thinking about race, sex, Hollywood, and politics. She is an Associate Professor at Columbia Journalism School, a writer, and an award-winning producer. Her first book, a memoir titled “Secret Daughter,” (based on an Emmy-winning documentary) was published by Viking in May 2006. She has worked for PBS’s Frontline and The Newshour, as well as for CBS News. Her most recent documentary, The Old Man and the Storm, followed three generations of a New Orleans family as they struggled to return to normal lives. It aired on PBS’ FRONTLINE in January 2009.
