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a development workshop of
Mother's View: An American Narrative
of the Irish Road
by Mark Connor
directed by Wendy Knox
with actors:
John Riedlinger, Patrick Bailey, Julian McFaul, Amiee Bryant, Zell Miller III, Tom Sherohman, Kathy Gagnon, + others
April 26th & 27th
a non-public developmental workshop for the playwright
co-sponsored by Rainbow Taxi + Irish Books and Media
supported by Jim Glancey + Pillsbury House Theatre
Mark Connor is a freelance writer/journalist from St. Paul. He has closely followed the Anglo-Irish conflict since 1990. After receiving a BA in Literature from the University of Minnesota in 1991, he continued a lifelong amateur boxing career until 1994, when he decided not to box professionally and writing became his life's endeavor. He lived and worked in Dublin, Ireland for a number of months in 1998, and traveled for a period in the six occupied counties of the north to observe the experience of Irish Nationalists during continued violence while the Good Friday Agreement peace accord was signed. From July 3 to July 5 of that year, he stayed as a freelance journalist with the Nationalist Garvaghy Road community in Portadown, County Armagh, at the time of the annual Drumcree march of the Loyal Orange Order, a Loyalist Protestant fraternal organization that stages thousands of marches every year from spring through fall to celebrate British rule. His observations were published in a 1999 cover article for Pulse of the Twin Cities, and his play, Mother's View: an American narrative of the Irish Road, which juxtaposes the Irish experience of colonialism with the experience of colonialism and racism of people of color in the U.S., came from that experience. Mark Connor is working to transfer out of employment as a taxi driver into both creative writing and journalism, as well as building a business endeavor in boxing for physical fitness and self-defense.
Tehuti: The Art of Spoken Word
Hosted: e.g.bailey and Shá Cage
Sundays 11pm-midnight
KFAI Fresh Air Radio
90.3FM Minneapolis/106.7FM in St. Paul
Online at www.kfai.org
Sunday 27 April
Words Will Heal the Wound 2003 (V.4) series
Tehuti will feature all the tracks from the Words Will Heal the Wound 2003 (V.4) series. If you haven't had a chance to hear the series during April, tune in to experience one of the best and most diverse series of spoken word recordings.
Sunday 4 May
A Tribute to Nina Simone
Singer/songwriter Nina Simone passed away on this week. Blessed with an incredible voice and a fighter's heart, she has been an influence to many. We will honor her life and her music with selections of her recordings, and excerpts from the spoken word performance blues for nina: a poetic exploration of the life and music of Nina Simone.
Tehuti: The Art of Spoken Word radio program debuted on 24 February 2002. The program showcases spoken word, and spoken word-related, recordings throughout history, from different artistic movements such as the Beat Generation and the Black Arts Movement to today. It includes the works of such well known spoken word artists such as the Last Poets, Gil Scott Heron, Saul Williams, Carl Hancock Rux, Jessica Care Moore, Tracie Morris, 2Tongues, among others and include the works of such poets as Langston Hughes, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, along with the Twin Cities artists such as Arkology, Edupoetic Enterbrainment, J. Otis Powell!, Truthmaze, Divine Words, Ancestor Energy, Bao Phi, and many many other incredible poets in this area.
Send materials and recordings to:
Attn: e.g. bailey
Box 125
KFAI Fresh Air Radio
1808 Riverside Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55454
The Evidence of Silence Broken
Written & Performed by Zell Miller III
Directed by Daniel Alexander Jones (New York, NY)
Featuring DJ Kitundu (San Francisco, CA)
Co-Produced by e.g. bailey & Shá Cage for Trú Rúts Endeavors
April 18th - May 3rd 2003
The Evidence of Silence Broken is a lyrical odyssey of metaphors, politics and music that explores the birth of a poet through spoken word and hip hop. This semi-autobiographical retelling of a poet’s growth blends spoken word, hip-hop beats and metaphors that fly through the air. Miller delves into the relationship between silence, truth and love and explores what silence sounds like, looks like, and feels like once it is broken.
“A writer and performer, Zell Miller, III is an incendiary device waiting for a match.”
—C. Denby Swanson, Austin Chronicle
Zell Miller, III is based in Austin, Texas and has been published by Huston Tillotson University and several other local and national publications, and is the winner of the 1999 Heman Sweat Symposium Slam. His one man show Mad Izm was selected Best of the Fest for Frontera Fest 1997 and was nominated for a B. Iden Payne Award for best original script. His play "She-a remember prayer a dream" was selected Best of the Fest for Frontera Fest 2002, and Arrhythmia was produced by Penumbra Theater in Saint Paul as part of their cornerstone series. A seasoned actor as well, Miller has garnered critical acclaim for his work. He has performed regularly at Hyde Park Theatre in plays such as Polaroid Stories and Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling, for which the Austin Chronicle called him “impeccably suave.”
American Theatre Magazine named DANIEL ALEXANDER JONES one of fifteen up-and-coming artists to watch in the 21st century. Daniel’s plays and performance pieces have been presented to critical and popular acclaim in the United States and abroad; these works include Blood:Shock:Boogie, Earthbirths, Ambient Love Rites, clayangels, Cab and Lena (with composer/performer Grisha Coleman) and La Chanteuse Nubienne (with choreographer Aleta Hayes). His latest play, Bel Canto, was workshopped at the 2002 Sundance Theatre Lab.
April 18 – May 3, 2003
Wednesdays through Saturdays, 7:30pm
Ticket price is 15$
Wednesdays @ The House (pay what you can): Wednesday April 25, 30
Pillsbury House Theatre
3501 Chicago Ave South
Minneapolis, MN 55407
For tickets call 612-825-0459
For more information, contact: info@truruts.com
Co-Sponsored by SASE: The Write Place, Babalu Restaurant, Juxtaposition Arts and Rhymesayers Entertainment
A Celebration of Community Through Poetry
A National Poetry Month Radio Series
sponsored by KFAI Fresh Air Radio
April 13th-30th 2003
Program airs 3 times a day: 10:55am • 1pm • 11pm
Executive Produced by e.g. bailey and Shá Cage for Trú Rúts Endeavors
Co-produced by Ben Durrant (of Crazy Beast Studios) and Nick Ketz
Featuring the works of Tim Shea, Na Tanya' Davina' Stewart, Ebay, Desdamona, Will Conley, Djola Branner, Sister Mimi + Tom Scott, Emmanuel Ortiz, God's Pager and Steve Petermeier.
For the fourth year, in celebration of National Poetry Month, multi-disciplinary artist, e.g. bailey, has created a Twin Cities Poetry Month spoken word series Words Will Heal the Wound. The series involves local artists who represent a diversity of cultural backgrounds and poetic traditions. As a poet and spoken word artist himself, bailey felt the need to illustrate the diversity of the poetic voices within the Twin Cities.
Recalling the plethora of music and styles present here in the Twin Cities, efforts have been made to accentuate our cultures in a way that unabashedly highlights the diversity of the spoken word scene in Minneapolis and St. Paul, through connections with individuals in the Senegelese, Arabic, Asian American, European American, and African American community.
The series will feature performances by a very talented cast of Twin Cities spoken word artists and poets. This event is sponsored by and aired on KFAI Fresh Air Radio (90.3 FM in Minneapolis and 106.7 FM in St. Paul). KFAI is the ideal location to host such an effort because of its own commitment to diversity. The poetry series begins on April 13th and works will be run throughout the month, presented during three times a day.
In response to why he has launched this project, e.g. bailey comments, "The poetic tradition is vital to every culture, and is a valuable way to learn about other cultures and each other. And with the advent of a new millennium I think it is even more essential to work towards and treasure a global community and understanding. With the diversity in the Twin Cities, as I have experienced it in the artistic community and at KFAI, I wanted to contribute to this possibility. Also, I am amazed by the incredible talents of artists in the Twin Cities, and this series was a perfect opportunity to showcase these talents."
For additional information contact Shá Cage or e.g. bailey at info@truruts.com.
Link to the image to the left to learn more about the Words Will Heal the Wound spoken word radio series.
In the Tradition: A History of Spoken Word
Mondays, May 5, 12, 19, from 6:30 - 8:00 PM
Walker Community Library
2880 Hennepin Avenue
The art of Spoken Word is a long practiced form rooted in the oral tradition, and most recognizable in the griot tradition of Afrika, the bardic tradition of Europe and the Middle east, the itinerant Tamil poets of India and the cantos singers of South America. Spoken Word as it is practiced today-the rhythmically––based performance of poetry and the continually innovative marriages of poetry and music––grows out of these traditions. It has indeed become the voice of the times, and the artists, the voice of the community. As the poets of the Harlem Renaissance spoke for and about their time, the Beat poets for theirs, and the Black Arts Movement artists for the 60s and 70s-the Spoken Word artists today speak for ours.
This class will look at the history of the art form, and how it has evolved from the various influences of the oral tradition, blues, jazz, and hip hop, and also such literary movements of the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, the Beat Generation, the Nuyorican Cafe resurgence, the Slam poetry movement and more. We will look at the works of Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, Saul Williams, Jessica Care Moore, Carl Hancock Rux and Twin Cities artists such as Bao Phi, Truthmaze, Desdamona, Divinewords, J. Otis Powell!, David Mura, Arkology and others.
The class is taught by spoken word artist, e.g. bailey. One of the leading authorities on the art form and history of Spoken Word, he is also co-founder of the MN Spoken Word Association, the spoken word radio shows Write On RaDio!, Tehuti: The Art of Spoken Word, and Urban Griots, and the Twin Cities only spoken word label, Speakeasy Records.
TO SIGN UP OR FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT
THE PEOPLE'S UNIVERSITY AND FOR A COMPLETE LISTING OF COURSES CHECK OUT WWW.FRIENDSOFMPL.ORG OR CALL 612-630-6174.
This program is made possible with support from the 3,000 members of The Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library and our community partners, including The Bakken Library and Museum, Minneapolis Community and Technical College, The Minneapolis Institute of Art Minneapolis Planetarium, MN Spoken Word Association, SASE: The Write Place, University of St. Thomas and University of Minnesota.
the works of Karen Lyu and Victorio Reyes
Trú Rúts is happy to have the opportunity to distribute the works of two diverse and talented artists.
Karen Lyu & Global Jazz are out to celebrate global music and connection — inspiring hearts, moving feet and opening minds through dynamic music from many cultures. Global Jazz plays eclectic global joy from salsa to jazz and Korean to Hebrew with soulful vocals sung by Karen HeaChung Lyu in several languages: English, Korean, Spanish, French, (Brazilian) Portuguese, Russian, Iroquis, Hebrew, Italian, Igbo (Nigerian), Vietnamese, Arabic and sign language (thanks to the help of friends and native speakers). The album includes musicians Michael O’Brien, Rubin Nizri, and James Allen, and special guests Devon Evans (of Bob Marley & the Wailers and Edupoetic Enterbrainment) and Soli Hughes (of Sounds of Blackness). It features songs in Spanish, Korean, Arabic, Hebrew and Portuguese, and includes such classics as “Three Little Birds”, “Summertime” and “Motherless Child”.
"(Karen Lyu) can be-bop, scat and growl with the best of them; sing wonderful, lyrical jazz favorites...and also throw in an occasional opera number just to keep things interesting. The band's eclectic, multicultural approach delivers a clear, fresh message..." ––Korean Quarterly Newspaper
"Some of the most diverse, intense and exotic music you will ever hear." ––Matt Zimmerman - Wild Sound
***
Victorio Reyes is an activist and poet based in Albany, NY. Victorio works to blend poetry with activism. He is currently involved in the Ironweed Collective––an non-heirarchical community, committed to finding sustainable ways of living by providing alteratives to the current system of exploitation. He is also the founder of the rebel army media company whose mission is to put out positive information by any means necessary. The Rebirth of Krazy Horse is Victorio’s first book of poetry. INCLUDES A SPECIAL SPOKEN WORD CD INSIDE THE BOOK.
“These words are fire galloping through forests of minds. Woe to he whose mind is a fenced in park. Such thoughts cannot easily be quarantined." ––Saul Williams, actor and co-writer, Slam; and author of two books of poetry, S/HE and The Seventh Octave.
“The Rebirth of Krazy Horse is urgently contemporary and at the same time part of a great tradition of revolutionary writing. Victorio Reyes challenges us to see the world in new ways and relentlessly inspires our struggles for justice." ––Barbara Smith, author, The Truth That Never Hurts: Writings on Race, Gender and Freedom.
To purchase these works, click on the images.
