What can a Black Moor, Our Mona and the very Adept Anthony Teach Us About Being a Good Neighbor – Come see the play "Lacunae"!

Playwright Mona R. Washington

Mona R. Washington most recent play, "Lacunae" will be performed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Perelman Building , 2525 Pennsylvania Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19130, December 9th at noon. This is a pay what you want event. This commissioned play is part of the "Philadelphia Assembled" project which is the first public art project ever undertaken by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Washington is the featured playwright. Her 'atmosphere', which is the way the project is organized, is 'Reconstruction' and for this project she has written plays about gentrification and displacement, and mass incarceration.

Director Antony P. Kamani has directed all of Washington's plays commissioned for "Philadelphia Assembled", including the short "Pop-Ups" and the upcoming "Lacunae". 

Director Tony P. Kamani 

For Washington, "Lacunae" is about making public art, and the multifaceted participation that entails, especially for theatre. She described this play as the culmination of all of the previous plays she has written-short and long-for "Philadelphia Assembled"...and it addresses the major question "What constitutes a just neighbor ?”

So, save the date. R.S.V.P. at magicwriting@live.com #PhilaMuseum #PhiladelphiaAssembled #PhilaOpenYourDoors

The Moorish Chief  by  Eduard Charlemont

The Amazingly Brilliant and Generous Artist Tamara Natalie Madden Has Died

                                                         Tamara Natalie Madden
                                                                  1975-2017

    Tamara-artist, Spelman professor and mother-died on November 4, 2017. This is such a shock. She was such a generous, kind soul. I can recount many stories, but most recently- this past summer-when my daughter was launching her website to promote and showcase her new poetry collection, she approached

Artist and Professor Tamara Natalie Madden

Tamara about using a particular piece of hers for the backdrop of the site. Sojourner wanted to know what costs would be involved. Tamara asked to read some of Sojourner's work.  After a few days later, after reading Sojourner's work, Tamara said she was impressed with Sojo's collection and other poetry,  and said Sojo could use that particular piece of artwork free of charge. 

Her work  and  the lives she touched speak for themselves. Here is a link to learn more about her: http://www.tamaranataliemadden.com/the-guardians/

A Go-Fund Me Campaign has been organized to support her daughter's college fund. Here is a link to this: https://www.gofundme.com/tamaratheartist

Remembering Langston Hughes; His Art, Life and Legacy - Princeton University Conference

* Source: http://conference.aas.princeton.edu/ 

Langston Huges by Winold Reiss

 

Remembering Langston Hughes: His Art, Life, and Legacy Fifty Years Later is a local and national forum on Langston Hughes.
           Nov. 10-11, 2017

Jessie Fauset, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston at Tuskegee Institute, 1927From the Langston Hughes Papers, James Weldon Johnson Collection in the Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. 

Since his death in May 1967, his art, particularly his poetry, has been invoked to articulate both some of the nation’s loftiest hopes and its deepest fears. The forum, jointly sponsored by several Princeton University academic departments, takes place over two days, November 10th and 11th, at Princeton University.

Hughes in Harlem

Conference organizer Wallace Best writes, “Langston Hughes has long shaped people’s understanding of themselves and of the United States more broadly.  His powerful written works have provided insight into our painful past and hope for a future beyond the ills that have plagued our society. He was the ‘Bard of Harlem’ and he remains America’s Bard.”

Free and open to the public.

McCosh Hall, Room 50 & Wallace Theater, Lewis Center for the Arts

November 10th-11th, 2017

Click here for full schedule of events:  http://aas.princeton.edu/news/dr-elizabeth-alexander-to-deliver-keynote-address-at-remembering-langston-hughes-conference/