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Black theater to take center stage in W-S W I N S TO N - S A L E M , N . C .

Volume 41, Number 46

60,000 people are expected

BY DONNA ROGERS THE CHRONICLE

Winston-Salem is about to have an explosion, of the good kind. Next week, the city can expect 60,000 people – including 50 celebri-

ties of film, television and stage – to come for the National Black Theatre Festival (NBTF).

Over 100 performances by 30 of the best black theatre companies from the United States and places worldwide will be part of the festival, says the N.C. Black Repertory Company, which produces the festival every two years. The com-

pany is based in WinstonSalem.

The festival runs Monday through Saturday, with a private reception for celebrities on Sunday and a star-studded gala on Monday night. The festival will offer all kinds of plays, from ones that center on well-known people to ones based on history and new See Expected on A2

NATURAL HAIR ISSUE

T H U R S D AY, J u l y 3 0 , 2 0 1 5

Vanessa Bell Calloway ready to go

BY NIKKI BALDWIN FOR THE CHRONICLE

The National Black Theatre Festival (NBTF) begins Monday, Aug. 3. It will feature over 100 per-

A new twist: Natural hair in the work place is becoming more popular

formances. “Letters from Zora: In Her Own Words,” is one of the plays. It stars stage, screen, television actress and dancer Vanessa Bell Calloway.

She will be performing at NBTF on Aug. 4 and Aug. 5 at the SECCAMcChesney Scott Dunn Auditorium in two shows on both days at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.

In an interview last week, Calloway said that when channeling Zora Neale Hurston, it was like singing a beautiful song or doing a dance, for she just loves being Hurston. She said the play, which has received great feedback, is a story she tries to tell the best way she can.

The play “Letters from

$40 million initiative to boost young kids

See Calloway on A2

BY DONNA ROGERS THE CHRONICLE

With those who will gain the help that the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust will give – young children – playing in the background, the Trust launched its decadelong, $30 million to $40 million Great Expectations initiative on Tuesday, July 28 at the Carver School Road Public Library branch.

The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust was established in 1947 and is now one of the largest private trusts in North Carolina. Its mission is to improve the quality of life and health for the financially needy of North Carolina.

“For the last several years, we have been working closely with individuals and organizations to design a strategy that ensures every child in Forsyth County has the opportunity to succeed from a young age,” said Karen McNeil-Miller, president of the Trust. “Now it is time to roll up our sleeves and get to work to help build an effective early childhood system that helps meet the challenges created when families live in poverty.”

Trust officials say they want to ensure that the thousands of children in Forsyth County, many from financially disadvantaged families, are meeting age-appropriate developmental milestones in their first five years, such as entering kindergarten ready for education and leaving kindergarten ready for learning and life success.

McNeil-Miller said, “It takes a community, all kinds

Ayana Hardin, back left, owner of Ayana's Glory Locs, catches up with client Angel Lee as Hardin provides her expertise in “sister-locking” Lee’s natural hair, interlocking her hair between itself to tighten and form the desired locks.

Photo by Erin Mizelle for the Winston-Salem Chronicle

See Kids on A2

Editor’s note: This is the first part of a two-part series.

FELECIA PIGGOTT-LONG, PH. D. FOR THE CHRONICLE

Hair politics in the workplace has been around as long as black women have been there.

Some black women have lost their jobs for wearing their hair in natural styles.

For instance, Shreveport, Louisiana television station KTBS fired meteorologist Rhonda Lee after she responded to racially charged remarks about her short natural hairstyle.

The topic has even popped up in panel discussions, such as the one sponsored by Georgia State University, which formed a panel discussion titled “Black Women, Their Hair & The Work Place – A Dialogue.”

However, the new millennium has set the stage for a paradigm shift in hair politics and hair fashion in the workplace.

Today, it is not surprising to see women sporting kinky

Hardin provides her expertise in “sister-locking” her client’s natural hair, interlocking her hair between itself with the help of a special tool to tighten and form the desired locks, on Thursday, June 4, at her specialty salon, Ayana’s Glory Locs, located at 307 Thurston Street.

twists, locks, Nubian Knots, braids, afro puffs and even afros.

The twist now is that many of the black women wearing the natural styles are women in charge.

“Naturally kinky hair was viewed as dirty, unkempt and unattractive into the mid-20th century,” Tiya Miles,

Children from Winston-Salem State University’s Head Start program enjoy Dylan Rowe as he entertains them by making animals from balloons on Tuesday, July 28, at the Carver School Road Library branch. The Great Expectations initiative was launched at the library minutes earlier.

Photo by Donna Rogers

Lawmakers, BOE director testify on new election practices

BY TODD LUCK THE CHRONICLE

Lawmakers and the N.C. State Board of Elections director were among those testifying on potential disenfranchisement under North Carolina’s controversial voting law in federal court.

The plaintiffs challenging House Bill 589, an election reform bill, rested their case last Friday after calling 40 witnesses to the stand, most of whom were voters affected by the law or experts

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on election law.

The plaintiffs, which include the N.C. NAACP, League of Women Voters and the U.S. Attorney General, contend that the law suppresses young and minority voters. The state made its case starting Friday and was expected to rest later this week, Michaux after The Chronicle’s press time, with a verdict to come after the judge has reviewed the evidence.

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Two Democratic lawmakers, N.C. Sen. Josh Stein, a member of the Senate Rules committee, and N.C. Rep. Henry “Mickey” Michaux, a member of the House Elections committee, testified on the legislative process for the bill. Stein said it was originally a 16-page voter ID bill that passed the House and sat for months in the House Rules committee. Then the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the pre-clearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act. It was less than a month later that Stein

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Late Night Blues Dinner

Winston-Salem Delta Fine arts inc., is sponsoring a 'late night blues dinner fundraiser' during the national Black theater Festival, featuring Big ron hunter on thursday, aug. 6 at 10 p.m. tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at door. Join us for fish and grits and more. on the walls of the art gallery: “We are the Music Makers”, a photography exhibit featuring the pioneers of Southern music through august 29. the Delta Fine art center is located at 2611 new Walkertown rd. For more information visit www.deltaartscenter.org or call 336-722-2625.

Prime Tyme Soul Cafe on University Parkway already is welcoming the National Black Theatre Festival before it starts on Aug. 3.

photo by Donna rogers

Expected

from page A1

plays that are based on various aspects of life. “letters from Zora: in her own Words,” which is based on Zora neale hurston, is one of the plays. it stars stage, screen, television actress and dancer Vanessa Bell calloway. in an interview last week (see article on page a1), calloway said she is engergized while at the nBtF. Some plays also are based on books. one play, “the Bluest eye,” is based on a book by toni Morrison. that book is on display in a mega bookstore in WinstonSalem as one of the books everyone must read.

plays will not be the only links to the arts during the festival. Films will be shown, an international colloquium will be held, tributes and awards will be given and workshops will take place. even youth will have plenty to do during the festival, including attend Midnight poetry Jam, in which poets of all skill levels can sign up immediately before the event to perform on stage. Youth also have other activities, including teentastic activities on aug. 6 through 8.

(See details in the national Black theatre Festival tab inside The Chronicle.)

Some of the activities will be free, but most will cost admission. estimates are that $10 million will be

pumped into the WinstonSalem economy next week. one business is already welcoming the nBtF. prime tyme Soul cafe on University parkway, already has fliers and signs that say it “welcomes the Black theatre Festival.” and “Black arts Festival.”it is advertising entertainment next week and its soul food plate.

Winston-Salem Delta Fine arts inc., is sponsoring a 'late night blues dinner fundraiser' during the national Black theater Festival. and 56 friends are traveling by bus from St. louis to attend the festival. the group plans to attend the production of "at last: a tribute to etta James" while they are here.

Friends of St. Louis travel for NBTF

What began as a couple of friends from St. louis, Missouri attending the first nBtF in 1989 has developed over the years to 56 friends traveling by bus to attend the 2015 nBtF in Winston Salem, nc.

When Shirley ann Williams attended the first festival with members of the St. louis Black repertory theatre she started a two-year pilgrimage to Winston Salem. this tradition has continued over the past 26 years, although Shirley ann died 2014. on aug. 6, Friends of St. louis will celebrate her contributions by hosting a "Shirley ann Day" at the hampton inn on Summit Square. this day will reflect on the love that Shirley anne had for the nBtF and the friendships that have formed due to the nBtF. a banquet has been planned. Sylvia hamlin, executive producer of nBtF, will greet and inspire the group. Following dinner at WSSU. these friends look forward to returning to Winston Salem for the southern hospitality, educational experiences, food, friendships and theatrical productions.

Kids

from page A1

of partners, agencies, families themselves, the faith community, business community, it’s going to take them all. … every corner of our community has to feel this and believe this.” “this is a game-changer for our community,” said leslie hayes, Business Banking Division Manager at Wells Fargo Bank, which is the trustee for the trust and represents the business community. “it’s our children and our future.”

Great expectations will invest in strategies to increase community engagement, such as encourage community members to read to children; improve the systems that serve families, share knowledge and lessons learned and build provider capacity. the initiative also will focus on direct services to children and adult caregivers in the following core priority areas: *Improving child and family health.

*Improving self-regulation and executive function among children and adults. *Improving parent-child interactions and adult caregiving capacity.

Vanessa Bell Calloway on stage as Zora Neale Hurston.

Calloway

from page A1

Zora,” written by Gabriella pina, is about the life of Zora neale hurston, who was a renown africanamerican writer who wrote thousands of letters to her closest friends. the play reveals through the letters written by hurston a side of her that was not widely known about her. hurston’s letters, which were not widely known about, follows calloway navigating hurston’s life from her childhood to her death with the use of hurston’s letters. calloway, who has been a part of the national

Black theatre Festival before, said, “i have been coming to the national Black theatre Festival for years. Winston-Salem is such a great place that makes you feel special and wonderful.” calloway also talked about the nBtF and her joy of seeing everybody along with the people who really appreciate the plays, and the energizing feeling she gets while at the nBtF. When asked how long it took her to become hurston, calloway said before the first time she performed the play, it took her a month to learn the dialogue and then two months to become her.

photo courtesy of opaS

calloway who has been doing this play for four years, said every time she does the play she always finds something new in it, along with the playwright Gabrielle pina. calloway said she looks forward to seeing her friend Debbie Morgan’s one-woman show “the Monkey on My Back!” along with rain pryor’s play Fried chicken and latkes that will both be performed on thursday, aug. 6. calloway said she would love to see more plays, but since she is working as well it leaves her with limited time to see many plays.

*Supporting children’s oral language and vocabulary development. *Building systems and strengthening families.

to start the initiative off and expand Great expectations work around the community the trust announced over $1.4 million in grants to two government agencies and a business: *$330,000 to Forsyth County Public Library to establish Great Expectation corners for branches and two mobile units that cater to preschool students.

*$640,000 to Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools to improve the playgrounds at 23 Title One elementary schools. The playgrounds are open to the community after school, so the community will benefit, McNeil-Miller said.

*$430,000 to First Book, a nonprofit organization that gives children from lowincome families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. The grant will allow First Book to give 1,000 educators books for children of preschool age in disadvantaged areas.

children from Winston-Salem State University’s head Start program took part in story time and refreshments, and each child attending was to receive a free book. carolyn Wood, a grandmother who works in the public library system, said during the presentation that community members can help with the initiative by reinforcing children’s reading skills, such as reading to them at schools. “they need an adult that makes the commitment to teach the children to read,” she said.

Denise D. adams wins 30th District prince hall affiliated 2015 Miss oeS contest

Special to the chronicle

Denise D. adams, a member of rose Mccloud chapter #608 order of the eastern Star in Walkertown, won the 2015 Miss oeS Queen’s contest for the 30th District order of the eastern Star, p.h.a. the contest was held on Saturday July 18, at the prince hall Masonic temple on east 14th Street. the first runner-up was tonya Woods, a member of Meridian chapter #308 and second runner-up was Shannon Fulp, a member of Sisters of Bivouac chapter #530. other members who participated were

Marcelle Shell, Worthy Matron of Beauty of the West chapter #36; Janice ramandan, member of Queens of olympic chapter #620; and Jacqueline McKoy, member of Sisters of James h. Young Memorial chapter #592. adams has been a member of rose Mccloud #608 for over 29 years and currently holds the position of secretary.

She is a member of emanuel Baptist church. She is a graduate of Morgan State University and is a lifetime member of the Delta Sigma theta Sorority inc. adams has served as the Winston-Salem city council member for the north Ward since

2009. She serves on many committees and boards for the city and other organizations.

Worthy Matron latasha Wilson-lane was mistress of ceremony for the program Gwendolyn Joyner, district deputy grand matron of District 30, presented the contestants with gifts and certificates and gave closing remarks. a reception for the queen and her court and the guests was held immediately after the program in the Masonic temple fellowship room. past Matron carolyn Jones and past Matron cynthia acker were the co-chairs for the 2015 Miss oeS contest.

Adams

Officials join residents to mark 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act T H E C H R ON I C LE

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Chronicle, P.O. Box 1636 Winston-Salem, NC 27102-1636

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The Chronicle (USPS 067-910) was established by Ernest H. Pitt and Ndubisi Egemonye in 1974 and is published every Thursday by Winston-Salem Chronicle Publishing Co. Inc., 617 N. Liberty Street, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101. Periodicals postage paid at Winston-Salem, N.C. Annual subscription price is $30.72.

Photos by Todd Luck

July 29 – August 04, 2015

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Above Some of the gadgets that help the hearing impaired on display at last week's ADA anniversary celebration. Daniel Moody assists young Jamé Malik in trying out his basketball wheelchair.

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He said the ADA helped him go to college shortly after losing his hearing by letting him get a CART interpreter, which essentially close-captioned his classes, until he became comfortable enough with sign language to have a signing interpreter.

He said though it can be challenging to communicate sometimes when he’s out and about, advancing technology and the ADA have improved his life greatly. He said thanks to the ADA, he can even go see a movie with closed captioning in a theater, using special glasses to see the text.

“I have said I became deaf at the best possible time,” he said.

rC o up on

Hundreds came together to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act at Triad Park in Kernersville on Friday, July 24.

The ADA ensured the rights of disabled Americans, giving them accessibility and protecting them from discrimination.

More than 50 million Americans have a disability, making them the largest minority group in the country.

Maybe that’s why Winston-Salem Assistant to the Mayor Linda Jackson-Barnes and Kernersville Mayor Dawn Morgan could so easily think of people that had been affected by the act, which they mentioned reading their Fbefore 5prospective proclamations for the event. s Jackson-Barnes -recalled taking her late mother, who was in a ywheelchair, to New York tCity to see the play “The Color Purple” in 2006. She tsaid without federal acces-sibility requirements, she -wouldn’t have been able to spend that wonderful week in the Big Apple with her mother, who passed away the following year.

Morgan recalled Peggy Sue MacKenzie, a young woman in a wheelchair s with muscular dystrophy, who she attended middle and high school with gbefore the ADA passed. sMacKenzie had rubbed shoulders with politicians hand celebrities at only 7 eyears old when she was the 1972 poster child of the Dystrophy eMuscular Association. But she still faced many barriers as a teen.

Whenever MacKenzie and Morgan went to see a movie, they had to wait for the theater manager to let them in through the fire exit. There were only six steps between MacKenzie and her access to the high school auditorium where ,graduation was held.

-Morgan said classmates had to carry MacKenzie up -the steps so she wouldn’t miss the big day.

The event took place -under two large picnic shel-ters with various groups that serve those with disabilities using tables to tout -their services. There was a talso a presentation on the nhistory of disability rights

by Mark Steele, the executive director of The nAdaptables, a local Center for Independent Living that gadvocates for all disabili-ties. All presentations where translated into sign elanguage and typed on a screen using CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) for the hearing impaired.

“The ADA just puts things on a level playing field,” said Steele. “It doesn’t put people with a disability at an advantage; it just asks for things to be accessible and level.”

Steele has been using a wheel chair since a 1981 spinal cord injury. He said the passage of the ADA made buildings and transportation accessible for him.

“All aspects of my life I can say changed for the better because of the

ADA,” he said.

While the ADA protects employees from being fired for a disability and requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for an employee’s disability, it’s getting those with disabilities hired that remains the problem. Seventy percent of those with a disability are not part of the workforce.

“There’s been a lot of advances in public accommodation and accessibility features with buses and interpreters and making the world accessible, but the employment piece still needs a lot of work,” Steele said.

Winston-Salem Industries for the Blind, the largest employer of blind or visually impaired people in the country, had various sporting equipment for the blind and visually impaired there, including a talking dart board. IFB hosted a national dart tournament in 2013 and will do so again in 2016.

Among those challenging sighted people to try using the dart board blindfolded was Anastasia Powell. She started losing her vision at 14 years old and was completely blind when she was 21. She started at IFB in 2005 working on a sewing machine and is now adult program coordinator for IFB’s Brighter Path outreach program.

Powell said ADA benefits places like IFB by requiring federal agencies to purchase AbilityOne products made by people who are blind or have another significant disability. Powell said obstacles remain for the blind locally.

She said there needs to be more sidewalks on streets and more beeping crosswalks that let the blind and visually impaired know when it’s safe to cross the street.

A Brighter Path is involved in many activities for the blind and visually impaired, including the Blind Idol singing contest and the After Dark fundraiser, where blind people like Powell are teamed with a local artist to create artwork that’ll be auctioned off. “People think because we’re blind, we’re not capable of X, Y, Z,” she said.

“Just know we’re very capable, especially when provided with the proper tools.”

David Litman, a hard of hearing services specialist from Greensboro, says the same thing about deaf people. He lost his hearing at 26, so he can speak despite being completely deaf.

Even so, he says that people talk to him on the phone without ever realizing he can’t hear a word they’re saying because his phone connects him to live video feed of a sign language interpreter who translates the call for him.

It’s one of many gadgets that deaf people can use and the state’s Division of Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, which he works for, had several on display at its table. They included a telephone that’ll show what’s being said as text and a device that’ll make lights blink if a door bell rings and shake the bed when an alarm clock goes off.

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NC court upholds taxpayer-funded grants T H E C H R ON I C LE

A 4 J U LY 3 0 , 2 0 1 5

BY MICHAEL BIESECKER ASSOCIATED PRESS

A divided state Supreme Court ruled Thursday in favor of a Republican-backed program that spends taxpayer money on tuition for students at private and religious schools.

The 4-3 decision split North Carolina's highest court along ideological lines, reversing a lower court ruling declaring the state's Opportunity Scholarships unconstitutional.

Chief Justice Mark Martin wrote in the majority opinion that taxpayers who challenged the program failed to show they suffered harm, adding that it's not the court's responsibility to determine whether such tuition vouchers are a good idea.

“Our state and country benefit from the debate between those with differing viewpoints in this quintessentially political dialogue. Such discussions inform the legislative process,” wrote Martin, who was joined by the court's other three Republican justices. “But the role of judges is distinguishable, as we neither participate in this

dialogue nor assess the wisdom of legislation. Just as the legislative and executive branches of government are expected to operate within their constitutionally defined spheres, so must the courts.”

Last year, the program distributed more than $4.6 million for 1,216 students from low-income families to attend 224 private schools. At least three-quarters of the schools identify a religious creed.

Supporters of the program tout that almost three-quarters of the students who received scholarships were minorities.

“Today the Supreme Court reaffirmed that education in North Carolina is about our children and their future,” said Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, who backed the law creating the program. “This ruling makes clear that parents, not education bureaucrats or politicians, ought to be able to choose the educational pathway best suited to their children's needs, and it empowers thousands of low-income families across the state to make that important choice.”

About 20 states help students attend religious and other private schools with vouchers, tax credits or both,

Moral Monday leader Barber inspires protests, arrests and action

ASSOCIATED PRESS

GOLDSBORO, N.C. – The Rev. William Barber II walks gingerly with a cane, in a hunched-over posture, yet here he is on a recent Monday, leading 3,500 protesters on a downtown street.

He says God must have a sense of humor to call on a man who has such difficulty walking to lead the Moral Monday protests that began in North Carolina two years ago.

Barber's speeches and his throwback tactics _ in vogue again following several deaths of black men at the hands of police _ draw comparisons to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. More than 1,000 demonstrators have been arrested for civil disobedience in North Carolina since Barber, president of the state NAACP, started the legislative protests.

The demonstrations have spread to at least half a dozen other states and given him minor celebrity status. Supporters wear ``I went to jail with Rev. Barber'' buttons. Barber, 51, has been jailed five times himself. ``What I know is what we are in is a time when we can't afford to be silent,'' Barber said, perched against a tall stool in his office at his church in Goldsboro. ``We are battling for the soul and consciousness of this country.''

The protests target conservative politics and Republicans, who took control of the North Carolina Statehouse and governor's office in 2013, and cover everything from redistricting to labor laws to women's rights, gay rights and the environment.

Moral Mondays are the legislative protest piece of the broader Forward Together movement led by the NAACP, which is in court over the state's new voting law and will be back in court next month to challenge redistricting. Barber led thousands in a march and rally in Winston-Salem on Mass Moral Monday, July 13, the day the voting law trial began in WinstonSalem.

Detractors accuse Barber of grandstanding or say he is continuously repeating himself and not worth their time. A former state senator once called his movement “Moron Monday.”

His supporters say his leadership is reminiscent of both King and Ella Baker, who helped form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1960.

Scholar and civil rights activist Cornel West, who is friends with Barber, describes him as ``the only King-like figure we have in the country right now.''

“I have just been overwhelmed by his intellectual and spiritual power,” West said.

To understand Barber's desire to help the disenfranchised is to know his father's influence. Almost

every story Barber tells somehow references Buster Barber, who would point to Jesus' first sermon, when he said he had been anointed “to proclaim good news to the poor.'' ``And my father was very clear that to be Christian, to follow Jesus is to be concerned about the weightier matters of the law, of justice and mercy,'”Barber said.

He was 4 years old when his parents returned from Indianapolis to his father's roots in eastern North Carolina, called there by local leaders who wanted their help with desegregating the schools.

His father, now deceased, was an educator and minister, and his 81-year-old mother has worked as a secretary in schools.

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He took his parents' lessons about equality to heart, becoming the first black student elected alone as student body president of Plymouth High school; previously, a white student and a black student had shared the position. He understood the value of education and got a doctoral degree.

He can speak thoughtfully and quietly, quoting the Bible, the Constitution and poets, or he can jump and shout, and he often does during speeches.

Willie Jennings, a professor at Duke University, is one of Barber's closest friends. They got to know each other when Barber was getting his master's degree in divinity at Duke and Jennings was a doctoral student.

“William has, for many years, even before Moral Monday, he has always spoken to people with power, whether they be political figures, military,” Jennings said. ``He has always spoken to them and challenged them to give account of how what they do will help poor people.''

Barber

Barber's paying job is as minister of Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro. The NAACP doesn't pay him for his work as state chapter president or as chair of the political action committee of the organization's national

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according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In a pair of dissents, the court's three Democrats said the scholarships violated a constitutional edict that public funds can be spent only for public purposes. They also agreed with an earlier ruling by Wake County Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood that the program was unconstitutional because religious schools can enroll or reject children based on their faith.

Critics also point out that the program doesn't require private K-12 schools to meet state teaching standards.

Teachers at voucher schools aren't required to have a high school diploma, criminal background checks aren't mandatory, and schools may focus instruction on Bible or Quran texts.

“Today is a sad day for any North Carolinian who cares about public education,” said Christine Bischoff, a staff attorney at the North Carolina Justice Center.

“Allowing public funds to go to private schools will directly harm our already underfunded schools and the children of North Carolina who rely on them.”

board. He has no set speaker's fee, although he sometimes gets paid for speeches. He also will talk to groups that can't afford anything but his transportation.

He and his wife have five children; because of death threats, he shields them from reporters.

His difficulty walking isn't the result of his weight _ he's lost 150 pounds in recent years and is trying to lose more _ but of an inflammatory disease that also causes a bend in his neck that gives him that hunched-over appearance.

The best-known criticism of Barber came two years ago, just after the Moral Monday protests had started, from then-Sen. Thom Goolsby, who wrote a column referring to the movement as “Moron Mondays.''

More recently, state Republican Party leaders set up a website accusing Barber of taking money from unions. Barber does speak to unions and supports their efforts.

Two GOP leaders declined to be interviewed about Barber. A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Phil Berger wrote that Barber “has been making the same claims for years now – and this point in the legislative session, we simply don't have time to respond.”

Barber resists calls to raise his national profile, believing change in the country starts in the South, where his parents brought him more than 40 years ago to fight segregation. He'll stay in North Carolina and fight, just as they did.

“We can overcome the crippling realities of our current moment because when you come together, things can be changed,” he said. “This kind of prophetic hope is not the kind that sets you to peace; it's the kind that stirs you to action.''

Associated Press writer Kathy Matheson in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

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Winston-Salem moves to the beat of the first North Carolina No Stress Fest

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inspiration for the lipstick and gloss in one started when it was her birthday and she was searching for a black lipstick and decided to create her own, which led to her ReveLips On Saturday, July 25 at 2 p.m. the North Carolina No product.

Stress Fest event was held at Ziggy’s Music Park in downShe said she had been at the event since 10 a.m. and town Winston-Salem. The event contained a platform for has had a few of the people at the event stop by her booth. artists to perform their music, games as well as vendors Hall said the booth was expensive, but she would definitewho were selling food, makeup and jewelry. ly come back again if the event is held next year.

The event featured perCandace Payne a formances by Grammy nomiWinston-Salem resident nated recording artist 2 who said she was looking Chainz, DJ E. Sudd, Gilles, forward to seeing Migo Armani Caesar, local artists, Money perform. “I am the MTV Wild ‘N Out memenjoying seeing all the bers Darren Brand, Chico artists at the event and Bean and Osama Bin would definitely come Drankin and artists sponsored again next year with my by the management and marfriends if the event is held keting firm Street Execs. again,” she said.

The MTV comedian Another Winston-Salem Chico Bean, who is a D.C. resident, Alduse Lettsome, native, performed during the said he was looking forevent. He said he heard about ward to seeing 2 Chainz at the event when DJ E. Sudd, the event. When asked if he who is a very good friend of Photos by Tevin Stinson is enjoying himself, he said, his and was one of the first 2 Chainz was the main attraction during the first No “It’s nice to come outside to people he met when he Stress Fest held at Ziggy’s Music Park, 170 W. 9th hear music and see a lot of moved to North Carolina, St. in downtown Winston-Salem. people.” Lettsome said he told him about it. Bean said would definitely come his upcoming events include traveling to Greensboro for a again and tell people about it if the event was held next show, then he will be in New York the next week to shoot. year.

He said his advice for people wanting to achieve their 2 Chainz performed later in the night, about 11 p.m., goals would be to “work hard and go after your dreams, to an eager crowd. don’t procrastinate, for God does not make mistakes. We The Street Execs producer Chill Go Hard, who is from all have gifts we been blessed with that is worthy.”

South Carolina, said the firm was started when he signed Female rap artist Armani Caesar performed “2nite” a deal that plugged him into the industry and the rest is and “Bad Attitude” at the No Stress Fest. She considers history. When asked about his artists, Go Hard said, “If the her home to be in New York and North Carolina and cur- local artists lose the streets, then they lose the heart of the rently has “Caesar Mondays” on 102 Jamz, where her music, and we can’t forget that.” music is played in Winston-Salem. She said she considers He said Street Execs promotes events like No Stress her style to be versatile for it’s “very over the top.” Caesar Fest in Atlanta, Ga. and South Carolina as well as in North is currently working on her mix-tape called “Caesar’s Carolina. He said the idea was started when the Street Palace” and will be heading to the studio in Atlanta to Execs team and DJ E. Sudd wanted to captivate every work on her music with artists such as Mase. She said she artist from the area while still being in tune with the peowill be going on tour in the future. ple in the community.

Another artist that performed was Gilles Walters from Atlanta, Georgia, who is a rap artist as well as a lawyer. He To find more information about Chill Go Hard, go to said he first heard about the event through advertisements Instagram or Twitter @_ChillGoHard. and made a phone call afterward to his manager, who was To find more information about Armani Caesar, go to able to secure him a spot in the event. He was set to per- Instagram or Twitter @armanicaesar. form his song “Super” and said he normally relaxes before To find more information about Gilles Walters music, going on a set to perform. go to SuperGilles.com.

One of the vendors was ReveLips founder Teria Hall, To find out more information about Revelips, visit who is located in the Winston-Salem area. She said her www.shopreve23.com.

BY NIKKI BALDWIN FOR THE CHRONICLE

The Salvation Army Academy of Music & Arts sets Graduation Concert for Friday

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

The Summer Conservatory of The Salvation Army Academy of Music & Arts, in partnership with the WinstonSalem Symphony, will present its Graduation Concert on Friday, July 31, at 6:30 p.m. at Galilee Missionary Baptist Church, 4129 Northampton Drive in Winston-Salem.

Special guest Voices of Galilee will perform with the students.

Winston-Salem Area Commander Maj. James Allison says, “The Summer Conservatory Graduation Concert is a testament to the hard work of the students and dedication of the staff. The fruit of their efforts combined with the amazing Voices of Galilee will provide a wonderful evening for all who attend.”

The concert is free and the public is invited.

The Summer Conservatory is an intensive seven-week music day camp that takes place daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Students in the program learn to play a brass instrument (trumpet, horn, baritone or tuba) and get to learn a second instrument of their choice depending on availability (guitar, piano or drumline).

Violin as a second instrument is offered through a partnership with the Winston-Salem Symphony. Students learn basic music theory, sing in a choir and take part in a

Bible class. The summer conservatory is open to children in grades 4-12 who can commit to attend all seven weeks of the program. New students need no prior brass or musical experience.

Students have plenty of time for recreation daily.

Field trips are taken once a

week as part of the curriculum. These include visits to the mall, bowling, movies and weekly trips to the YWCA Gateway pool. In addition, the most advanced students will have the opportunity to take part in several ministry trips to local assisted living residences and two

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The first No Stress Fest drew a packed house on Saturday, July 25. The event was held at Ziggy’s Music Park, 170 W. 9th St. in downtown Winston-Salem.

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Sunday ministry trips to area Salvation Army corps.

For more information on The Salvation Army Academy of Music & Arts contact: David Zuniga at (336) 970-0608 or (336) 499-1196 ext. 171 or David.Zuniga@uss.salvationarmy.org.

Don’t wait ~ apply online now at www.FForsythTTech.edu to start classes this fall.

Registrration is August 12-13

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Our Mission ELAINE PITT

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The Chronicle is dedicated to serving the residents of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County by giving voice to the voiceless, speaking truth to power, standing for integrity and encouraging open communication and lively debate throughout the community.

Heed domestic terrorism in its various manifestations GUEST EDIITORIAL

U. S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch delivered a blunt message [recently] that is worth remembering as we assess the risks and hazards in the world around us.

“Hate crimes themselves are the original domestic terrorism” Lynch said in her first official visit to Durham, where she grew up and attended high school, since she became attorney general.

She harkened back to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, and then harkened back even further.

“I remember literally after 9/11 talking to civic groups about the trauma the country faced with those recent terrorist attacks, and reminding them that many of our citizens had been subjected to similar ones in the past.”

Her remarks, in the wake of the massacre of nine African-Americans at a Charleston, South Carolina, church, also touched on tragedy closer to home – the slaying in Chapel Hill of Deah Barakat, Yusor AbuSalha and Raza Abu-Salha.

Lynch said she could offer no updates on the Department of Justice inquiry into whether that was a hate crime ...

In recent months, we've been reminded often that, while not dismissing the threat of international terLynch rorism, we would do well to heighten our focus on the domestic terrorism to which Lynch referred. In February, the Southern Poverty Law Center published a study that concluded the majority of domestic terrorism comes from ``lone wolves,'' disturbed individuals acting alone like the Charleston suspect, Dylann Roof The center's study “included violence from both the radical right and homegrown jihadists,” a press release from the center reported. But the center particularly called on federal agencies to “reinvigorate

“Hate crimes themselves are the original domestic terrorism” –Attorney General Loretta Lynch

their work studying and analyzing the radical right,” SPLC's Mark Potok said.

The domestic terrorism numbers are widely acknowledged to be understated. Some police agencies fail to report them to national databases. And some victims may not report hate violence because of “a sense that nothing will be done,” Richard Cohen, president of the law center, wrote in The Washington Post.” “This is particularly troubling,” he wrote, “because we're in the midst of a strong – and often violent – backlash to the growing diversity and tolerance in our country.”

We've seen too many manifestations of that backlash and will sadly no doubt see more. That's why the new attorney general's admonition to heed domestic terrorism here [recently] was so very resonant.

FROM THE (DURHAM) HERALD-SUN

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Over 3,500 people from across the state and nation gathered in Winston-Salem on July 13 for the Mass Morial Monday March for Voting Rights.

W-S showed the nation how to handle march, rally To the Editor:

Greetings and Thanks to All Supporters!

On behalf of the more than 60 members of the March for Voting Rights Winston-Salem Organizing Committee, Kim Porter and I, Mr. Isaac Howard, President of the Winston-Salem Branch NAACP and Rev. Dr. William Barber, President of the NC State NAACP, we would like to simply express our appreciation and say thank you for providing gracious hospitality, protection and professionalism toward the more than 6,000 citizens and visitors last week in preparation for March, Rally and Voter Suppression Trial.

Community leaders and residents from this city and surrounding areas were well received with excellent service. Visitors who came from cities across the state of North Carolina and many other states told us how impressed they were with our city and felt great hospitality as soon as they arrived.

The City Manager, Assistant City Manager, Mayor Allen Joines and the City Council greeted, welcomed and assisted visitors to our city in a courteous and friendly manner.

We especially want to express our profound gratitude to the professional and efficient police officers of the City of Winston-Salem, and others

within our Public Safety Department, who were instrumental in creating an atmosphere for a peaceful demonstration from the start of the week of activities until the end of the week.

Participants felt very safe under the vigilant watch of our public safety officials.

The Public Works and Sanitation professionals extended fine service during the week prior to the march until the end of the various events, including an exceptional job rendered the day of the march and rally.

Due to the heat factor, some of the marchers experienced some fainting incidents; however, because of the excellent training and expertise of the Forsyth County Emergency Medical Service and the Winston-Salem Fire Department, people were given prompt attention and these incidents were taken care of in a professional, timely manner. Because these workers took care of these emergencies so quickly, the rally and march continued without interruption.

During the educational teach-ins at various libraries and recreation centers in the city, the recreation workers and support persons from the Recreation and Parks Department and the Public Library demonstrated great expertise and professionalism, and we say thank you.

Servants of the people in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County showed the nation how it is done, to protect and to serve, to be government of, by and for the people. Kudos to all City and County employees who made us proud!

Linda Sutton Winston-Salem NAACP Secretary

Neely School ribbon cutting set for Aug. 1

Photo by Tevin Stinson

To the Editor:

The purpose of this letter is to inform you of the Neely School Ribbon Cutting scheduled for August 1, 2015 at the school, which is located across the street from 150 Neelytown Road, China Grove, NC. In the early 1900s, shortly after the end of slavery, Julius Erastus and Katie McKenzie Neely were concerned that their African-American children did not have an opportunity to become educated. They lobbied family and friends along with the superintendent to assist in building and staffing a one-room school.

Over 1,400 children were educated at the Neely School from 1908– 1948. In 2010, the grandchildren of the school’s founders and school alumni formed a foundation to restore the school building to its prior appearance. The school is located on the Neely Family Home Site, which also includes a nature trail to the original location of the Neely School.

The school has been restored and the public is invited to attend the Ribbon Cutting, which will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, August 1, 2015.

The attire is casual.

Mary Neely Grissom President/Chairman Historic Neely School Foundation Inc.

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The General Assembly protects symbols of a pro-slavery, white supremacist, segregationist past more than people

Last night [July 23], William J. Gov. Pat Barber McCrory signed the "Historic Guest Artifact Columnist Management a n d Patriotism Act," which prevents local officials from removing Confederate monuments and gives that authority to the North Carolina General Assembly and Governor.

This morning [July 24], the N.C. NAACP and Forward Together Moral Movement challenged Governor McCrory and the General Assembly's decision to prioritize the protection of Confederate monuments over the protection of North Carolinians. [There also was talk about a possible boycott of North Carolina.]

N.C. NAACP President Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II's statement is below: Let us not forget what these symbols are really about because symbols have tremendous power. We sometimes forget that in North Carolina's history, in the late 1890s, when they spread propaganda about what would be the Wilmington Riots, many whites could not read, so they used symbols. One of those symbols would be a black man or politician looking like a vampire holding two white women in his claws and someone coming along with a Confederate flag and rescuing the white women. The symbols were more than just cartoons.

And after the promise of Reconstruction, one writer has said, whites could not re-enslave blacks. But what they could do was raise a likeness of the peculiar institution's symbols to remind them of their (former slaves' and their descendants') 'proper place' in the South. These memorials reinforced racial inequality in the past. That's why in a lot of places, when you travel around the state, the memorials are right in front of the courthouses. They were there to remind black people, as they went into those courtrooms, that Jim Crow is still king; that you are in a state that still does not want you; that you better stay in your place. They were meant to elicit fear.

Today, the General Assembly is more committed to protecting monuments – some of which have the Confederate flag engraved on them – symbols of a pro-slavery, white supremacist, segregationist past than they are to protecting people who are living right now.

The governor is so weak that he would rather placate those with this divisive and extremist agenda than stand up and demand that North Carolina politics come into the 21st century. Governor, the truth is, if you do not believe you can stop the selling of license plates with Confederate flags, why not put one on the back of the Governor's car?

To the Governor and the legislature: Why protect monuments when you haven't protected the 500,000 people who need Medicaid expansion and the thousands of people who are dying? Why protect Confederate monuments when you haven't ensured proper raises for teachers and funding for public education and teacher

assistance? Why are you protecting monuments – and Confederate monuments, at that -- when you have not protected the 900,000 people whose Earned Income Tax Credit you took? Why are you protecting monuments – particularly Confederate monuments – when you have not raised wages to a living wage for the working poor throughout North Carolina? Why are you protecting monuments – particularly Confederate monuments – when you have not repealed the repeal of the Racial Justice Act, when we live in a state that has had more black men found innocent who would have been killed on death row, than any other Southern state?

And yet, instead of dealing with that injustice in our criminal justice system, just yesterday we received a rush to restart the death penalty – when just last month,

with the Research Triangle Park. Now, after the June 25, 2013 Shelby ruling, North Carolina passed the first and the worst voter suppression bill. Our state is more committed to protecting symbols of a racist past than it is to protecting voting rights in the present. Now, we are the first after Charleston to say, "We want to protect Confederate monuments, even with Confederate flags on them." And they're so committed to this that the party that is always arguing about local control is now taking power from local authorities.

Here is one more question: Where are the monuments to the real heroes and the real sheroes of our past? Where are the monuments to the slaves who endured the ugly horrors of slavery? Where is the monument to the black and white fusion politicians, who after slavery rewrote our

Above and at right are some “symbols of racism and division.”

Governor, you pardoned a man who would have been killed and who your party used in political literature to get elected. You know the system is broken, but you're more interested in protecting monuments than you are in protecting justice.

You're more interested in protecting monuments to the Confederacy than you are in signing the racial profiling bill that has been sitting in the legislature – a bill that would begin to deal with the reality of the disparities in the criminal justice system and in policing that impact black and brown people.

And less than a month after Charleston, the Governor and the General Assembly in North Carolina are more interested in protecting the symbols of an infamous, racist past than in addressing the issues of our present. Once again, North Carolina is first.

We used to be first in flight. We used to be first in the best university system in the South. We used to be first in technology

Constitution and stood against the Klan, and fought to break the grip of systemic racism? Where are the monuments to Ella Baker? Where are the monuments to those who desegregated the lunch counters and the students from Bennett and WinstonSalem State? Where are the monuments to the Freedom Riders, who first came through North Carolina before they went anywhere else in the South? Where are the monuments to those who risked their life and limb? Where are the monuments to the lawyers who had their cars blown up while trying to make this state more perfect?

It is so backwards, so wrong, so pitiful that this is the focus of a legislature and a governor in the 21st century and every North Carolinian ought to be ashamed!

So, what are we going to do?

*We call on the governor to talk to the best lawyers and see if there is any way his can undo his signature on this bill. We still believe in repentance. You do not want to

go down in history as the governor who signed the first bill after Charleston to protect the symbols of racism and division.

*Second, Governor, ask your lawyers if you have the authority to remove the Confederate flag from state license plates.

If you cannot, write a bill to have it removed!

*Third, we call on all of the legislators who were against this bill that just passed yesterday to write a Truth Bill, demanding that if these monuments are going to stay up, we now have to write some Truth plaques that are placed on these monuments that tell exactly when, and why, and in what context they were erected.

It's important that we recognize that we, in North Carolina, have a political problem. Don't spend your time painting on these monuments. Spend that time registering people to vote. Register everybody you know to vote, because everybody who is doing this has been elected! I won't tell you who to vote for, but we sure will tell on them and tell you what they voted for so you can make a conscious decision.

We have already been getting calls from our branches asking us to take up, at our convention in October, the possible call of a boycott of North Carolina. That is a decision for members to make – it's not a lone decision. But some of members are already saying, South Carolina was boycotted for 15 years. If our legislature and our governor are going to be more interested in protecting symbols of a racist past than they are in protecting education, healthcare, living wages, justice in the criminal justice system, there are members of the NAACP who want to have that conversation and we're going to have it at our state convention in October.

The Governor and General Assembly need to know – if they do not already – what kind of sentiment they start unleashing when they pass these bills. It gives signals to certain people. Long before Dylann Roof killed anybody, South Carolina legislators were talking about secession in committee. The flag that flew over the Capitol gave a certain license. That's why Dr. King said, when he preached at the funeral of the four girls who were blown up in the Birmingham church, that every politician who has fed their constituents the stale bread of hatred and the spoiled meat of racism is part of the reason why these four girls are dead.

We received this message from someone who claimed to live in North Carolina on July 21, with the subject "flags, monuments, etc." (We have redacted the sender's name and email address): See message under photos above.

This, Governor and legislature, is what you are unleashing. That flag does not represent honor – it represents dishonor. It represents – and always has represented – the protection of white supremacy.

Which side are you on, Governor?

Which side are you on, legislature? If your continuous stirring of the stench of the past causes this kind of racist sentiment, you will be held accountable.

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber is president of the N.C. NAACP, which is based in Durham.

How eliminating same-day registration has disenfranchised North Carolinians

Isabel Najera was excited to vote in her first election as a U.S. citizen in 2014. The North Carolina mother of four did everything right to cast a ballot that would Guest count. She registered in time, Columnist went to the right polling place and showed up to cast a ballot during early voting.

But through no fault of her own, Isabel’s registration was lost and her vote did not count.

Isabel is one of dozens of witnesses who has testified in the trial over North Carolina’s voter suppression law.

The ACLU, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and others are challenging provisions of the law that eliminated same-day registration, out-of-precinct voting and a full week of early voting. Hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians used these voting options in previous elections before they were repealed by the General Assembly in 2013 by what many observers called the worst voter suppression law in the nation.

Isabel was born in Mexico and came to the United States 21 years ago as a legal permanent resident. She worked as a migrant farm worker before getting a job with her local Head Start, teaching 2- and 3-year-olds life and socialization skills. Isabel earned her GED, an associate’s degree in early childhood education, and on July 30, 2014, she became a U.S. citizen. Later that year, Isabel went to her local DMV to obtain a commercial driver’s license so she could transport Head Start students on field trips and

Mike Meno

visits to doctor’s offices. While there, she was asked if she would like to register to vote. She said yes. It was the first week of October, and she was told she had registered in time to vote in the upcoming election.

On October 29, during North Carolina’s early voting period, Isabel went to cast her ballot at her assigned polling location, but after two hours of searching, elections officials couldn’t find her registration. Her vote was not counted — even though she did everything right. In previous elections, Isabel could have used same-day registration to re-register and cast a ballot during early voting—ensuring that her vote would count.

For thousands of North Carolinians, same-day registration has served in past elections as a failsafe against unforeseen problems, guaranteeing they could still cast a ballot even if they had to update information or their registration was lost through an error.

The court has heard from many other votes whose ballots could have been saved by same-day registration.

Dale Hicks, a former Marine sergeant who served in Afghanistan, testified that his vote didn’t count in the 2014 election because he didn’t update his voter registration when he moved from one county to another and was therefore unable to vote in either. If North Carolina still had same-day registration, he could have re-registered at his new address and cast a ballot that counted.

Jessica Jackson, a Gaston County resident who has successfully voted at the same polling location ever since she was 18, explained the frustration of learning that her voter registration had vanished without a

trace because it was merged with another voter with the same name. She spent hours speaking to election officials who could not find her registration and told her to cast a provisional ballot, but her vote was ultimately not counted. Same-day registration would have fixed the problem.

Sandra Beatty, a Greenville resident who is legally blind, has two prosthetic legs, and can’t travel or read on her own, explained in a videotaped deposition how being able to register and vote in one visit with same-day registration makes it easier for disabled people like herself to participate in elections. In 2014, she had a friend drive her to vote in her first North Carolina election, but because she didn’t register in time, her vote didn’t count.

In 2014, the first election under North Carolina’s voter suppression law, more than 11,000 registration forms were submitted during early voting. In years past, the people who submitted those forms could have registered and voted on the same day.

But under North Carolina’s new restrictions, their votes no longer count.

Supporters of the law often talk about protecting the integrity of our elections. But there is little integrity in a system that allows the votes of eligible, registered voters to go uncounted.

Mike Meno is the Communications Director for the ACLU of North Carolina. His commentary is found at http://www.ncpolicywatch.com.

A 8 J U LY 3 0 , 2 0 1 5

M a n y Bill Americans defend the Turner preservation and display Guest o f Columnist Confederatet h e m e d statutes and flags and other varied and sundry – and sordid – signs of the strained historical relationships between blacks who were once slaves and whites who were not.

The shadows and symbols of the time when Americans were at war with themselves have re-emerged, revitalizing conflicts; but it could be worse.

On the other side of the world, the group ISIS, which stands for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, justifies the literal blowing-up and sledge-hammer smashing of similar antique monuments in their homelands that link them with events from their past. One of the American South's best writers, William Faulkner, spoke well for both groups when he said, “The past is never dead. It's not even past.”

The ISIS enthusiasts – who say they follow the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad – are shattering all manner of statues, using the logic that any religious representation, icons or figures that do not represent what they call "True Islam" must be destroyed. Likewise, there are some

Voting from page A1

received a new 57-page version of the bill that would radically change voting in North Carolina.

He said he had little time to research it, but was still able to present statistics that showed AfricanAmericans used early voting at a higher rate and would be disproportionately affected by the voter ID requirement. The bill passed both the House and Senate in only two days, in a process that Stein said was unusual.

Michaux, North Carolina’s longest serving legislator, said that he felt the intention of the bill was to suppress the vote, particularly among AfricanAmericans. He said evidence of the negative results of the bill toward black voters was clearly presented to his Republican colleagues.

Every Republican present voted for it, while all Democrats voted against it.

“The whole Democratic caucus, after the bill passed, stood up and bowed their heads in a moment of silence,” said Michaux, who was the first black U.S. Attorney in the South since Reconstruction before becoming a lawmaker.

On cross-examination by state attorneys, both lawmakers said that while the process was unusual, no legislative rules were broken.

No Republicans testified about the legislative process because they’ve invoked legislative privilege to prevent themselves from taking the stand or releasing emails about the bill.

The plaintiffs also called N.C. State Board of Elections Director Kim Starch to the stand. She testified that more than 96,000 people might not have been able to vote if early voting in 2012 had been shortened from 17 days to the current 10 day period under the new law.

She was also asked about the lack of evidence of fraud in same-day voter registration, which has been eliminated under the new voting law. She did have concerns about sameday registration, giving an election mishap in Pembroke as an example.

Pembroke, which has a population of 3,000, had a tight town council election in 2013, with one seat being tied at 300 votes between challenger and incumbent. Nine young

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Our civil war and theirs FORUM

diehards in America's Dixieland and beyond, who, with jihadist-like reasoning, see the removal of Civil War battle flags, colonial and slavery-themed murals and monuments to KKK founders from public spaces in the USA as the equivalent to the loss of their Confederate caliphate.

The controversy over what is unpleasant in hindsight leads to the same questions – and how they are answered – whether faced by Americans on different sides of the issue or by the Sunnis or the Shiites, who are shooting it out in the streets around Damascus and Baghdad.

When it comes to the bad parts of history and what is inherently disgusting or hateful – or if it is "heritage, not hate" –is not only in the eyes of the beholder, it is also in what they do with what they see.

We are taking a fresh new look at the highways and byways in the American South that are named for eminent

men in town for a basketball program used a lease as proof of residence for same-day registration and voted. It turned out they didn’t live in town and a lease didn’t qualify as a proper proof of residence, thus their votes were ineligible. This was among the factors that led Pembroke to redo the election in 2014.

Daniel Donovan, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, said the real problem wasn’t the same-day registration, but an election official’s mistake. Starch admitted that the election official was mistaken in using the lease as part of

the registration.

Lorraine Minnite, a Rutgers University political science professor, agreed with that in her testimony and said there was no clear evidence that the basketball players intended to commit voter fraud. She said that it was a myth that same-day registration is susceptible to fraud and, because the voter is appearing in person with the identification required to register, it’s actually a more secure way to register to vote.

Minnite said voter fraud is almost non-existent in the state. She said the N.C. State Board of

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Confederate soldiers. We are being introduced -for the first time -- to the many men standing regally or on horses in the rotundas of some state capitals.

Soon after the Charleston church massacre of nine blacks where the Confederate flag showed up in the deep background, [South Carolina] Governor Haley called for, and got the flag taken down from the statehouse courtyard in Columbia. Major retailers pulled the products from their shelves. Many think such objects and reminders should not be removed, and a large segment of the American white population is now raising bitter counterdemonstrations.

On the whole, however, we have separated ourselves from ISIS by evidence of a civil and quite reasonable tug of war over these mementos. Citizens and their elected representatives are finding ways to educate ourselves about the Civil War, what some say was a battle over states' rights, not a treasonous rebellion, not a cause to sustain slavery.

Compared to those pulverizing statu-

Elections provided legislators with evidence showing just two referrals for voter Stein impersonation from 2000 to 2014, a time period when more than 35 million votes were cast. She felt restrictions in House Bill 589 actually undermined the election process.

“In a democracy, the integrity question is an access question,” she said.

“You have to have both. If some have less access, then

ary they don't like in parts of the Middle East where civil wars are in full swing, we are, by contrast, stopping to think what it means to have at least 188 U.S. public schools named for Confederate generals.

Public tributes in our nation's capital to President George Washington now have big footnotes: that he kept 316 slaves at his Mount Vernon estate, a very popular tourist site. Rather than defacing the monument to President Thomas Jefferson, Americans are learning more about his some 600 slaves -- one of whom, teenager Sally Hemings, he fathered six children.

Founding fathers with faults.

In our world, thankfully, we are not being called to pulverize images of past nobility or things that symbolize a movement, such as we see in Baghdad and Damascus. Those who guard the doorway to the American future think differently about what is -- and what is not -- important enough to threaten our collective existence. As we fight over interpretations of the past, far better it is that we choose to chop into pieces the systems that keep people of color at the bottom of the economic well. We won't, I hope, flip the real script and make a monumental mistake!

Dr. Bill Turner is a noted educator, writer and thinker who called WinstonSalem home for many years. Reach him at bill-turner@comcast.net.

William H. Turner (c) 7/27/2017

the electoral process doesn’t have as much integrity.”

Attorneys for the state refuted those claims by calling expert Janet Thornton to testify that the black turnout was higher in 2014, after the law went into effect, than in 2010.

She also said people registered to vote at a higher rate between 2012 and 2014 than the period between the previous presidential and midterm elections in 2008 and 2010. Trey Hood, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, concurred with those findings, saying the statistics show that the

shortened early voting period didn’t have a negative effect on voter turnout.

Blacks continued to use early voting at a higher rate than whites in the 2014 election.

RealClearPolitics Senior Elections Analyst Sean Trende testified that black voter turnout has been increasing nationally, and that the election laws that each state has doesn’t have a significant effect on black turnout.

The state’s argument is that the voting law is race neutral, hasn’t discouraged voting and that all North Carolinians have had an equal chance to adjust to its

‘Stand Your Ground’ moves author to a new level

BY FELECIA PIGGOTT-LONG, PH. D. FOR THE CHRONICLE

Victoria Christopher Murray, Essence best-selling author of 25 novels, and three-time NAACP Image Award Nominee for Outstanding Fiction, has done it again Her latest off the press, "Stand Your Ground," rides upon the spirited wind of our times.

Murray weaves a timely story about race relations within the American justice system.

She engaged a lively audience of book club enthusiasts, fans from the first 24 novels, and newcomers who packed the book discussion area of the Forsyth County Public Library, Carver School Road Branch on Monday, July 20. Several women in the audience had already read the novel, and came to get it autographed as well as a bag of other favorites, such as “Temptation,” “The Ex Files,” “Lady Jasmine and The Deal” and “The Dance and the Devil,” a book soon to be seen on screen.

Murray has been writing since she was a child in the second grade. She “plagiarized” a “masterpiece” full of all of the characters she loved. There were three pigs in her play, three bears, seven little men, a good witch and a bad witch. Murray's secondgrade teacher allowed the

Hair

from page A1

chairwoman of the Department of AfroAmerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan, said on CNN. Dr. Trudier Harris, the former J. Carlyle Sitterson Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has much to say about negative attitudes that have been extended toward natural hair and locks in the workplace.

“You can easily document negative attitudes toward locks in the workplace” Harris said. “I mention some of those in my essay on hair in Summer Snow [her book “Summer Snow: Reflections from a Black Daughter of the South,” published in 2007].

African-American females and males have been required to cut their locks in order to lessen friction in their places of work.

“It is noteworthy, however, that, given the numbers of professional athletes and other highly visible African-Americans who currently have locks, that the climate of tolerance is stronger these days that it has ever been,” Harris said.

According to Ayana Harding, the owner of Ayana's Glory Locs in Winston-Salem, the year 2000 marked the explosion of a trend for AfricanAmerican women toward embracing their natural hair, free from chemical straighteners.

“Going natural is empowering, and it says something about who we are as a people. We are no longer suppressing our hair.

We want to show ourselves as people of beauty,” Harding said.

“We are showing that there is nothing wrong with natural hair,” she said. “…

Since I started my shop in 2000, there has been an explosion, a revolution.

There is something very

T H E C H R ON I C LE

entire second -grade class to participate in a live production of Murray's production.

“She validated the gift that had been given to me. . . And when I was in the seventh grade, I saw a black man's face on the back of a book [Richard Wright], I asked why it was there.

T h e librarian told me he wrote t h a t book. I could not get m y hands on enough literature,” she said.

After graduating from Hampton University and earning her MBA in Marketing, she never lost the dream to write. She wrote her first book in 1997: “Temptation.” It was about a Christian man who loved his wife, but he yielded to temptation. It was filled with drama like so many of her books.

They have been listed under the genre of Christian Fiction.

However, her book “Stand Your Ground” has been listed as a “must read.”

Murray has come to realize that “This is the most important book I have ever written,” she said.

“This book will make you want to do something! This book is impactful. It is so

relevant. I wrote it when Micheal Brown and Eric Garner had been killed. I became an Angry Black Woman, and this book helped me work it out.”

“This is my most important book because the Stand Your Ground Law affects so many people in so many ways. Not enough of us understand t h i s l a w, ” s h e said. “I wanted to tell a story that is entertaining and educates the public as well.”

The storyline revolves around two mothers who are 33 years of age, and each woman has one son.

One woman is the mother of a seventeen-year-old African American male, and the other woman is the wife of the wealthy white male who shoots the Black teen. According to Murray, “The shooter is wealthy, and his family is wellknown. He does not like thugs, but he loves black boys, as he has sown into many black boys' lives,” she said. “Nobody is all good, and nobody is all bad.”

Murray has chosen to use the national controversy surrounding the Trayvon Martin case and “Stand Your Ground” gun

positive about it. I know that one day there would be more people with natural hair. What will happen in 15 more years? Who knows?”

Ayana's Glory Locs serves a clientele comprised of 75 percent professional women, such as doctors, professors, dentists, corporate executives and clergywomen. At this shop they can have their hair done in sister locs, g-locs or traditional locs. For Harding, having her hair locked was very liberating.

“When I looked in the mirror at my locs, I felt that the ceiling had been lifted from the shop. I felt like chains were being released from my arms and feet. I wanted every black woman in America to feel what I felt,” Harding said.

Minnie Ervin, owner of Ervin's Beauty Services on Patterson Avenue, has been in business since 1976. She has only had one relaxer in her life, and that was in the 1960s. She prefers the bounce and body of natural hair that is straightened with a hot comb rather than with chemicals, and so do many of her customers.

“During my years of service to the community, I have to say that 80 percent of my customers who had perms or relaxers have gone back to natural hair in the last 10 years. Permed hair seems to lay too close to the head, and the chemicals take the elasticity out of the hair and makes the hair too straight,” Ervin said.

Recent data from the global research firm Mintel supports the claim that natural hair may be the current norm in African-American haircare. In her article “Natural Hair: It's More Than a Hashtag,” Kerisha Harris records the following research. Chemical relaxers “now account for just 21 percent of Black haircare sales, and the sector has declined 26 percent since 2008 and 15 percent since 2011, when sales reached $179 million, the only category not to see

growth.”

The natural hair trend shows an increase the sale of styling products such as moisturizers, curl creams, setting lotions and the like – sales of products to maintain natural styles – but the multicultural analyst at Mintel shows that “expenditures from 2008 to 2013 shows steady growth in the Black haircare category for all categories except relaxers/perms.”

Also, more women are making the choice to wear natural styles in the workplace.

Shontell Robinson, human relations director of Forsyth County Government, is an AfricanAmerican woman who helps interview people for the 2,100 jobs in the county.

“Whether a person's hair is natural or processed does not determine whether that person is professional.

Natural or processed hair does not have an impact. I have two staff members with natural hair, and they look very professional. We look for people who can do the job,” Robinson said.

“Whether they wear braids, curly styles or a bun, they have a professional demeanor, and they perform professionally.”

Pam Small, receptionist of the WinstonSalem/Forsyth County Schools Human Resources Department, has seen many of the more than 7,800 workers who serve the school system.

“I have never heard that hairstyle has an impact on the hiring practices here.

Some women's hair is skin short, or may be worn in a braid. I have never seen a hairstyle have any impact here. People are judged on their job performance,” Small said.

Chronicle Managing Editor Donna Rogers contributed to this report.

“Stand Your Ground” has been listed as a “must read.”

Coming next week: African-American women in charge speak about natural hair.

J U LY 3 0 , 2 0 1 5

A9

Tracey Strickland and her grandmother Mrs. Strickland get author Victoria Christopher Murray to sign their copies of "Stand Your Ground.” laws to start a movement toward repealing this law.

When Murray first penned this text, there were only 23 states that had adopted this law. Arkansas has recently become the 26th state under this law.

Murray wishes that the earlier states had fought to rid America of this scourge.

“They are quietly adding more states, and we are just being quiet about it. We forget sometimes when the emotions have died down. Nobody is interested in the issue then,” Murray said. “I hate that abut us as a people!

We cannot let it go! We must galvanize a movement state by state. It is harder to galvanize state by state, but we should take a lesson from North Carolina. North Carolina is first up on the Voting Rights and Moral Monday issues. We need to watch what you are doing. I am happy about your effort.

You had more than 6,000 marching against these issues.”

Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening of the Historic Neely School

Please Join Us In Commemorating The Restoration of the Neely School.

When: Saturday, August 1, 2015 at 11 am Where: Neelytown Road, China Grove, NC Attire: Casual/Comfortable

Walk the Nature Trail to The Original School Site

Purchase a Brick Paver Coverin The Original School Site

onal Blac acck FFe Nat Na Nation ati tio ion ona all Bl Bllack Bla ck Theatre The Th hea eat atr tre ree Festival Fes est sti tiiva val al NNational Festiva

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ND WEE ND! AUGGGUUST AU USSTT 6, 6, 7, 7 8 7 PM P - MIDNIGGHT HT WINSTON WI W WIN WINSTONINS IN NSTO NS TON ON-SALE SSA EM M FA FAIRG AAII GROUNDS AIR R ROUNDS MUSIC M U NIGHT GHTLLY LY BY MR MR. BILL LLL’’S PRODUCTIONS P CONNNCCESSION CONC CONCE SIONS NS • PRIZ PPRRRIZ IZZES • ARC AR ARCA R ADE ADDE GAME GA S • DANCE CONTESTS

FREEE LLIIVE SHHOW WS NIGHTTLLYYY!

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THURS. AAUG. 6: TEENT EEENTA NTTA NTA TAS A TIC SPOTLIGHT AS with cele wit wi ceelebr brity ity guests guest ueests TTommy ommy ommy mm Ford (“Martin”) I sspi Inspir p e The T e Fir Fii e (“ (“America’ Ame America’ m s Got TTalent”) alent”)) and n Qaasim nd aaasim aas m Middleton Middddl d tton on (““American American me an Idol,” “The TThhhee Nak Nak Na aked ed Br Brother oth ot thers rrss Band”).

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FRI. AUG G. 7: “NA ““N NATTURAL NAT TURA UR L ELEMEN MENTTS OF FFASHION” ASHION” (cl clot l thing, ngg, hair hair aiirr and and makke-up) p) with th host h t and perffoorrm perform rm min mi iinng ng celebrity celleebbrri rity ity guest st Qaasim m Middleton.

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SAT. AUG. AUG G. 8: TEENT TEEENTA NTAST ASTIC AS T C EXPLOSION LLOSIO LOSION OSS OF ARTTSS sstarring tarr a ri g Int ntterscope ers ersc r coppe RRecords cords cords ds artis ds artist aarr issst KCam mp, pluuss drumm plu druummers, erss dancers dancer an erss and anc andd m an mor ore. e

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A NAATIONAL TIONAL AL BLACK THEAATRE TRE FESTIVVAL & CITY OFWINSTON-SALEM PRODUCTION

Bobby Brown ‘broken’ after tragic death of daughter

T H E C H R ON I C LE

A 1 0 J U LY 3 0 , 2 0 1 5

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA, Ga. — R&B singer Bobby Brown said Monday that his daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, was “an angel” and that the family must find a way to honor her memory.

Bobbi Kristina, the daughter of Brown and singer Whitney Houston, died Sunday in hospice care, six months after she was found face down in a bathtub in her suburban Atlanta town-home.

Authorities are investigating her death.

“Krissy was and is an angel,” her father said in a statement. “I am completely numb at this time. My family must find a way to live with her in spirit and honor her memory. Our loss is unimaginable.”

Bobbi Kristina had been hospitalized for months in Atlanta, eventually being placed in hospice care, after being found in a manner grimly similar to the way her mother died three years earlier.

A police report earlier this year described the incident as a drowning. In a statement Monday, the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office said an autopsy would be needed to evaluate what led to the death of Bobbi Kristina, but the t i m e that has elapsed since t h e autopsy w i l l complicate the Brown investigation.

“Interpretation of autopsy findings and other information will also be challenging,” the medical examiner's office said.

“However, an autopsy could be helpful to address questions which may arise about the cause of her unresponsiveness and eventual death.”

“She is finally at peace in the arms of God. We want to again thank everyone for their tremendous amount of love and support during these last few months,” Kristen Foster, a Houston family representative said Sunday.

Nick Gordon, who shared her town-home with her, said at the time it seemed Bobbi Kristina wasn't breathing and lacked a pulse before help arrived.

“The Roswell Police Department continues its investigation into the circumstances preceding and surrounding the time of the original incident leading to her death,” the medical examiner said.

Born and raised in the shadow of fame and litigation, shattered by the loss of her mother, Bobbi Kristina was overwhelmed by the achievements and demons of others before she could begin to figure out who she was.

Bobbi Kristina, the sole heir of her mother's estate did have dreams. She identified herself on Twitter as “Daughter of Queen WH,” “Entertainer/Actress” with William Morris & Co., and “LAST of a dying breed.”

She told Oprah Winfrey shortly after her mother's death in 2012 that she wanted to carry on her mother's legacy by singing, acting and dancing. But her career never took off.

She became a social media sensation, sending more than 11,000 tweets and attracting 164,000 followers.

As the news of her death spread across social media, several celebrities tweeted their condolences.

“Empire” star Taraji P. Henson tweeted, “Rest in heaven.”

Winfrey tweeted, “Peace at Last!”

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You ccan an find The Chrronicle at a retail retail outlet near yyou ou.

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• Neighborhood Grocery Store •3G Girls Grocery • Com mpare Food on Waughtown n Street • Varrious Food Lion Supermarke ets • Varrious Harris Teeter Supermarrkets • Varrious Lowes Food Supermarkets k • Varrious CVS Drug Stores • Walg a green’s Drug g Store on Clo overdale Avenue • Mystik • Solo Gas Station/Convenience Store in the t Happy Hill area •4B Brothers Amoco Gas Station/ Con nvenience Stores • Pettro Gas Station/Convenience Store on New Walkertown Road • She ell Gas Station/Convenience Store on Akron Road d • BP Gas Station/Convenience Store on New Walkertown Road • Varrious Fairway One Stop Gas Station/ Con nvenience Stores • Varrious Circle K Gas Station/ Con nvenience Stores • Varrious Citgo Gas Station/ Con nvenience Stores • Varrious Wilco Gas Station/ Con nvenience Stores • Varrious Valero Gas Station/ Con nvenience Stores

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J U LY 3 0 , 2 0 1 5

FOOTBALL

Johnson eagerly anticipates competition for Rams’ QB job

BY CRAIG T. GREENLEE FOR THE CHRONICLE

As things stand now, Justin Johnson is considered the front-runner in

what promises to be fierce competition for the starting quarterback job at Winston-Salem State this fall. He’s the only returning QB with any game experience. But that’s not the

only reason he may have a slight advantage.

Unlike his counterparts, Johnson is the only QB who has any familiarity in running the multiple offense that the Rams ran two years ago. WSSU switched to the Pistol formation last year, but has opted to return to the multiple look for 2015.

Johnson acknowledged that being familiar with the offense may help his cause to some degree. But he also realizes that when pre-season practice begins on Aug. 10, there are no guarantees for anyone.

“At this point, I haven’t earned anything,” he said.

“Nothing has been settled. I don’t have a starting spot.

We have quite a number of talented quarterbacks coming in. So, I’m just looking forward to competing.”

The Rams (9-2 last season) have more than enough worthy candidates on hand, which includes transfers Kevin Sousa (Wake Forest), Reggie Green (Louisville), Calvin Garrett (Houston), Kaylon Cooper (Pearl River Community College), Rod Tinsley (Gardner-Webb) and Datwon Melvin (Yuba College).

Incoming freshmen Antonio Peterkin and Rashaad Cooper are also part of the mix. In all, nine quarterbacks will contend to be No. 1 by the time the

All-Star Game For Atkins grad Rogers, See QB job on B2

Redshirt sophomore Justin Johnson figures to face stiff competition in the nineplayer battle to become the Rams starting quarterback this fall.

Photo by Craig T. Greenlee

was icing on the cake

BY CRAIG T. GREENLEE FOR THE CHRONICLE

Playing in last week’s girls East-West All-Star Basketball Game was a dream come true for Atkins graduate Sydnie Rogers. She couldn’t have asked for a better way to close the curtains on a productive high school basketball career.

The seeds for that dream were planted two years ago when Rogers attended the game as a sophomore. During

Sydnie Rogers raises up to take a jumper during last week's girls' All-Star Game.

an interview after the All-Star Game, there was no denying Rogers’ elation in seeing her dream come to fruition.

“It came to pass, and I feel so blessed to have gotten the opportunity,” said Rogers, who was an All-Northwest 1-A Conference pick this past season. “It [the game] was a great way for me to go out.”

For the time being, Rogers, who will attend the University of North Carolina at Charlotte this fall, has no plans to play in college. Instead, she’ll devote all of her See Rogers on B2

Sydnie Rogers boxes out for a rebound against Tainasha Vines of the East All-Stars.

Mount Tabor’s Razzak looking to make an impact at Lees-McRae College

BY CRAIG T. GREENLEE FOR THE CHRONICLE

Naeem Razzak has developed nicely as a pass-first point guard who has learned how to generate offense on his own when needed. Those skills helped him to secure a spot in the boys' East-West All-Star Basketball Game played last week in Greensboro.

As a senior at Mount Tabor, Razzak, who is 5-feet10, 175 pounds, showed his mettle as a differencemaker whose overall value didn't always show up in the score book. While the stat line on Razzak wasn't spectacular (averaged 12 points, 5 assists and 2 steals), his true impact was most accurately reflected in the

Photos by Craig T. Greenlee

win-loss column.

This past season, Razzak led the way and the Spartans raised some eyebrows. Based on pre-season predictions, they probably overachieved.

This wasn't a senior-heavy group. Of the 13 players on the roster, 11 were underclassmen. In spite of its youth, Mount Tabor went 17-8 and advanced to the second round of the Class 4-A state playoffs before losing by a basket to Greensboro Page in double overtime.

“I was able to put together the best parts of my game as a senior,” said Razzak who finished with 5 See Razzak on B2

Naeem Razzak

Photo by Craig T. Greenlee

t h e c h r on i c le

B 2 J U LY 3 0 , 2 0 1 5

Naeem Razzak dribbles past a defender during last week's boys' East-West AllStar Basketball Game played in Greensboro.

photo by craig t. Greenlee

Razzak

from page B1

points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists for the West team in the all-star Game. “it all comes down to me attacking the basket and making sure that everybody gets their touches. that's my approach to the game. it's a proven winning basketball formula. “looking back four years ago, i didn't think i might one day be an all-star and get to attend college and play basketball.

Dreams do come true.” the left-handed razzak looks to make a similar impact as a freshman at leesMcrae college this year. he understands that as a college basketball newbie, he'll go through an adjustment period like he did when he first arrived at Mount tabor as a ninth-grader. the competition will be tougher than high school, and the level of intensity figures to be much higher. it's a challenge that he embraces. “the main thing for me is to fit in with

QB job from page B1

their system,” he said. “it's all about hard work and proving myself. as long as i do that, i'm confident that my turn will come. one of the areas of my game that i'll devote a lot of time to is my shot. that's really going to help at the next level. i've learned that when you continue to work on a skill, you continue to get better at it and it shows.” razzak said his confidence about making an impact at the next level comes from the experiences he had while playing under coach andy Muse at Mount tabor. the growing process he went through, razzak explained, was good preparation for the next level.

“When you play for coach Muse, there's more to it than basketball,” he said. “i learned a lot about being a man, taking responsibility and being accountable.

Maturity has a lot to do with it. as you continue to mature, you continue to grow. i'm looking forward to going to leesMcrae. it feels like home. it's a good fit.”

rams’ season opens at unc pembroke on sept. 3. a year ago, Johnson was third on the depth chart behind phillip sims (arizona cardinals free agent) and rudy Johnson. even though playing time was sparse, Johnson learned a few lessons that he believes will help him for the upcoming season. “learning from phillip and rudy was a great experience,” said Johnson, who played high school ball at high

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Sydnie Rogers

Rogers

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attention to earning a nursing degree with a specialization in neonatal care. rogers, however, admits that she could change her mind and attend try-outs as a walk-on. “right now, it’s hard to say whether i’ll give basketball another shot or not. We’ll see what happens.” at atkins, rogers, a 5foot-9 forward, was an allpurpose standout who averaged 9.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game last season. her versatility at both ends of the floor was vital in the camels putting together another stellar season (17-5). the previous year, atkins was 19-8, which marked a big turnaround from rogers' freshman year when the team went 2-7.

point central. “they had such an impact because of their confidence and their ability to keep their cool and take control of the team.” entering this season, Johnson is an unknown quantity because of limited playing time. at 6-feet-3, 200 pounds, he’s sturdy enough to handle the pounding that quarterbacks are exposed to. equally important is his ability to make on-target throws. an added bonus is his break-away speed (runs 4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash).

“Justin has so much upside as a pure athlete,” said Wssu quarterbacks coach Jason Mai. “not only is he straight-line fast, but he's very explosive when he changes

atkins finished up last season as the northwest conference runner-up behind eventual state champ Winston-salem prep. During the season, the camels split their two games against the phoenix. rogers, who served as team co-captain for two years, contributed as dependable scorer, rebounder and distributor.

Defensively, rogers typically guarded the opponent's best player, which put her in situations where she would defend at all five positions. equally important was her presence as the stabilizing influence for a young team that had only two seniors on the roster.

“We established chemistry at atkins, and it took us a long way,” said rogers, who graduated with a 4.54 weighted grade-point average. “i’m happy that i played a part

photo by craig t. Greenlee

in the team’s growth. it was my job to be that voice on the court and off the court. i have faith that they’ll get the job done and win a state title next year.” there's no question about rogers' love for the game. the desire to go into neonatal nursing, though, transcends basketball. her interest in pursuing a career in health care started as a fourth-grader. “i remember the pediatric nurse who came to school as part of career Day,” said rogers. “i thought it was so cool to have the skills to be able to help take care of newborn babies. since i love kids, i knew when i was in elementary school that being a neonatal nurse would be the perfect job for me. i just want to do all i can to make sure that infants get the best quality of health care possible.”

direction. he has tremendous arm strength and has improved his accuracy a great deal.”

Johnson was not available for duty for spring practice because of academic difficulties. those issues have been resolved and now he’s eligible and back on track. even though he’s had a lengthy layoff, he's confident that he’ll perform up his capability. “i’ve gone hard at it since the end of spring,” he said.

“With all the drills and the work i’ve put in with the weights, there shouldn’t be any rust. i believe it will all pay off and i’ll be ready to go on aug. 10.”

National Blacck Theater Festiva al

AUGUST 66-8,, 9 P. P..M. to MIDNIIGHT DOWNTOWN WINSTON--SALEM

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LIVE FREEE ENTERTAIINMENT AT MEERSCHEL PLAAZA!

Affrriiccaan D A Drru um mm m miinngg: 111 pp..m m..- M Mid iddnniigghht

Block k Party Party t Food!

F • IRIE RHYTHMS • CKKCC CCONCESSIONS ONCESSIONS • SPICE DELIGHT TRUCK • TTONY ONYY’S ITTALIAN ALIAN ICE • 25TH STREET GRILL • JAZZY DDAAUGS • KONA ICE • QUEEN TTOVIEA OVIEA & SONS FFAMOU AMOUUS FRRANKS ANKS

SATURD AT A T TURD UR RD DAY AY @ 9 P P.M. .M. Mig M iggghhty tyy E Elliim miinnat atoorrss & Old O ld S Scchhooool P Pllaayers

Final Hang The Net Celebrity Shootout draws big crowd

t h e c h r on i c le

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By teVin stinson the chronicle

children from all over the city filed into hanes hosiery recreation center on thursday, July 23 for the final hang the net celebrity shootout. since 1992, art Blevins has brought local celebrities together for a day of basketball and fun. During the event, children from across the city get the chance to meet local tV personalities and basketball stars from the area. according to Blevins, this year’s event drew a crowd of over 500 children.

“We have a lot of summer camps from local yMca’s and church’s bringing buses,” said Blevins. “the event is free, and we just want the kids to come out and have a good time and meet some celebrities.” this year’s event featured a number of stars. the college division of the competition featured a number of talented shooters who play or have played at the Division ia level including; cJ harris (Wake Forest), clifford crawford (nc state) and antonio robinson (ecu).

Most of the children were excited to see former Wake Forest and Dallas Maverick all-star Josh howard. howard put on a show during the celebrity shootout hanging the net multiple times in route to winning the competition.

During the event, howard could be seen taking pictures and signing autographs. he said he comes to the event every year because he enjoys giving back to the community that helped raise him. s “i remember attending the hang the net shootout when i was a kid myself,” ehoward said. “i know the community will n n l

e

hate to see the event go, but i’m sure it will always be remembered throughout the city.” howard also spoke highly of Blevins, who has been working in the community since he was 19 years old. “coach art was a big part of my development on and off the court,” said howard. “For years he has looked out for the youth in this community. he really does a great job.” university of north carolina basketball great phil Ford also attended the final celebrity shootout and said he was honored to receive a living legend award for his community work around the state. “it is a real honor to receive such a great award from a great community organization like this one.” Ford said. every year during the event, Blevins gives out a living legend award to those who have made a major impact in the community. Much to his surprise, this year Blevins received a living legend award of his own. “i was not expecting this at all,” said Blevins. “everything i do is for this community, i never wanted or needed any recognition for the things i do i just want to keep this youth of the community out of trouble.” although this was the last hang the net shootout, Blevins said he will continue to work with the youth in the community. “i’ve enjoyed every minute of this,” Blevins said. “i know i’ll be lost next year, but it will give me time to focus on other things. i’m sure i’ll think of another event for the kids in the community in the next couple of years.”

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Art Blevins, right, introduces Phil Ford to the crowd at the final Hang The Net Celebrity Shootout. As a point guard at UNC-Chapel Hill, Ford earned First Team All-American Honors and was the 1978 National Player of The Year.

photo by tevin stinson

Winston- salem roadrunners qualify for aau Junior olympic nationals

. eBy Melissia sutton lspecial to the chronicle there were more than just fireworks flying on the Fourth of July weekend in charlotte. the Winston- salem roadrunners were shooting off sparks of their own at the north carolina aau area 25 regional Qualifier at olympic high school. this meet would determine what athletes would be able to attend the aau Junior olympic nationals in norfolk, Virginia, aug. 1-8. the roadrunners placed fifth out of 38 teams and qualified 33 out of 37 athletes to attend nationals. the first gold medal came from Jahnaul ritizie-pouncey in the 9-year-old boys’ triathlon. next was Jaden lockhart in the 12-year-old pentathlon and the sparks were flying the rest of the weekend. some of the other champions were aniya edwards in the 9-year-old long jump, uyi igbinigie in 11-year-old high jump, Jahvaree ritzie-pouncey in the 12-year-old discus, shot put, and tied with Jaden lockhart in the high jump. Jaden lockhart also won the 800m. isaac sutton was champion in the 100, 200, and 4x100 with Brandon Johnson, Jamison Warren and tremaine pate. isaac also received the regional Meet MVp for the 12-year-old

Edwards

Whitfield

the Winston-salem open will hold tryouts for ball persons on Friday, July 31 from 4 to 6 p.m. and saturday, aug. 1 from 10 a.m. to noon. the tryouts are open to the public and will be held at the Wake Forest university indoor tennis center, 100 West 32nd st. (adjacent to BB&t Field). candidates for ball persons must know how to keep score of tennis games, be able to move quickly, be willing to endure lengthy tennis matches in the sun and work well with others on a team. Ball persons must be 12 years old by aug. 1 (proof of age required) in order to qualify. all applicants are asked to attend a minimum of three of the two-hour training sessions from 4 to 6 p.m. on aug. 5, 10, 12, 17 and 19 at the Wake Forest university indoor tennis center. also, applicants must be available for the entire Winston-salem open tournament and qualifying rounds aug. 22 through 29. “the primary role of ball persons is to retrieve tennis balls when they are out of play. Ball persons play very important roles in each match. our ball persons have been an integral part of the Winston-salem open in past years,” said Winston-salem open tournament director Bill oakes.

“Being a ball person is a great way to get involved in tennis, see the competition up close and have some fun at the same time, but it’s also a serious commitment.”

Lockhart

boys’ age group. Brandon Whitfield was champion in the 13-year-old high jump and 1500m. other roadrunners that performed well and qualified for the nationals are: alia Bowles, Jericho edwards, Jaden Glenn and saxen Fair for the 8 and under age group; Brandon sutton and for the 9-year-old group; sterling Fair, Jon Gullette ii, Justin powell, chaney Fitzgerald and Joshua scales for the 11-year-old group; Javon siddle, asia phillips, stephanie sutton, celeste neal and Gahques ligons for the 12-year-old group; cameron attucks, amar aikens, Jadyn thompson, Darius Williams and Kalani Gillion for the 13-year-old group; Gjerria ligons for the 14-year-old group; Brycen charles for the 15- to 16-year-old group and Jordan Johnson for the 17- to 18 year-old group. other great performers were Jordyn robinson, David neal, Don robinson iii, and Jaden

Ball person tryouts for Winston-Salem Open July 31 and Aug. 1 special to the chronicle

Sutton

Pouncey

Pouncey

Igbinigie

sutton the roadrunners were founded in 1971 by Virgil simpson and re-established in 2012 by some of coach simpson’s former athletes – Marcus sutton, harvey sutton and linell Johnson – along with their wives Deborah sutton, Melissia sutton and lynette Johnson; with close friends Jerome and sodonnie Warren, who share the same passion for track, the roadrunners once again became a first-class organization. the organization serves boys and girls ages 6-18 in Winston salem and the surrounding areas. the roadrunner track club exists to promote healthy living through exercise and proper nutrition, to cultivate a competitive spirit through track and field, and to encourage education and higher learning in order to build the youth of today into leaders of tomorrow.

Their website is at www.wsroadrunners.com.

oakes said all applicants must be knowledgeable about tennis rules, be able to stand and run for a least an hour and must be able to concentrate for extended periods. they also must be mature, have good hand-eye coordination and exhibit outstanding citizenship. “i also want to stress that ball persons must be willing to attend three of the five training sessions we’re offering and be available for possible work during the entire tournament,” oakes said. “there are no exceptions to these rules.” applicants are asked to wear appropriate athletic clothes to the tryouts and cannot wear shoes with black soles. Ball persons serve as volunteers, and there is no fee to apply. More information, including online registration, is available at Winstonsalemopen.com under the “Volunteers” tab at the top.

About the Winston-Salem Open

the Winston-salem open, an atp World tour 250 event with a total purse of more than $695,000, will take place from aug. 22-29, with qualifying set for aug.

22. thetournament will be the final men’s event of the emirates airline us open series and is the week before the us open.

For more information on the 2015 Winston-salem open, please go to Winstonsalemopen.com.

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Community Briefs

T H E C H R ON I C LE

B 4 J U LY 3 0 , 2 0 1 5

Winston-Salem Youth Chorus names new artistic director

The Winston-Salem Youth Chorus (WSYC) has announced the appointment of Dr. Sonja Sepulveda in the position of Artistic Director. She replaces Barbara C. Beattie who founded the WSYC in 1993 and has impacted the lives of hundreds of youth over the years.

Beattie retired on June 30th and passed on her baton to Dr. Sepulveda who will continue the mission and growth of the chorus.

Winston-Salem Youth Chorus Board Chair, Art Bloom said, “As founder, Barbara Beattie has fostered an impressive and enviable premiere youth chorus that has been the gem of Winston Salem for 22 years.

We want to assure that her legacy will continue by hiring a new artistic director who can bring exceptional musicianship, genuine passion for youth and understanding of the diverse needs of our talented singers.

We feel that Dr. Sonja Sepulveda will bring all of these attributes to the position.”

Dr. Sepulveda graduated from Winthrop University with a Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music degrees. She earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of South Carolina where she directed the Renaissance Singers and Carolina Alive.

She was Director of Choral Activities and a teacher of Theory at Salem College in Winston-Salem.

Dr. Sepulveda also conducts the Salem Chamber Choir, Chorale and SuperTonix. She came to Salem following positions at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky and Brewton Parker College in Mt. Vernon, Georgia.

Dr. Sonja Sepulveda conducts

Submitted Photo

The Centers for Exceptional Children Names New Executive Director

The Centers for Exceptional Children have announced that Nancy Griffith would become the CFEC executive director effective Aug. 1.

“On behalf of the board, it is my great privilege to announce that Nancy Griffith has accepted the position of the executive director of the Centers for Exceptional Children,” said Toni Bigham, board president. “Nancy is currently serving as the interim executive director of the Centers for Exceptional Children.”

Griffith earned a B.A. degree in Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a M.A. in Public Administration from Appalachian State University. Her work experiences include serving as executive director of the Community Alliance for Education, acting chief executive officer and acting finance manager of Forsyth Initiative for Residential Self-Help Treatment Inc., contract grant writer, development manager for Bel Canto Company and program coordinator of Leadership ACCESS for Leadership Winston-Salem. Griffith has served as a teacher and as the assistant director of fund procurement in the Migrant Education Program. She has also served as a school board member on the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Board of Education (1990-1994). She has provided community leadership through volunteering and service on community boards and initiatives, including service on the CFEC board.

Community Calendar

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Voting Rights Film There will be a free screening of the film “Bridge to the Ballot” today (July 30) at 7 p.m. at the Hanesbrands Theatre, 209 N. Spruce St. The doors open at 6:30 p.m. The film debuts to help mark the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. There will be a brief discussion following the film. For more information, contact Cindy Kent at 334-3228218.

Summer Intensive Performances Authoring Action will present its 14th Summer Intensive performance at Southeastern Center of Contemporary Art (SECCA), 750 Marguerite Drive. today (July 30) at 7 p.m., tomorrow (July 31) at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Aug. 1 at 4 p.m. This year’s Summer Intensive theme is “Rhapsody.” These performances are fully staged and will run about two hours. Tickets are $10-$15 and will be available at SECCA before each performance or in advance at authoringaction.org. For more information call 336-749-1317 or go to authoringaction.org Herbalife Job Fair The Urban League of WinstonSalem invites job seekers to attend the Herbalife Job Fair on Friday, July 31 at their downtown office on 201 W. Fifth St. Managers will be on hand to discuss employment opportunities. Today (July 30) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. the Urban League Employment lab will be open to assist applicants with their resumes.

Applicants are asked to bring a resume and dress appropriately for an interview. For more information call Patricia Sadler at 336-725-5614.

Community Play Carl H. Russell, Sr. Community Center, 3521 Carver School Road, will present a free community play written, produced and directed by Ronnie Sockwell on Friday, July 31 at 7 p.m. Join us for an evening of inspiration and entertainment. Come early due to limited seating. For additional information, contact Ben Piggott at 336-727-2580 or Ronnie Sockwell at 336-416-7270.

Movie Night Fridays There will be an outdoor family fun series on Fridays, from July 31 through Aug. 28 at the J.F. Kennedy High School, Lots Number Two, Three and Four at the 12th St. entrance. Gates open at 7:30 p.m. and the show starts at 8:45 p.m.

Admission is free and open to the public. Children ages 14 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

N.C. 5th District Democrats Meeting The Iredell County Democratic Party HQ and the N.C. 5th District Democrats will have a meeting on

Saturday, Aug. 1 beginning at 9:30 a.m. at 233 E. Front St. in Statesville.

Food and fellowship will at 10 a.m., and the business meeting will be at noon. For more information or to attend please contact Charlie Wallin at 828-773-1382 or email nc05dems@gmail.com.

Women on JET cover The pairing of two exhibitions honoring women who graced the cover of JET Magazine, and drawings of young women with their favorite literature, is on display at Winston-Salem State University’s Diggs Gallery through Dec. 2. The exhibits, feature works by renowned artist Willie Cole, and emerging artist Mario Moore. An opening reception for both exhibits is scheduled for Aug. 2 from 5 to 9 p.m. in the Diggs Gallery. The event will be free and open to the public.

Stuff the Bus The Salvation Army and the Boys and Girls Club are having their “Stuff the Bus” School Supplies Drive from Aug. 3 – Aug. 25.

Suggested items are the following: Number Two pencils, glue sticks, erasers, boxes of tissues, washable markers, book bag/back pack, hand sanitizer, 3-ring binders, colored pencils, highlighters, loose leaf notebook paper, pocket folders, and rulers.

Donate at the following locations: Staples at 2509 A Lewisville Clemmons Road in Clemmons or 210 Harmon Creek Road in Kernersville; Krispy Kreme Doughnuts at 259 S. Stratford Rd. or 5912 University Parkway; Five Below at 1048 Hanes Mall Blvd.; Mattress Firm at Thruway Shopping Center Oak Summit, 334 E. Hanes Mill Rd., The Stratford Commons, 156 Stratford Commons Ct., 2021 Griffith Rd., 939 Hanes Mall Blvd., 1040 S. Main St. and 1024 S. Main St. in Kernersville.

National Night Out The Historical East Winston invites everyone to the 5-time Citywide Winner’s 'National Night Out Event' on Tuesday, Aug. 4, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at 14th St. and Cameron Ave., with Host "Busta Brown" and music by "Clearly Supreme." Free hot dogs and school supplies, face painting and inflatables for children. All children must be accompanied by an adult. This is a family fun event. There will be a vigil for “All Lives Matter” beginning at 6:15 p.m. For more information call Marva Reid at 336-9972519.

Forsyth Senior Democrats meeting District Court Judge Denise Hartsfield will address the Forsyth County Senior Democrats on Thursday, Aug. 6. Judge Hartsfield's

topic will be "What a District Court Judge Does." The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. at the Golden Corral on 4965 University Parkway.

Members and guests wanting the breakfast buffet and/or beverages will be able to enter Hartsfield the restaurant beginning at 8:30 a.m. For more information call 336-767-3505.

Fairground Fridays and K Camp performances On Aug. 7, Fairground Fridays will turn into a Teentastic event. K Camp will perform at the WinstonSalem Fairgrounds at the headline act for the Teentastic activities offered this year as part of the National Black Theatre Festival.

Other activities will include a dance contest, gospel music workshop and concert and a formal event. All activities will be held from 7 p.m. to midnight on Aug. 6-8. For more information on both events, contact Emerald Bowman at 336-734-1221.

A.H. Anderson Class of 1970 reunion The 1970 Class of A.H. Anderson High School will celebrate its 45th reunion at the McNeil Ballroom at the Anderson Center on the campus of Winston-Salem State University on Saturday, Aug. 1. The evening will include: a “meet and greet” rolling reception/registration; a tour of the Anderson Center; recognition of former faculty and staff; dinner and dancing with music provided by Keith Byrd. Class members will join in worship on Aug. 2 at Wentz Memorial United Church of Christ.

The registration fee is $55 per person until July 10, $65.00 per person through July 24, and $75 until the day of the event. Make checks payable to A.H. Anderson Class of 1970 and mail to 4120 Sewanee Drive, Winston-Salem, NC 27106, or pay online by registering at http://www.ahanderson1970.reunion manager.com/. All Anderson alumni who wish join in this celebration can find more information by registering at http://www.ahanderson 1970.reunionmanager.com/ or by contacting Wayne Ledbetter at 336924-5910.

WSSU Brown Alumni Bus Trip The WSSU Brown Alumni Chapter is sponsoring an overnight bus trip to Maryland Live Casino and Arundel Mills Mall, Hanover, Maryland, leaving Aug. 13 and returning Aug. 14. For more information respond immediately to Vera Hillian, Fundraiser Chair, at 336722-9505.

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Allen Family Reunion and homegoing celebration

The descendants of Mack Allen & Mary Allen Wilson held their third annual family reunion July 1012, in Detroit, Mich. The gathering this year was bittersweet. The family not only celebrated their reunion but also the passing of the 96-year-old matriarch, who transitioned on Sunday, July 5.

The family members enjoyed scheduled events such as visiting the Detroit Zoo, touring Downtown Detroit and worshiping at Greater Emmanuel Institutional COGIC. The reunion was originally planned to be a bi-annual event, but “Grandma Wilson” strongly suggested that the gathering return to Detroit this year. Many who had not planned to attend the reunion made the trip up to say their “goodbyes” to Mrs. Wilson. The Homegoing Service was held Monday, July 13, and the four surviving children of Mack & Mary were in attendance: Albert Allen, Barbara Jean Allen Dodd, Miller Allen and Sarah Davis-Hill. Family and friends gave moving tributes and her son, Rev. Miller Allen, delivered the eulogy.

The next reunion is planned for 2017 in Winston Salem.

A past Mack Allen and Mary Allen Wilson family reunion

Submitted Photo

Join us for our Outdoor Family Film Series!

When:

Gates Open @ 7:30 pm, Show Time @ 8:45 pm Fridays (July 31st-August 28th, 2015)

Where:

J.F.. Kennedy y High School, Parkiing Lots # 2, #3 & #4 (12th Street Entr E ance)

DATE

MOVIE

Rated

Friday, July 31st

Frozen (Disney)

PG

Friday, August 7th

Annie (2014)

PG

Friday, August 14th

Spongebob: Sponge Out off Water

PG

Friday, August 21st

Shrek (DreamWorks)

PG

Friday, August 28th

Home (Dream Works)

PG

x

Children ages 14 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

x

Lawn chairs, blankets and person nal coolers/snacks are welcome (no tents please).

x

This is a tobacco-free and alcohol-free event.

x

Free admission & op pen to the p pub blic!

Sponsored by: Cleveland Aven venue Transformation n Team (CATT), Winston-Salem Forsyth County Scchools and the Housing Autthority of Winston-Saleem.

R ELIGION T H E C H R ON I C LE

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CALENDAR Aug. 1

Women’s Conference Greater St. Matthew Baptist Church, 149 N. Wheeler Street, will hold its annual Women’ Conference on Saturday, Aug. 1. Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. and program starts at 10 a.m. The theme is “Women United In Christ.” The Rev. Ann Dalton, associate minister of Emanuel Baptist Church, will be among the guest speakers. The public is invited to attend. The host pastor is Pastor William J. Purvis. For more information, contact the church at 336-7243106.

Community Day Fair Greater Faith Missionary Baptist Church, 2411 Urban St., will have a community day fair on Saturday, Aug. 1 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. There will be table set up that will feature each auxiliary of the church. Information on each auxiliary will be displayed. School supplies will be given out at each table. Health care vendors will be present. For more information, contact the church at 336-771-7000.

Aug. 2

Choir anniversary St. Mark Baptist Church Vocal Choir will be celebrating its 18th anniversary on Sunday, Aug. 2 at 4 p.m. at the church, 1100 Manly St. Guest will be The Queenette and The Gospel Stylestic. All are invited to come. For more information, call Virginia Ellis, choir president, at 336-661-1186.

Beginning Aug. 2 Homecoming and Revival Bethania AME Zion Church, 21020 BethaniaRural Hall Rd., will hold its annual Homecoming and Revival Services, Aug. 2 through Aug. 7. Sunday morning (Aug. 2), Rev Dr. Calvin L. Miller, presiding elder of the Winston-Salem District, will deliver the 11 a.m. message. The Rev. Elston Hart, pastor of St. John A.M.E. Zion Church of Thomasville, will be the 3 p.m. speaker. The speakers for Aug. 3-7 are as follows: Rev. Belinda Harris, pastor, Hickory Grove A.M.E. Zion Church; Rev. Dairl Scott Jr., pastor, Union Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church; Evangelist Toni Lowe, member of Oak Grove Missionary Church; Rev. Ronald Speas, pastor, New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church; and Rev. Dairl Scott Sr., pastor, New Hope A.M.E. Zion Church. All evening services will begin at 7 p.m. The public is invited. For more information call 336-924-1706.

27th annual convention Calvary Hill Church of Greater Deliverance Inc., 4951 Manning St., will host the 27th annual convention Aug. 2-9. The theme is “Keeping it Real,” Empowered to Serve (Mathew 16:26). Bishop Claude C. Turner is founder, pastor and teacher. For more information call 336-744-2700.

Aug. 2

Church anniversary Pastor Richard C. Miller Sr. & Co-Pastor Ernestine W. Miller of the Holy Trinity Full Gospel Fellowship Center, 5307 Peters Creek Parkway, is having their 79th Church Anniversary on Sunday, Aug. 2 at 11 a.m. with guest Pastor Eddie McNair of Fountain of Life Full Gospel Baptist Church of Plymouth and 4 p.m. with guest pastor Aldine Ingram and the Steadfast Life Changing Ministries. For more information, contact the church administrative office at 336-784-9347.

Beginning Aug. 3 Vacation Summer School The Love Community Development Corporation will have its Vacation Summer Camp from Aug. 3-7, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at 3980 N. Liberty St. The theme is “Gotta Move (Keepin’ in Step with the Spirit). For more information, call 336-306-8119.

Aug. 3

Lunch and learn The Trinity Glen Church will be having a lunch and learn on Monday, Aug. 3 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at 849 Waterworks Road. The subject will about “Conversation in Death and Dying.” Key speakers of this event will be Gary Cook, M.Div., LSCW, pastoral counselor and psychotherapist; and Christopher Ehrlich, hospice chaplain from Hospice of the Piedmont. Please RSVP with number of people attending to bwoodard@trinityglen.net.

Beginning Aug. 6 N.C. Church of God of Prophecy Convention The Hickory Metro Convention Center, 1960 13th Av. Dr. SE, will be the place where the Church of God of Prophecy’s biennial State Convention will be held from Aug. 6-9. The conference will help feed needy families and individuals by forwarding canned goods donated by conference attendees to Hickory area organizations. A business and community expo will he held. For more information call Tracey Haire at 336454-4118.

Aug. 8

Griefshare support group St. Paul United Methodist Church, 2400 Dellabrook Road, will hold the GriefShare support group on Saturday, Aug. 8, at 10 a.m. in the church conference room. The topic for this session is "Why." All persons who are experiencing grief due to the loss of someone close are invited to attend. Sessions are free, non-denominational, with biblical teachings on grief and recovery topics. GriefShare is designed to give encouragement and support, providing tools for a person to use on their journey from "mourning to joy."

For further information, call 336-723-4531 or 336722-5517.

Youth Conference Whole Man Ministries Church presents Youth

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Third DivorceCare seminar offered

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

After months of planning, preparation and training, the Stephen Ministry at United Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church (UMMBC) is offering its third, 13-week DivorceCare seminar next week.

A broad range of topics were covered during the seminar, including how to face anger, loneliness and depression, developing new relationships, financial survival and single sexuality, reconciliation and forgiveness, moving on and growing closer with God. The UMMBC Stephen Ministry DivorceCare program provides help and healing for those hurt from separation and divorce. The next seminar starts on Monday, Aug. 3, and ends on Monday, Nov. 2 (find complete meeting schedule www.divorcecare.org/grou ps/43363.)

Here is a testimonial

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DivorceCare Facilitator and Stephen Minister Carlton Ray discusses program outcomes with Stephen Ministry Leader Cornelious Flood. from one of the participants in the seminar last year:

"Thank you, Stephen Ministry. Thank you DivorceCare! When the worst happened, when my vows were trampled and 'Tiill Death do Us Part’

turned into ‘I'm Out of Here!,’ you were there for me and for my children.

Thank you! For much of the past 5+ years, I've felt trapped in a life between a horror movie and a Tyler Perry screenplay. Just when I thought I couldn't take it

and wouldn't make it any longer, DivorceCare was introduced to me. (Further evidence of an On Time God.) “Out of desperation, my initial hesitation of ‘not

Father Basile Sede comes to St. Benedict the Moor as its new officiating priest

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"This ties with us, too, because we believe that life should be about helping The congregation of one another.”

St. Benedict the Moor To welcome Father Catholic Church, 1625 E. Sede to the community, St 12th St., welcomes Father Benedict will host His Basile Sede as its new Excellency the Right Rev. officiating priest.

Immanuel Banlanjo Bushu Father Sede comes to of the Roman Catholic St. Benedict from St. Diocese of Buea and Vincent de Paul Church Chancellor of the Catholic in Charlotte. He is from University of Buea. He was the Diocese of Buea, ordained a priest in 1973 located in the Southwest and appointed Bishop of region of Cameroon, in Yagoua, Cameroon in central Africa. Father 1992. He became Bishop of Sede was ordained in Buea in 2007.

April of 1998, and has Bishop Bushu will be been a Priest for 17 years. the principal speaker at a According to Father Photo from http://www.stvincentdepaulchurch.com/ public forum, which will be Sede, African culture and Father Basile Sede is shown at his farewell party at St. held in the church fellowits intrinsic values are Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte. ship hall of St. Benedict very similar to the from 9 a.m. to noon, on Christian principles of Aug. 8. The Bishop will loving and serving one's neighbor. And, as the African share with us information about the entrepreneurial model continent becomes increasingly Christianized, he said, See Sede on B6

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

Nehemiah Worship Center celebrates its first year

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

…The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: (Nehemiah 2:20)

Nehemiah Worship Center of Winston Salem reports that Pastor Paul P. and Lady Virginia Thombs and members held the firstyear celebration for their church recently. The celebration was held from at the Union Chapel Baptist Church fellowship hall at 300 W. 25th Street in Winston Salem.

The first worship service was held on April 13, 2014 at 4873 Phelps Road, Winston Salem, with a philosophy that “If we build people’s lives, people will build the temple. Our church serves men, women, children, the hun-

gry, the imprisoned, the naked, and the s i c k .

We ’ v e b e e n blessed in our commission that 33 souls h a v e b e e n added to our ministry.”

aging word as friends and family witnessed w h a t God has done in just one year, the church reports.

“It is by the grace of Pastor Paul P. and First Lady Virginia Thombs God we h a v e established church byAnd all the people gath- laws, developed a church ered themselves together as organizational structure, one man into the created a church logo, purstreet that was before chased office equipment the water gate;… and have been blessed with (Nehemiah 8:1) our first pulpit designed specifically for NWC,” the Rev. Konnie Robinson, church reports. pastor of Union Chapel Baptist Church, brought So we built the wall, forth a mighty and encour- and the entire wall was

joined together up to half of its height, for the people had a mind to work (Nehemiah 4:6)

Throughout the year the church participated in many activities, such as the ALS Challenge, chicken pie fundraiser, fellowship outreach trip to Kinston, N.C., where members delivered clothes, shoes, and household goods.

“We were also blessed to deliver coats, shoes, and clothes to local charities in the Winston-Salem area,” the church reports. “Our Food Ministry continues to give bread away. We gleaned 6,230 pounds of food and we distributed an additional 11,500 ponds to those in need throughout the community. Our Men’s Ministry gave away 17,000 bottles of water in the community.

We’ve been

The Redeemer Cometh

Lesson Scripture: Isaiah 59:15-21

By the end of this lesson, we should: • Recognize how sin drives us away from God • Understand that no human can get us in right relationship with God • Appreciate that God alone redeems humanity

Background: Isaiah meaning “Yehweh saves” was a contemporary of Amos, Hosea, and Micah. This major prophet (length of book) began his ministry in the year that King Uzziah died in 740 BC. He was called “the prince of prophets” due to his extensive writing. “The New Testament alluded to his writings more than 250 times and quoted him directly 50 times” (Richards’ Complete Bible Handbook). The book

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has 66 chapters divided into two sections – Judgment chapters 1-39 and Restoration chapMildred ters 40-66. Like his contemporaries, Isaiah’s message was Peppers given during a stormy period in the history of God’s People, Sunday Israel in the north and Judah in School Lesson the south. In both kingdoms, the leadership (kings, judges, priests and false prophets) rebelled against God and exploited the people. As their hearts turned further from God (their rebellion), corruption and injustices became commonplace. God’s prophets warned the people about the impending judgment of God; however their arrogance led them to ignore His mouthpieces. Assyria crushed Israel in 722 BC and scattered most of the Jews who lived there.

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Conference 2015: "Everyday Matters …

Walking in the Light," on Saturday, Aug. 8, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Whole Man Ministries Church, 3916 Old Lexington Road. There will be music, poetry dance and the Word of God presented by Prophet C. D. Faison of Word Power and Deliverance Ministries of Goldsboro. Also there will be new clothes from Wrangler to give to students for back to school. For more information call 336-972-4428.

Beginning Aug. 9 Lott Carey Annual Session The Lott Carey Global Christian Missional Community will host its 118th annual session at the Joseph S. Koury Convention Center, 3121 Gate City Blvd. in Greensboro. The session will be held on Aug. 9 - 14. A gospel concert, community feast and multiple mission projects across

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wanting everyone to know,’ turned into a yearning to have others intercede for me. From the videos that showed all too familiar real-life scenarios letting us know that we weren't the only ones experiencing

Peppers

Judah saw what happened but continued down the path of rebellion, corruption and injustices. Isaiah told them that their punishment would be at the hands of the Babylonians. They were also told about the utter destruction of the Temple, their homes and the land. BUT even in the midst of their sins, God would extend His mercy!

Lesson: After reminding them of their transgressions in verses 1-14, the prophet brings a word of hope.

The Lord God is not pleased at all with their actions but He looks from page B5

Beginning Aug. 9 Church Revival New Hope A.M.E. Zion Church, 7000 Shallowford Road in Lewisville, will celebrate its annual revival on Aug. 9-14. On Sunday morning (Aug. 9), the pastor, Rev. Dairl L. Scott Sr., will bring the 11 a.m. message. Lunch will be served at 1:30 p.m. At 3 p.m., Rev. Dairl L. Scott Jr. will bring the message along with his church family, Union Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church of Linwood. On Aug. 10, Rev. Tyrone K. Rigsby of Center Grove AME Zion Church of Tobaccoville; Aug. 11, Rev. Dr. Karen R. Miller of Bethania A.M.E. Zion Church of Winston-Salem; Aug. 12, Rev. Jimmy C. Griffin of New Jersey A.M.E. Zion Church of Lexington; Aug. 13, Rev. Johnny E. Scott of Pleasant Grove Baptist

such an excruciating existence, to scripture and verse we internalized for strength, and, in group sessions where we vented and shared, cried and eventually laughed without fear of judgment or ridicule, DivorceCare was there for me. Uplifting, Healing, Encouraging, and a Motivational source of

from page B5

Nehemiah

the Triad area will launch the event on Monday, Aug. 10. For more information about Lott Carey and the Annual Session, visit www.lottcarey.org or call 301-4293300.

blessed this year to establish Sunday & Wednesday Bible teaching where we continue to survey the Bible for necessary understanding for an effective ministry.

“Understanding the need to reach all people, we established our Women’s Ministry, our Children’s Ministry, and a Worship Leaders’ Ministry.

These ministries along with the Prison Ministry help to ensure we

Hope.

That's what DivorceCare has been for me. Everyone was awesome! Thank you to everyone from registration to Session Leaders and the closing prayer.

“You've all played a very valuable part in my recovery and the rebuilding of my family. You are priceless to me. Thank

around to find an intercessor for them. Throughout their history from Abraham to Solomon not one could be found. So the merciful God will put on His breastplate of righteousness and helmet of salvation to defeat evil that threatens His people’s lives and their livelihoods. Isaiah confirms for them that God will repay their enemies for all wrong deeds. His judgment will be quick and forceful like water coming from a broken dam. The survivors will be those who repented. The prophet declares that God will put His Spirit into the hearts of humans for His everlasting covenant with His people!

Life’s Application: We are guilty

reach all of God’s people where they are, so they can be taught salvation and understand how much Jesus loves us.

Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord; neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is our strength.

(Nehemiah 8:10) “We were blessed to celebrate Our First Year with friends and fami-

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Church of Yadkinville; and Aug. 14, Rev. Carolyn D. Bratton of Moore’s Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church of Kings Mountain.

Nightly service will begin at 7 p.m. For more information call 336-945-9083 or 336-945-5618.

Beginning Aug. 19 Revival on the Lawn Paul P. Thombs, senior pastor of Nehemiah Worship Center, 4873 Phelps Drive, will host Revival on The Lawn on Wednesday, Aug. 19 through Friday, Aug. 21 starting at 6 p.m. The public is invited to come. Transportation will be provided. For more information call 336712-7408 Sept. 14

Bible class The Sovereign Grace Bible Institute will begin its fall classes on Sept. 14. This will be a one-and-a-half year certificate program. On Monday nights, Ephesians and Practical Lessons on the Christian Life You!” Separated or divorced people who would like to join the 13-week program should complete the online registration form. Someone will be in contact with you, the church says. For child care, respond to the question on the registration form at beyondthesanctuary.wordpress.com.

as charged! Whether we are leaders or not God has a standard that we have failed to meet. What do we want?

Mercy is our cry even though we fail to give it to others. Some model we are for His love! We are in filthy rags; yet God extends His mercy to us. Not only that, He redeems us back to Him. Our mediator or intercessor cannot come from the ranks of humanity. We simply are not worthy or capable to complete this task. God knows, so He wraps Himself in flesh and dons His armor to do battle with evil on our behalf! What an awesome God we serve! Judgment is what we deserve and we do get it; but God also gives humanity His grace and mercy.

God is truly awesome!!!

ly who have supported us throughout this journey,” the church reports.

“They supported us as we hosted our Revival on the Lawn and our Friday Night Live services. They supported us in our Christmas Play & Dinner.

They supported us when we had fellowship dinners both at church and when we had our adult Christmas Fellowship at Cities Restaurant.

“And as we continue our journey, we steadfastly recognize ‘How Great is Our God’ and He has put us on the wall to rebuild broken lives and we will refuse to come down.”

Sede

will be the topics. On Tuesday nights, there will be classes on the book of Romans and studies in Systematic Theology. An Old Testament Survey class will be added in the third semester. Classes will be held on Monday and Tuesday nights from 7 to 9 p.m. at 2712 Bon Air Ave. If you are interested in this type of indepth Bible study, please call Elder Warren Burrell at 336-924-6001 or 336682-6782. The final registration day will be on Sept. 11. For more information visit the website at www.sgchapel.org.

Ongoing Emergency food give-away Christ Kingdom Building Worship Center, 3894 North Hampton Dr., in partnership with second Harvest Food Bank of NWNC, provides to the community at large an Emergency Food Assistance Program on Tuesdays (2 p.m.); Wednesdays (4:30 p.m.); first and third Saturdays (10 a.m. to noon); and second and fourth Saturdays, 8 to 10 a.m.

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of education being implemented at the University Institute of the Diocese of Buea and other humanitarian projects in which he has been involved, to make life better for the people of Cameroon.

“We are pleased to share this opportunity with the residents, local government officials and our educational community,” the church said in a statement. “We believe this is a valuable opportunity for our community to hear first-hand about projects in Africa and to be enlightened about how we can contribute to their society. There is much need for help with projects to empower and strengthen the Cameroon culture.”

Lunch will be provided for a suggested donation of $10. All are invited. Organizations are invited to present the Bishop with a souvenir that will remind him of his visit to Winston-Salem.

For further information and to RSVP, call St. Benedict the Moor Catholic Church at 336-725-9200.

Macedonia Holiness Church Of God Of The Apostolic Faith, Inc.

Sunday Services Sunday School . . . . . . . . . . . . 9:45 a.m.

Morning Worship . . . . . . . . . 11:00 a.m.

M.Y.P.U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6:30 p.m.

Bishop R.L. Wise, Sr.

D.D.; S.T.D. - Pastor

Wednesday Services Prayer & Bible Study . . . . . . . 7:30 p.m.

4111 Whitfield Drive Phone: 336-767-3700 Fax: 336-767-7006

True Vine Churches of Deliverance International (TVCOD)

2015 Total-Life Enrichment Ministries Conference Sunday August 2

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday August 3 August 4 August 5 August 6 Location: Macedonia Worship Center 500 Kinard Drive at SD Johnson Lane, Winston-Salem, NC 27101 “Consecration “International “Jurisdictional “Ecumenical Homecoming Day” Church Day” Enrichment Enhancement “Family & Day” Day” Friends” Day 7:00 p.m.

7:00 p.m.

7:00 p.m.

Apostle Dr. Carl Apostle Dr. Leon 7:00 p.m.

10:45 a.m.

Apostle Dr. Leon Wallace Nassau, Bahamas

Daniel Lykes Statesville, NC

Wallace Nassau, Bahamas

Bishop Dr. James Randolph Woodson II Greensboro, NC

Bishop Terry Larenzo Burlington, NC

Friday August 7 Location: Hawthorne Inn & Conference Center ³2I¿FLDO 'D\´ )RXQGHUV Day Luncheon 7:00 p.m. Annual Address The Most Apostolic Primate Establishmentarian Apostle Dr. Sylvester Davis Johnson 3UHVLGLQJ 2I¿FHU %LVKRS 7RGG Lamont Fulton, Kernersville, NC

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Sixth District of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity brings home international awards

Submitted photo

Brother Vincent Ferguson, Brother Khari Cyrus, Brother Michael Boykin, Brother Voris McBurnette, Brother Byron D. Putman, Brother Ulysses S.G. Sweeney, IV, and Brother Dr. Lathan E. Turner.

Special to the chronicle

JacKSonVille, Fla. — the Sixth District of omega psi phi Fraternity inc. received several international awards during the 2015 leadership conference. north carolina State University Student Body president Brother Khari cyrus, of the Kappa lambda chapter, was awarded the herman Dreer leadership award and received a $6,000 scholarship. cyrus is also the second vice sixth district representative.

Brother Michael Boykin, of the iota iota chapter - raleigh, was named the Undergraduate advisor of the Year. Boykin is the adviser of Kappa lambda chapter at north carolina State University. lt. col. Brother Voris McBurnette, also of the iota iota chapter - raleigh, received

Over 200 attend Omega Psi Phi Sixth District Boys Leadership Camp

Special to the chronicle

King — over 200 young africanamerican males, ages 8 to 15, from north carolina and South carolina gathered at YMca’s camp hanes for the Sixth District of omega psi phi Fraternity inc.’s Boys’ leadership camp from Sunday, June 28 through Friday, July 3.

During the camp, which was free to all campers, the attendees participated in workshops on leadership and citizenship, conflict resolution, My Future, life Skills, adult and child cpr, Black lives Matters, Making healthy Decisions, etiquette training, Finance, team Building reading and Writing. activities included: golf, horseback riding, climbing wall, swimming, water slide, water zip line, canoeing, alpine tower, alpine zip line, nature hikes, archery, arts and crafts. the camp counselors were undergraduate Brothers of

Submitted photo

NFL Linebacker Brother Quinton Coples, center, visits the Omega Psi Phi Sixth District Boys Leadership Camp at the YMCA Camp Hanes in King, NC.

omega psi phi Fraternity inc., from charleston Southern University, clemson University, east carolina University, elizabeth city State University, Fayetteville State University, Johnson c.

Smith University, livingstone college, north carolina State University, Shaw University, University of north carolina at chapel hill, University of north carolina at charlotte and Winston -Salem State University. the Sixth District is comprised of all graduate and undergraduate chapters in north and South carolina. Worldwide, omega psi phi Fraternity inc. has over 700 chapters throughout the United States, Bermuda, Bahamas, Virgin islands, Korea, Japan, liberia, Germany, Kuwait and the United Kingdom.

For more information please contact Brother Byron putman: byrondputman@gmail.com or 803-4877098.

American Red Cross seeks blood donations

Special to the chronicle

the american red cross urges eligible donors to give blood in august and help meet the constant need for blood products by patients. every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood.

Summer is an especially difficult time to collect enough blood to meet the needs of hospital patients.

Despite travel and other activities that may cause some donors to be less available to give, the red cross must collect 15,000 blood donations every day to meet the needs of patients at approximately 2,600 hospitals and transfusion centers across the country.

With more summer days ahead, every blood donation is important in helping ensure blood is available for patients in need, and volunteer donors are the only source of blood for those who need it. Donors of all blood types – especially those with types aB, o negative, a negative and B negative – are needed to help ensure blood products are available to hospital patients this summer. the blood donations for august in the Forsyth

county area are as follows:

Bethania • aug. 5 from 3:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Bethania Moravian church, 5545 Main St.

Kernersville • aug. 3 from 2 to 6:30 p.m. at Kernersville Wesleyan church/Family life center, 930 n. Main St. • aug. 10 from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at hillcrest Baptist church, 9856 Mcneil road • aug. 11 from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at First Baptist church, 401 oakhurst St. • aug. 11 from 2 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at First Baptist church, 401 oakhurst St. • aug. 14 from 3:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at con-way Freight, 438 W. Bodenhamer St. Lewisville • aug. 11 from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Kaplan early learning company, 1310 lewisville-clemmons road

Winston-Salem • aug. 6 from 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Wake Forest Baptist health, Medical center Blvd.

• aug. 6 from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Wake Forest

the col. charles Young Military award. colonel Young was elected the second honorary Brother in the fraternity. he died on Jan. 8, 1922 in africa. Brother Young is still regarded as a great military leader and a role model for all omega Men. the Kappa alpha chapter was named the international chapter of the Year during the leadership conference. Kappa alpha chapter is located in rock hill, S.c. the Sixth District is comprised of all graduate and undergraduate chapters in north and South carolina. Worldwide, omega psi phi Fraternity, inc. has over 700 chapters throughout the United States, Bermuda, Bahamas, Virgin islands, Korea, Japan, liberia, Germany, Kuwait and the United Kingdom.

For more information, contact Brother Byron putman: byrondputman@gmail.com or 803-487-7098.

Baptist health, 1920 W. 1st St. • aug. 7 from 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Wake Forest Baptist health, Medical center Blvd.

• aug. 8 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at piney Grove Baptist church, 4633 Grove Garden Dr. • aug. 13 from 3 to 7:30 p.m. at ardmore Baptist church, 501 Miller St. • aug. 14 from 2 to 6:30 p.m. at christ Wesleyan church, 2390 Union cross road

the american red cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation’s blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. the red cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the american public to perform its mission. to make an appointment to give blood, download the red cross Blood Donor app, visit redcrossblood.org, visit us on twitter at @redcross or call 1-800-reD croSS (1-800-733-2767).

Local Girls on the Run councils to merge T H E C H R ON I C LE

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Novant Health sponsors organization that teaches life skills to young girls

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

Girls on the Run (GOTR) Forsyth and GOTR Triad have announced the two councils will merge beginning with the fall 2015 season. The GOTR Triad council and the GOTR Forsyth council will become one unified council, Girls on the Run Triad. The combined council, with a sponsorship from Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center, will serve Davidson, Forsyth, Guilford, Randolph and Rockingham counties.

GOTR is a transformational, physical activity-based, positive youth development program for girls in third to eighth grades. The program is designed to develop and enhance girls’ competencies to successfully navigate life experiences. GOTR’s mission is to inspire girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident using an experience-based curriculum that creatively incorporates running. Girls learn to stretch themselves physically, mentally, socially and emotionally. During the process girls are inspired to a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living!

Established in 2002, GOTR Forsyth has been an affiliate council of Girls on the Run International and is operated by Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center. NHFMC will continue to serve the girls of Forsyth County as a sponsor for GOTR Triad.

GOTR in Davie County has been instrumental in opening the door for new programs like KidSmart, a fun, interactive program that teaches children the importance of making healthy lifestyle choices and empowers them to be proactive about their health. In the past two years,

Novant Health has piloted and expanded KidSmart in several schools in Davie County and is looking forward to further expanding the program.

Meeting twice a week in groups of eight to 20 girls, GOTR teaches life skills through fun, interactive lessons and running games. The 24-lesson curriculum is taught by certified GOTR coaches and has three parts: understanding ourselves, valuing relationships and teamwork, and understanding how we connect with and shape the world at large. The program culminates with the girls being physically and emotionally prepared to complete a celebratory 5K running event.

Girls on the Run International was founded in 1996 by

Members of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity host 10th annual Family Fun Day

Molly Barker in Charlotte, North Carolina, and now serves more than 60,000 girls each year. Girls on the Run Triad is one of 240+ Girls on the Run councils nationwide that use running to teach the lessons about life skills, including how to make healthy decisions and resolve conflicts.

For more information on GOTR Triad or to set up a new GOTR site, contact Executive Director Tracy Miles at tracy.miles@girlsontherun.org or visit GOTR Triad at www.gotrtriad.org.

Novant Health is a four-state integratednetwork of physician clinics, outpatient centers and hospitals that delivers a seamless and convenient healthcare experience to our communities. Novant Health consists of more than 1,200 physicians and 25,000 employees who make healthcare remarkable at nearly 500 locations, including 14 medical centers and hundreds of outpatient facilities and physician clinics. Headquartered in Winston-Salem, N.C., Novant Health is committed to making healthcare remarkable for patients and communities, serving more than four million patients annually. In 2014, Novant Health provided more than $639 million in community benefit including charity care and services. Novant Health is ranked as one of the nation’s top 20 integrated delivery networks by IMS Health.

For more information about the wellness programs and KidSmart, contact Tamara Smith at tsmith2@novanthealth.org or visit Novant Health at http://www.novanthealth.org. You can also follow Novant Health on Twitter and Facebook.

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

Family Fun Day began in July of 2006. Initially, the event was for members and their families, however, it has developed into an event that encourages the concept of community.

This annual event is the brainchild of Bro. Marlon Davis, who saw a need to help unite members of his fraternity, Omega Psi Phi Inc. who were not active in the organization. This provided an opportunity for the brothers to come together to fellowship.

Family Fun Day promotes a family reunion style atmosphere that includes music, raffles, games, arts and crafts and activities for children. In addition, an array of food options are provided for the participants who attend the event. This event continues to grow yearly.

Brother James Brandon (left) and Family Fun Day Founder Brother Marlon Davis

Participants enjoy Family Fun Day.

Brother Charlie Bethea and Mrs. Bethea enjoy the festivities.

Keep W-S Beautiful and Forsyth County Cooperative Extension partnering on school initiative

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

Submitted Photo

Keep Winston-Salem Beautiful (KWSB) plans to partner with Forsyth County Cooperative Extension volunteers to work with schools in WinstonSalem that have been historically under-represented in KWSB programs and activities.

The partner schools will be announced at the start of the 2015-16 academic year in August. The initiative will connect each school and the surrounding neighborhoods to a Forsyth County Cooperative Extension volunteer to assist with initial efforts, said Robert Leak III, the president of Keep Winston-Salem Beautiful.

“My hope is that the selected schools will begin to participate in KWSB’s annual beautification projects,” Leak said, “and that the beauty will spill into distressed areas of the city, possibly sparking other community projects.”

Shanika Gray, a Forsyth County Cooperative Extension and 4-H agent, said, “Forsyth County Cooperative Extension and 4-H are excited to support the KWSB initiative that will improve the landscape of our city and school grounds. This is an opportunity to educate more youth and communities about the importance of being good stewards of the Earth, with the guidance of our Master Gardener volunteers."

Leak, who was recently elected as the first African-American president of the KWSB board, hopes to use his position to increase community involvement as well as citizen participation in schools and neighborhoods that have been under-represented in such KWSB activities as Clean and Green, Adopt-AStreet and Adopt-A-Stream programs.

Keep Winston-Salem Beautiful, an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, is a nonprofit, volunteer organization whose mission is to enhance the appearance of the city through cleanup events, beautification projects, educational activities, including the Big Sweep waterway cleanup, Community Roots Day and the Great American Cleanup.

WSSU director of health and safety presents at seminar

The session, titled “Safety at Small Colleges and Universities,” was presented by a Aaron Leftwich, Winstonconsortium of EHS directors at colSalem State University’s director of leges and universities with similar environmental health & safety staffing complements. The seminar (EHS), presented recently at a focused on strategies EHS Directors national conference for campus can employ to meet the vast needs of safety, health and environmental their respective schools. practitioners.

Leftwich, who joined WSSU in Leftwich’s presentation “How 2012, is a member of CSHEMA’s and Why to Implement Interns and Small Colleges and Universities Student Workers in EHS Community of Practice and currently Departments,” was part of a professerves as the UNC System represenLeftwich sional development seminar at the tative for Small Colleges and 62nd annual Campus Safety, Universities on the North Carolina Health, and Environmental Management State Safety and Health Steering Committee.

Association (CSHEMA) Conference in Washington, DC in July.

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

Pearson Appointed Chair of CAEP Standards Committee SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

Dr. Denise Pearson, senior associate dean and professor of education at Winston-Salem State University has been appointed to a three-year term and will chair the highly selective Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) Standards Committee.

The mission of CAEP is to advance excellence in educator preparation through evidencebased accreditation that assures quality and supports continuous improvement to strengthen P-12 student learning. More than 1,000 educator preparation providers participate in the CAEP accreditation system.

Pearson

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deadline: Monday 5:30 pM • 25 words For $20 call classiFieds aT (336) 722-8624 we accept major credit card payment on all classfied ads. email us your ad by Monday...see it on Thursday. Fax (336) 713-9173

M/wbe bid noTices M/wbe bid noTices DBE BUSINESS ENTERPRISES

James R. Vannoy & Sons Construction Co., Inc. is currently soliciting quotes from interested DBE subcontractors and suppliers for the following project: Project: Town of West Jefferson East Second Streetscape Improvements Ashe County, NC Bid Date: BID DATE HAS CHANGED TO AUGUST 11, 2015 @ 2:00 PM—Sub Quotes due by 12:00 PM Contact: Jason Blackwell Jason.blackwell@jrvannoy.com 1608 Hwy 221 North— PO Box 635 Jefferson, NC 28640 Phone: 336-846-7191 Fax: 336-846-7112

We have adopted several policies and procedures to encourage the participation of D/M/ WBE firms on our projects, so if you are interested in this project but discouraged by any of its requirements, please contact us. We have special joint pay agreements and even an expedited payment policy for D/MWBE firms, and we encourage to you to contact us to discuss how these procedures can help you on this project. If the bonding, letter of credit or insurance requirements set forth in the bid documents would otherwise prevent you from soliciting a quote please contact us and we will discuss ways that we may be able to help you meet these requirements. Likewise, if you are discouraged from submitting a quote on this project because you think you may have trouble obtaining the necessary equipment, supplies, materials, or any other related assistance or services that may be necessary to complete the work, please contact us and we will discuss ways that we may be able to help you overcome these obstacles. We adopted these policies to encourage the participation of D/M/WBE firms like yours, and we encourage your company to explore and take advantage of them; so please feel free to give us a call in these regards A meeting has been scheduled for Aug. 5th at 10:00 a.m. at 1608 Hwy 221 N. Jefferson, NC for anyone who is interested to ask questions, obtain plans, etc.

Work Includes and we will be accepting quotes for but not limited to: Const.

Survey, Grading, Milling, Removal of Exist. Asph. & Concrete Pavement, RC Pipe Culverts, ABC, Asph. Conc. Base, Asph. Conc. Intermed. Course, Conc.

Surface Course, Drop Inlet & Catch Basin Boxes, Frame w/Grate & Hood, Integral Curb, Conc. Curb & Gutter, Precast Box (Valley) Conc. Valley Gutter, Conc. Walk, Pavers (Light & Heavy Duty), Tactile Pavers, Temp.Traffic Control, Thermo. Pavement Markings, Decorative St. Lamps, Sign Erection- Type E, Plantings, Mulch for Planting, Traffic Signal Removal Please see proposal for complete listing of bid items. Bid items can be subdivided into economically feasible units to facilitate D/M/WBE Participation. We ask that all Non-D/M/WBE Subs & Suppliers also utilize D/M/WBE Subs & Suppliers to increase our overall D/M/WBE Participation on this project.

Be sure to check our website periodically for addenda.

Plans may be obtained/viewed: www.jrvannoy.com Subcontractor Plan Room Vannoy Construction-1608 Hwy 221 North-Jefferson, NC, WE ARE AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER The Chronicle July 30, 2015 Request for Quotes Information Technology Management and Maintenance Services

The Winston-Salem Transit Authority is requesting quotes for Information Technology Management and Maintenance Services. Quotes shall be received until August 14, 2015 until 5:00 P.M. A detailed description of requested services can be obtained by mailing or emailing: Mr. Art Barnes General Manager Winston-Salem Transit Authority 1060 North Trade Street Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27101 Email: abarnes@wstransit.com The Chronicle July 30, 2015

aUcTion

RUN AN AUCTION ad in 100 N.C. newspapers for only $375 for a 25-word ad. Call this newspaper or 919-516-8009 for details.

Financial

SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY BENEFITS. Unable to work? Denied benefits? We Can Help! WIN or Pay Nothing! Contact Bill Gordon & Associates at 1-800-371-1734 to start your application today!

JIMMY R. LYNCH & SONS, INC, AN EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY CONTRACTOR, IS SOLICITING BIDS FOR M/W/DBE PARTICIPATION FOR THE FOLLOWING PROJECTS:

We would appreciate a quotation from your firm for any and all work and/or materials on the following project: (1) Greensboro (Guilford County) East Cone Blvd. and Nealtown Roadway Improvements, Contract # 2010035 (Revised Bid Date Per Addendum # 1) Bids 8-6-15 @ 4:00 pm

Work May include, but not Limited to: Hauling (Asphalt, Dirt, Stone, Sand, & Waste), Clearing & Grubbing, Storm Drainage, Earthwork, Erosion Control Guardrail, Asphalt Paving, Seeding & Mulching, Concrete (Sidewalk, C&G, & Driveways), Signs, Traffic Control Pavement Parking, Fencing, Hazardous Material Remediation, Watermain and Bridges Please contact Daniel @ dlynch@jr lynchandsons.com for a link to a website where you will be able to download a digital copy of the bid documents. Or bidding documents in electronic form from Duncan Parnell web page http://www.dpibidroom.com and City of Greensboro ftp website (ftp://ftp.ci. greensboro.nc.us/Engineering)

If you need equip., credit lines, secure loans joint payments, insurance or quick payments––call Daniel @ J.R.L. (J.R.L. will furnish bonds for all projects & will help you obtain the proper certification, (if you are not certified.) JRL encourages 2nd tier DBE/MBE/WBE Subcontractor opportunities. We encourage our subcontractors to utilize 2nd and 3rd tier DBE/MBE/WBE Subcontractors. Please Submit Quote the Day Prior to Bid Opening Phone: 336-368-4047 Fax: 336-368-4613 The Chronicle July 30, 2015

legal noTices

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA FORSYTH COUNTY IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE DISTRICT COURT DIVISION NOTICE OF SERVICE OF PROCESS BY PUBLICATION

IN THE MATTER OF:

LEIGH-ANN SHUMATE DOB: 03-02-12 TO: John Doe – biological father of the juvenile

TAKE NOTICE that a Juvenile Petition seeking relief against you has been filed in the above-entitled action. The nature of the relief being sought is an adjudication of Termination of your Parental Rights with respect to the above-referenced juvenile pursuant to N.C.G.S. 7B-1103.

You are required to make a written answer to the Petition alleging to Terminate Parental Rights within thirty (30) days after the date of this notice; and upon your failure to make a defense to the Petitions within the 30 day period specified herein or to attend the hearing on the said Petition, the Petitioner will apply to the Court for terminating your parental rights to the above-referenced juvenile.

Any counsel appointed previously to represent you and not released by the Court shall continue to represent you.

If you are indigent and not already represented by appointed counsel, you are entitled to appointed counsel and provisional counsel has been appointed upon your request subject to the Courts review at the first hearing after this service.

legal noTices

eMployMenT

NOTICE OF SERVICE OF PROCESS BY PUBLICATION 15 J 164

The City of Winston-Salem is looking to fill the position for

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE FORSYTH COUNTY DISTRICT COURT DIVISION

IN THE MATTER OF: SHAYLA BUTLER DOB: 10-30-14

TO: Nicole Butler – mother of the juvenile “Rev” Last Name Unknown – putative father of the juvenile Nathaniel Eaton – putative father of the juvenile

TAKE NOTICE that a Juvenile Petition seeking relief against you has been filed in the above-entitled action. The nature of the relief being sought is an adjudication of the Juvenile Petition filed by the Forsyth County Department of Social Services alleging Shayla Butler to be a neglected and dependent juvenile as pursuant to N.C.G.S. 7B-101(15) and 7B101(9).

You are required to make a written answer to the Petition alleging to adjudicate neglect and dependent within thirty (30) days after the date of this notice; and upon your failure to make a defense to the Petition within the 30 day period specified herein or to attend the hearing on the said Petition, the Petitioner will apply to the Court for terminating your parental rights to the above-referenced juveniles.

Any counsel appointed previously to represent you and not released by the Court shall continue to represent you.

If you are indigent and not already represented by appointed counsel, you are entitled to appointed counsel and provisional counsel has been appointed upon your request subject to the Courts review at the first hearing after this service.

The hearing on the Petition alleging to adjudicate Neglect and Dependency is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Friday, August 28, 2015 in Courtroom 4-J of the Hall of Justice in Winston-Salem, North Carolina or as soon thereafter as the Court can hear the said case.

This the 10th day of July, 2015

Theresa A. Boucher Attorney for the Forsyth County Department of Social Services 741 Highland Avenue Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101 (336) 703-3900

The Chronicle July 16, 23, 30, 2015

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The hearing on the Petition alleging to Terminate Parental Rights is scheduled for One bedroom 10:15 a.m. on Monday, August 24, 2015 apartments with in Courtroom 4-J of the Hall of Justice in washer-dryer Winston-Salem, North Carolina or as soon connections, pool, and water furnished. thereafter as the Court can hear the said Only $410.00 per month case.

This the 21st day of July, 2015

Theresa A. Boucher Attorney for the Forsyth County Department of Social Services 741 Highland Avenue Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101 (336) 703-3900

The Chronicle July 23, 30 and August 6, 2015

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Please visit: www.cityofws.org for job description and application process.

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August 3-8, 2015 National Black Theatre Festival 速

PUBLICITY PHOTO

Awards Gala Living Legend Award

Robert Hooks

PUBLICITY PHOTO

Honorees

Sidney Poitier Lifelong Achievement Award

Bill Cobbs

PUBLICITY PHOTO

Black Theatre... for Everyone

Living Legend Award

Hattie Winston

2

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Photo courtesy of the N.C. Black Repertory Co.

The Founder:

Larry Leon Hamlin The Founder It all started with a dream – one that Larry Leon Hamlin, through dogged determination, pushed into a glorious reality.

The National Black Theatre Festival has been held up by the New York Times as “one of the most historic and culturally significant events” in the history of American theater. The road to such acclaim was paved by Hamlin, a visionary ahead of his time whose contributions are vast and wide-reaching.

The first six-day biennial festival was held in the summer of 1989. Dr. Maya Angelou served as the celebrity chairwoman. Hamlin went to Angelou, who had moved to Winston-Salem more than a decade earlier to teach at Wake Forest University, with his idea of organizing a showcase for Black theater that would bring together theater companies and productions from the across the nation and globe. Hamlin’s enthusiasm and vision won Angelou over. She helped him raise about half-a-million dollars to stage the event and recruited some of her high-profile friends, Oprah Winfrey among them, to make appearances during the festival.

The late Larry Leon Hamlin started the NBTF in 1989.

The first NBTF exceeded expectations: more than 10,000 people attended; the nearly 20 theater companies invited to present played to sold-out crowds; and loads of positive press was garnered. The success did not surprise Hamlin. Black theater was in his blood; he knew its power to entertain, enrich and enlighten all lives – black, white, brown, etc.

Continued on page 4

3

Hamlin’s Background

Continued Growth

Hamlin received his theater training at Brown University, under the direction of the late George Houston Bass, as a member of Rites and Reason Theatre Company. He also studied at Johnson & Wales University. He lectured on Black theater at such prestigious institutions as the Yale University School of Drama, the University of Connecticut, New York University and his alma mater, Brown.

Every National Black Theatre Festival has grown in size and scope since its inception. By the time the event celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2009, it was regularly attracting 70,000 visitors and pumping millions into the local economy.

He is the founder and former executive and artistic director of the North Carolina Black Repertory Company, the first professional Black theater company in the state of North Carolina. Under Hamlin’s direction, the “Black Rep” gained a reputation for staging Broadway-quality shows that entertained not only local crowds but ones across the nation through its many national tours. As an actor, director, producer and playwright, Hamlin played a hand in bringing more than 200 productions to fruition. He often provided artistic and administrative consultation to numerous Black theater companies and was honored with more than 80 awards and citations for his contributions to the theatrical field.

Hamlin was twice a guest of honor at the White House, receiving two personal invitations from former President Bill Clinton to attend ceremonies for recipients of the National Medal of Arts and the Charles Frankel Prize.

For Tickets

Tickets to all shows and the Opening Night Gala are available online at www.nbtf.org.

During Festival week, tickets will be available at:

• N.C. Black Repertory Theatre Box Office (in the Arts Council Theatre at 610 Coliseum Drive) 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Benton Convention Center 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

• Will Call tickets may also be picked up at the Benton Convention Center, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

•

Tickets, if still available, will also be sold at venues starting an hour before performances.

All Schedules and performances are subject to change. Check www.nbtf.org for updates or call 336-723-7907 for more information.

Hamlin, a native of Reidsville, N.C., did not live to see the festival turn 20. He died June 6, 2007, at the age of 58. His legacy is being continued through the continued success of both the Black Rep and NBTF. Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin, his widow, is making sure of that, as is Broadway veteran Mabel Robinson, who stepped up to serve as artistic director of the Black Rep. On the last night of the 2013 NBTF, the City of Winston-Salem re-dedicated a permanent marker at the corner of Fourth and Marshall streets that salutes Hamlin for his many contributions to the city and the world of theater.

During this year’s festival, the New Winston Museum (717 S. Marshall Street) is planning an exhibit that will spotlight Hamlin’s legacy and recount the history of the NBTF. m

Ernest H. Pitt, Publisher Donna Rogers, Managing Editor T. Kevin Walker, Freelance Correspondent LinTaylor Marketing Group, Graphics & Design Shayna Smith, Marketing Assistant Paulette Moore, Administrative Assistant Contact us for advertising rates or subscriptions, call 336-722-8624, e-mail adv@wschronicle.com, or go to www.wschronicle.com Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/WSChronicle Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/WS_Chronicle

On the Cover, Clockwise: From “The Glory of Gospel”

The cast makes a joyful noise. Photo courtesy of the N.C. Black Rep

From "Accept "Except" LGBT NY"

Tyree Young and Tuluv Maria Price bring the two-character play to life.

Photo by Gerry Goodstein.

From “Letters from Zora: In Her Own Words” Vanessa Bell Calloway on stage as Zora Neale Hurston.

Photo courtesy of OPAS.

From "Kings of Harlem"

Cast members (from left) Melvin Huffnagle, Delano Barbosa, Thaddeus Daniels, Lamar K. Cheston and Ade Otukoya. Photo by Aiden Cole.

4

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Gala Awards Ceremony Welcome to the 14th Biennial National Black Theatre Festival® The 2015 National Black Theatre Festival begins with a bang! The Opening Night Gala is a glitzy, celebrity-heavy celebration that ushers in a week of Marvtastic-ness. It will be held on Monday, Aug. 3 beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Opening Night Gala Monday, August 3, 2015 M.C. Benton Convention Center Celebrity Procession With NBTF Co-Chairs, Debbi Morgan and Darnell Williams An hour later – after attendees have enjoyed dinner – African drummers and dancers will lead a procession of dozens of celebrities and local dignitaries into the banquet hall to begin the formal program.

Awards Presentation By 6:45 p.m., the awards presentation will start.

2015 National Black Theatre Festival® Honorees Here is a list of each of the 2015 awardees; bios of each are found throughout the pages of this publication.

Award

Recipient

Page

Bill Cobbs

10

Nate Jacobs

12

Erich McMillan-McCall

15

August Wilson Playwright Award

Katori Hall

17

Lloyd Richards Director Award

Clinton Turner Davis

22

Living Legend Awards

A. Peter Bailey

23

Maurice Hines

31

Robert Hooks

38

Grace Jones

41

Hattie Winston

46

Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design

ESOSA

51

Sidney Poitier Lifelong Achievement Award Larry Leon Hamlin Producer Award Emerging Producer Award

Outstanding Achievement in Lighting Design

Allen Lee Hughes

47

Black Stars Of The Great White Way About two hours later, the crowd of a few thousand will make its way a block over to the Stevens Center for a performance of “Black Stars of the Great White Way” at 9 p.m.

Outstanding Achievement in Scenic Design

Harlan Penn

63

Celebrity Reception Opening Night Gala ticket-holders can gain access to the Celebrity Reception at the nearby Marriott Hotel at around 10:30 p.m.

Theatre Longevity Award

The Carpetbag Theatre, Inc.

65

Special Recognition Awards

Karamu House

65

Rachel P. Jackson

63

The Millennium Fund

64

Warren Dell Leggett

64

Tickets to all Opening Night Gala events are $262. Tickets just for the “Black Stars of the Great White Way” performance on this night are $100.

An impressive list of notables will be honored during this year’s gala. They include those who shine on stage and on screen and the men and women who work behind the scenes to create magic.

Marvtastic Philanthrophy Award Theatre Arts & Humanitarian Award

5

Contents The Founder: Larry Leon Hamlin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 For Tickets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Gala Awards Ceremony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Celebrity Co-Chairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Performance Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Black Stars of the Great White Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The Magnificent Dunbar Hotel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 It’s a Hard Knock Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Honoree: Bill Cobbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South . . . . . . . . . . 13 Fried Chicken and Latkes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Honoree: Nate Jacobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 The Journals of Osborne P. Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Excelsior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Honoree: Erich McMillan-McCall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Midnight Poetry Jam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 The Eve of Jackie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Honoree: Katori Hall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Accept “Except” LGBT NY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 The Brothers Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Fetch Clay, Make Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 The Dealership Double-Billed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Honoree: Clinton Turner Davis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 The Homecoming Double-Billed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Honoree: A. Peter Bailey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Barbara Jordan: A Rendezvous with Destiny Double-Billed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Adam: The Story of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Double-Billed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Gogo and Big Sister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 UNIVERSES Live! From the Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Letters from Zora: In Her Own Words . . . . . . . . . . . 31 An Evening with Vivian Reed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Honoree: Maurice Hines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 At Last: A Tribute to Etta James . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

6

Beyond the Stage: FREE Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 The Glory of Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Honoree: Robert Hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Dutchman Double-Billed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 The Last Revolutionary Double-Billed . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Honoree: Grace L. Jones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Maid’s Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Repairing a Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 The Bluest Eye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 The Monkey on My Back (An Intimate Evening with Debbi Morgan) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Mr. Joy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Honoree: Hattie Winston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 The Amazing Adventures of Grace May B. Brown . . . . 49 Honoree: Allen Lee Hughes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 National Youth Talent Showcase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Storytelling Festival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Body of a Woman as Battlefield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Honoree: ESOSA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Sassy Mamas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Hands Up: 6 Playwrights, 6 Testaments . . . . . . . . . . 58 Soul Crooners 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Sojourner Truth, A Legacy Double-Billed . . . . . . . . . 60 W.E.B. Du Bois: A Man for All Times Double-Billed . . . 61 Kings of Harlem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 The Clothesline Muse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 The Old Settler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Honoree: Harlan Penn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Honoree: Rachel P. Jackson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Honoree: Warren Dell Leggett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Honoree: The Mullennium Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 The Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Honoree: The Carpetbag Theatre, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . 69 Honoree: Karamu House. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

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Celebrity Co-Chairs Luke and Laura. Bo and Hope. Victor and Nikki.

The annals of soap opera history are filled with supercouples, lovers whose passion-filled and tumultuous affairs have transfixed fans around the world.

The supercouple mold was cracked wide open in the early 1980s when Jesse and Angie began steaming up the screen on “All My Children.” Never before in daytime television had black love received so much airtime and attention, never had a supercouple been non-white.

Fans laughed, cried, celebrated and commiserated with Jesse and Angie from 1982 to 1988. The couple returned to the soap from 2008 to 2011 and then again in 2013, shortly before the long-running “All My Children” was cancelled

by ABC. (The couple also briefly surfaced on the CBS soap “The Young and Restless” in 2012.)

Actors Darnell Williams (Jesse) and Debbi Morgan (Angie) are back together again, serving as the celebrity co-chairs of the 2015 National Black Theatre Festival. Though their soap alter egos made them stars, the two have shined brightly in various arenas over the years.

Debbie Morgan Morgan, a native of Dunn, N.C., has graced the stage and the small and silver screens. In 2013, she brought her acclaimed one-woman show “The Monkey on My Back! An Intimate Evening with Debbi Morgan” to the NBTF. In the deeply personal on-stage memoir, Morgan took audiences on a journey through her own life, including her family’s legacy of abuse.

Morgan made her showbiz debut in 1971 in the bawdy whodunit “Cry Uncle!”

Her breakout role would come four years later in the slave-era drama “Mandingo.”

At around the same time, Morgan began making regular guest appearances on several popular sitcoms, including “Good Times,” “What’s Happening!” and “The Love Boat.”

Her most famous role – that of Angie Hubbard – earned her a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 1989; it was a first for a black daytime actress. Her trophy case also contains several awards for her much-heralded performance in the 1997 film “Eve’s Bayou.” Morgan won a Chicago Film Critics Association and Independent Spirit awards for her role as Mozelle Batiste Delacroix, and the late film critic Roger Ebert argued that she should have received an Oscar nod for what he praised as one of the best performances of the year.

Morgan’s many other big screen credits include “The Hurricane” (opposite Denzel Washington), “Love and Basketball,” “Coach Carter” and “Woman Thou Art Loosed.” Her television credits also include “The Practice,” “Any Day Now,” “Boston Public,” Strong Medicine” and “Power,” the new Starz hip-hop drama produced by rapper/actor 50 Cent.

Darnell Williams Williams was born in London to American parents. His father, a career Air Force man, was stationed in England at the time. Because of his father's service to his country, Williams also spent some his childhood in Japan. By the time the family (Williams has seven siblings) returned to his parents’ native Brooklyn, Williams had dreams of stardom and boarded a bus for L.A. when he was in his late teens to pursue them.

The world first got a glimpse of him on the hit weekend music showcase “Soul Train.” Williams was one of the show's regular dancers and, thusly, charged with showing the world the hottest dance moves. He made his television acting debut in 1980 on the drama “The White Shadow.” The next year, he won the role of Jesse Hubbard and would spend the next 30 years playing the character, or some iteration of Jesse.

Williams’ peers have rewarded his stellar work with two Daytime Emmy Awards. Producers have acknowledged his immense talents by hiring him for a long list of daytime dramas over the decades. In addition to “All My Children,” Williams has appeared on “The Young and the Restless,” “Loving,” “Guiding Light” and “The City.” His stage credits include “Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell,” and his big screen credits include the Golden Globe-winning Robert Altman film “Short Cuts,” and “Manhattanites,” which he co-directed. His long list of non-soap opera television credits includes work on shows like “Law and Order: SUV,” “Nash Bridges,” “Felicity” and “The City.” m 7

Performance Locations Embassy Suites Hotel

Reese Theatre in the Pavilion Gaines Ballroom – Lower Level 425 N. Cherry St., Downtown Winston-Salem, NC 27101

Arts Council Theatre

610 Coliseum Drive Winston-Salem, NC 27106

M.C. Benton Convention Center

C

North Main Hall 301 W. Fifth St. Winston-Salem, NC 27101

The Drama Workshop Theatre Shirley Recital Hall 500 E. Salem Ave. Winston-Salem, NC 27101

D Stevens Center of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) Fourth & Marshall Streets, Downtown Winston-Salem, NC 27101

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Hanesbrands Theatre

R.J. Reynolds Memorial Auditorium

Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA)

Summit School

McChesney Scott Dunn Auditorium 750 Marguerite Drive Winston-Salem, NC 27106

University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA)

1 – The Gerald Freedman Theatre 2 – The Catawba Arena Theatre 1533 S. Main St. Winston-Salem, NC 27127

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Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts Mountcastle Forum Black Box 209 N. Spruce St. Winston-Salem, NC 27101

Reynolda House Museum of American Art 2250 Reynolda Road Winston-Salem, NC 27106

Salem Academy & College Fine Arts Center

A

301 Hawthorne Road Winston-Salem, NC 27104

Loma Hopkins Theatre 2100 Reynolda Road Winston-Salem, NC 27106

Wake Forest University (WFU) Scales Fine Arts Center 1 – The MainStage Theatre 2 – The Ring Theatre 1834 Wake Forest Drive Winston-Salem, NC 27106

Winston-Salem State University (WSSU)

K.R. Williams Auditorium Dillard Auditorium – Anderson Center 601 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Winston-Salem, NC 27110

www.WSChronicle.com

Downtown Winston-Salem N TR ADE ST

Embassy Suites Hotel Hanesbrands Theatre MC Benton Convention Center Stevens Center

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Please visit www.downtownws.com for a complete listing of all Shopping and Dining options in Downtown Winston-Salem.

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59 Di Lisio’s Italian Restaurant 60 Willow’s Bistro 61 Jeffrey Adams 62 Miami Restaurant & Bar 63 Washington Perk & Provisions 64 The Twin City Hive 65 Fourth Street Kabobs 66 Pepper Mill Coffee Shop 67 Rusty Bumper Ice Cream

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Corks, Caps, & Taps Burke Street Pub Gatsby’s Pub SNAP! Downtown Brody’s The Garage Old Winston Social Club Recreation Billiards Tate’s Craft Cocktails

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50 Finnigan’s Wake Irish Pub 51 6th & Vine 52 Camel City BBQ Factory 53 Atelier on Trade Bakery & Cafe 54 Sweet Potatoes… a restaurant 55 Famous Toastery 56 Meridian 57 The Flour Box 58 Señor Bravo

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1 The Tavern in Old Salem 2 Harpsichord in Old Salem 3 Burke Street Pizza 4 Bernardin’s 5 Flashback Smoothies 6 Mozelle’s Fresh Bistro 7 Old 4th Street Filling Station 8 West End Café 9 Xia’s Asian Bistro & Sushi Bar 10 West End Coffeehouse 11 Bib’s Downtown 12 Lighthouse Restaurant 13 Skippy’s Hot Dogs 14 Subway 15 Wen Hwa Asian Fusion 16 The Grille (Embassy Suites) 17 Starbucks 18 Spring House 19 Camino Bakery 20 Quanto Basta 21 Mellow Mushroom 22 Tropical Smoothie 23 Foothills Brewing Co. 24 Hutch & Harris 25 Local 27101 26 Black Mountain Chocolate Company 27 Rhodes Center Arts Café 28 Bayberry Bistro (Hawthorne Inn) 29 Graze (Marriott) 30 The Honey Pot 31 Mission Pizza 32 Downtown Thai & Sushi 33 Jimmy John’s 34 King’s Crab Shack & Oyster Bar 35 Downtown 36 Murphy’s Lunch 37 Tokyo Shapiro 38 Upper Deck Deli 39 Downtown Diamondback 40 Mooney’s Mediterranean Café 41 Courtside Café 42 Café Olé Coffee Shop 43 Legendary Goat Coffee Shop 44 Meta’s 45 Subway 46 Downtown Deli 47 Small Batch Brewing Company 48 Krankie’s Coffee 49 Mary’s Gourmet Diner

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9

Black Stars of the Great White Way

PUBLICITY PHOTO

PHOTO BY LISA PACINO

Black Stars of the Great White Way UNCSA’s Stevens Cent er Mon, Aug. 3

9 p.m.

Tickets are $262 –

as part of the Opening Night Gala package.

The cost per ticke is $100 for just the “BlacktSta rs

PUBLICITY PHOTO

PUBLICITY PHOTO

T

Melba Moore

Obba Babatundé

Jackée Harry

Dawnn Lewis

hose fortunate enough to get tickets to “Black Stars of the Great White Way” will witness history.

A who’s who list of notables will sing, dance or otherwise charm their way into hearts during a production that salutes the African-Americans who have shined brightest on Broadway over the past 100 years.

Last summer, the show debuted to great fanfare at the famed Carnegie Hall as a tribute to some of the black men who have conquered both Carnegie and Broadway. Norm Lewis, André De Shields, Melba Moore, Alyson Williams, Keith David, Obba Babatundé, Clifton Davis, Hattie Winston, Jackée Harry, Dulé Hill, Ben Vereen and more than three dozen other performers celebrated the legacies of Eubie Blake, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Louis Jordan, Duke Ellington and Paul Robeson and bestowed praise upon the night’s honorees – Geoffrey Holder, Louis Johnson, Stephen Byrd, Harold Wheeler, Noble Sissle, Berry Gordy, Luther Henderson, Donald McKayle, Robert Guillaume and NBTF Founder Larry Leon Hamlin.

10

Tickets for this performance are $48

PUBLICITY PHOTO

Kirk Taylor

André De Shields

PUBLICITY PHOTO

PUBLICITY PHOTO

Co-executive producers Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis and David Greer.

of the Great White Way performance on Opening ” Night.

Tues, Aug. 4 8 p.m.

A special staging of the musical retrospective has been designed for the National Black Theatre Festival. It will salute some of the many luminaries who have been a part of the NBTF over the past 25 years. Many of the stars from the Carnegie Hall debut will take the stage in Winston-Salem, including Lewis, Winston, Williams, De Shields, Moore, Wheeler, Babatundé and Harry (a Winston-Salem native).

Also slated to appear are Ebony Jo-Ann, Dawnn Lewis, Peggy Blu, Jermaine Coles, Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter, Maurice Hines, Larry Marshall, Longineu Parsons, Kirk Taylor, Jacob Wheeler and Chapman Roberts, whose Chapman Roberts Concepts, Inc. is presenting this musical event. David Alan Bunn is the musical director and arranger. Roberts, Parsons and Harold Wheeler will also provide arrangements and orchestrations.

In addition to musical tributes to the Jazz icons who were celebrated last year, selections from “Jelly’s Last Jam,” “Les Misérables,” “Bubbling Brown Sugar,” “Eubie,” “Smokey Joe's Café,” “Sister Act,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” “Play On!” and other shows will be performed.

Roberts, a Broadway legend best known for his musical directing and arranging, is also the director and coexecutive producer, along with Norm Lewis, who made

history recently as Broadway’s first black “Phantom of the Opera,” and playwright/actor/producer David Greer. Lewis approached Roberts with the idea of a tribute in 2011, after Roberts brought together more than 500 past and present black Broadway performers – including Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett – to pose for famed photographer Carmen De Jesus in Times Square.

“This project came about from so many different ways, but mainly because I had a lot of young men come up to me and praising me and saying that I was the reason that they were singing and I gave them so much encouragement,” Lewis told Playbill last year. “I didn’t realize that I had touched people like that. I’m grateful that that’s a part of my legacy. But I also looked up to Ben Vereen and André De Shields and Larry Marshall, and I said, ‘Wow, we need to celebrate them.’”

“Black Stars of the Great White Way” has been selected as the festival’s opening night performance, an honor reserved for the week’s most acclaimed production.

It will first be staged after the Opening Night Gala on Monday, Aug. 3 and then just once more: on the night of Tuesday, Aug. 4. Its star-power and brief run will surely make it the hottest ticket in town. m www.WSChronicle.com

PHOTO BY TOMOKO MATSUSHITA

The Magnificent Dunbar Hotel The talented ensemble cast opulently adorned by costume designer Naila Aladdin Sanders.

The Magnificent Dunbar Hotel Wake Forest – The MainStage Theatre Tues, Aug. 4

3 p.m.

Tues, Aug. 4

8 p.m.

Wed, Aug. 5

3 p.m.

Wed, Aug. 5

8 p.m.

Los Angeles-based The Robey Theater Company commissioned acclaimed playwright Levy Lee Simon to pen “Dunbar;” the production is based on the real Central Avenue Los Angeles landmark that was the home away from home for the black rich and famous in the ’30s and ’40s. Many of those luminaries – including Lena Horne, Ethel Waters, Duke Ellington, Paul Robeson and W.E.B. DuBois – are in Simon’s tale, which is deeply rooted in historical facts.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ROBEY

“T

he Magnificent Dunbar Hotel“ is as grand as its title. A talented cast of 20 makes this smart, lavish and stylish show an unforgettable theater experience.

PHOTO BY TOMOKO MATSUSHITA

$41

Ethel Waters (Elizabeth June) and Lena Horne (Tiffany Coty) perform.

The Dunbar Hotel – which is named for famed poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, whose spirit provides narration and even bits of verse throughout the show – is the star of the show. Its grandness is a source of great pride for the black community, and its owner, Lucius Lomax, and his wife, Minnie, are luminaries in the neighborhood.

Outside its walls, Los Angeles is not a kind town to blacks. Segregation, bigoted cops and even Ku Klux Klansmen abound. The Lomaxes, their staff and guests confront those external issues and many internal ones as well, including love, faith, pain and struggle. There are impressive visual effects and music, too, including a dynamic rendition of “Sweet Georgia Brown” delivered by feuding divas Horne (Tiffany Coty) and Waters (Elizabeth June).

All of the action plays out on a beautiful Micheal D. Ricks-created set and takes place over the course of seven decades. The audience sees how The Dunbar is affected by events that shaped the 20th century, including World War II, integration – which mainly caused the hotel’s undoing as black guests flocked to white establishments that had previously barred them – and the drug war of the ’80s that had a detrimental effect on black communities throughout the nation.

The play’s world premiere in November 2014 garnered acclaim from critics.

“Informative and engaging, this underappreciated chapter of our local history is portrayed with panache and grace,” the Los Angeles Times proclaimed. Blogger Joe

Ben Guillory

Straw raved that the play “is a wonderful historical time capsule, opened in a theatrical setting, giving startling revelations of stories and events of famous people in fleeting moments of time.”

Ben Guillory, who is familiar to movie fans for his role as Grady (Shug Avery’s husband) in “The Color Purple,“ directs. Guillory co-founded The Robey (named for Paul Robeson) 20 years ago with actor Danny Glover and serves as its artistic director. The cast also includes Jovan Adepo, Vanoy Burnough, Cydney Wayne Davis, Eddie Goines, Julio Hanson, Tommy Hicks, Doug Jewell, Melvin Ishmael Johnson, Kyle Connor McDuffie, Jason Mimms, Ashlee Olivia, Dwain A. Perry, Vanja Renee, Kem Saunders, Jah Shams, Petal d’Avril Walker, Sammie Wayne IV and Rhonda Stubbins White. m

11

It’s a Hard Knock Life

A

merica’s favorite little redhead will sing and dance her way into theatergoers’ hearts at this year’s festival.

THE POINTE! Studio of Dance and the Elise Jonell Performance Ensemble, both based in nearby Greensboro, N.C., is promising an energetic good time with “It’s a Hard Knock Life: A Dance Adaptation of ‘Annie.’”

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE POINTE! AND ELISE JONELL PERFORMANCE ENSEMBLE

There have been many adaptations of Annie since the ginger orphan first appeared as a comic strip character in the 1920s. In the 1930s, her tale became a popular radio show and a film; a Broadway musical opened in the ’70s; Hollywood remade the story for the big screen in 1982, 1999 and 2014, when Oscar-nominee Quvenzhane Wallis became the first African-American girl to play the character.

It’s a Hard Knoc Life: A Dance k Adaptation of ‘Annie’ R.J. Reynolds Memorial Auditorium Tues, Aug. 4 Wed, Aug. 5 Wed, Aug. 5 Thurs, Aug. 6

3 p.m.

3 p.m.

8 p.m.

3 p.m

$20

“It’s a Hard Knock Life” is breaking more ground.

Featuring a bevy of kids of color, the production is being billed as a “Theatrical Ballet” that uses tap, jazz, contemporary, hip-hop and other styles to pay homage to the ’82 film, a cult classic.

“It is our own interpretation of this beloved story,” THE POINTE Executive Producer Gina Tate and Elise Jonell Performance Ensemble Executive Producer Robin T. Rich-McGhie said in a statement. “We have re-imaged the storyline by adding, cultural music and art to this rag-to-riches tale.”

Bill Cobbs At 81, Bill Cobbs is still one of the hardest working stars in Hollywood. Only those who have been living under a rock for the last 40 years are unfamiliar with Cobbs’ work on stage and television and in films.

The Cleveland native and Air Force veteran gave up a promising career in business to pursue his dream of acting when he was in his late 30s. He made his debut at Cleveland’s Karamu House Theater in Ossie Davis’ “Purlie Victorious.” By 1974, he had made his film debut in the classic “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.” His ever-growing film credits now include “The Bodyguard,” “Ghosts of Mississippi,” “The Hudsucker Proxy,” “That Thing You Do” and the “Night at the Museum” movies.

He has made memorable appearances on television shows like “Six Feet Under,” “The Sopranos,” “I’ll Fly Away” and “Go On.” Cobbs shows no signs of slowing down. He has six films in either pre-production or post-production, including “The Great Gilly Hopkins,” with Glenn Close, Kathy Bates and Octavia Spencer.

The production’s title – “It’s a Hard Knock Life” – comes from the best-known tune from “Annie,” the musical. The song, which is also performed in the film versions of “Annie,” gained a new generation of fans when rapper Jay-Z sampled it in 1999 for his Grammywinning hit “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem).”

There is acting in the production as well and creative movement through pantomiming.

Tate and Rich-McGhie are pros at this style of entertainment Their dance-infused versions of “The Wiz” and “Cinderella” have been big hits among residents of the Triad (the WinstonSalem/Greensboro/High Point area). m PHOTO COURTESY OF THE POINTE! AND ELISE JONELL PERFORMANCE ENSEMBLE

Sidney Poitier Lifelong Achievement Award

PUBLICITY PHOTO

The young actors who portray the orphans in the production.

Kids make up most of the players in “It’s a Hard Knock Life.”

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www.WSChronicle.com

Dr. E. Patrick Johnson in character in “Sweet Tea.”

W

PHOTO COURTESY OF DR. E. PATRICK JOHNSON

PHOTO COURTESY OF DR. E. PATRICK JOHNSON

Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South

Northwestern Professor Dr. E. Patrick Johnson has won acclaim for his books and plays.

hen Dr. E. Patrick Johnson performs his one-man show “Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South” at this year’s NBTF, it will be a homecoming of sorts. The talented actor/professor/author/playwright is from Hickory, about 50 miles down Interstate 40 from Winston-Salem. Surely, his success is making his hometown proud.

When he is not teaching classes as the Carlos Montezuma Professor of Performance Studies and African-American Studies at Northwestern University, he is lecturing or performing his acclaimed plays around the globe.

In “Sweet Tea,” presented by Chicago’s Project&, Johnson shares the stories – some funny, some poignant, some a combination of both – of dozens of Southern gay black men. The play sprung from his book “Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South – An Oral History,” in which he profiled 63 gents.

“I was just so amazed that no one had collected these stories,” Johnson told The Chronicle in 2013, when he performed an early iteration of the play called “Pouring Tea” at Wake Forest University. “I was thinking that if I had heard these stories like this, I may not have struggled as much as I did in coming to terms with my sexuality, because I thought I was the only one.”

The book has sold upward of 10,000 copies, while the play based on it has been performed hundreds of times. On stage, Johnson plays a slew of characters, weaving together a complex, highly entertaining show that explores the complexities of race and sexuality. The play has been an ever-evolving work-in-progress ever since Johnson debuted it in 2010.

"We’ve had various permutations of the show and it has really grown,” Johnson told the Windy City Times in May. “One of the ways that it has grown is that my own story as a gay Black man has framed the play now, such that my story is sort of the conceit of the show.”

Sugar, the signature ingredient for Southern tea, has also become a constant, unseen tableau, Johnson said.

“In this version, sugar takes on a more symbolic role, connecting to all the different ways that sugar is connected to African-Americans in this country, from historically working on sugar cane plantations to sugar being a part of folklore,” said Johnson, who is now working on the book “Honey Pot,” a collection of profiles of Southern black lesbians. “Also sugar being a euphemism for diabetes, which also plagues African-American communities, to sugar being part of all of the rituals that happen in the play. It’s not sugar for sugar’s sake, it is sugar with a purpose – and of course some of the terms that are used to describe gay people like ‘sugar in the tank.’” m

Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Mountcastle Forum Black Box Theatre at Milton Rhodes Center Tues, Aug. 4

8 p.m.

Wed, Aug. 5

3 p.m.

Wed, Aug. 5

8 p.m.

Thurs, Aug. 6

8 p.m.

$41

13

Fried Chicken and Latkes

PHOTO COURTESY OF MIXED RAIN/NATIONAL BLACK THEATRE

“F this year.

ried Chicken and Latkes,” Rain Pryor’s powerful one-woman show, was among the standout hits of the 2013 National Black Theatre Festival. The buzz it generated is still ringing, so much so that organizers have invited Pryor back

NBTF fans are not the only ones who have fallen head over heels for Pryor’s brutally honest style of comedy. “Fried Chicken and Latkes” has been an Off-Broadway smash for the last 17 years. It is being presented at this year’s festival by NYC’s Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre and is being directed by the talented Kamilah Forbes.

In the play, Pryor, the daughter of late African-American comic legend Richard Pryor and former dancer Shelley Bonis (a white Jewish woman), offers a glimpse into the people, experiences and events that have shaped her life by morphing into myriad characters. The show pulls no punches. Racial stereotypes and cultural bias are exposed via her signature wit.

“Politically correct means we don’t actually want to talk about (race), but I think politically correct should be calling a spade a spade – literally, and then let’s discuss why we are calling a spade a spade. Let’s talk about that elephant in the room that is sitting there,” Pryor told The Chronicle during the ’13 NBTF. Pryor said she created the show because she was tired of Hollywood dictating her career. She made her television debut in 1989 as T.J. on the ABC hit “Head of the Class” and then went on to star as Jackie, the lipstick lesbian drug addict on Showtime’s “Rude Awakening.” Her long list of television credits also include “The Division” and “Chicago Hope.” But Pryor said casting directors have never quite known what to do with her.

“I didn’t look black enough to be black; I wasn’t white enough to be white … I don’t care that Hollywood says you have to be this. I am going to be who I am. Being who you are works,” she said.

Two years ago, Pryor said she was overjoyed to have had been invited to present at the NBTF, especially since hers is not the typical black experience. Her return engagement is rare, a clear sign that she left audiences wanting more.

“My story is a part of the African-American diaspora, even though I am multi-racial, I think that is a part of who we are,” the actress said.

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Fried Chicken and Latkes Reese Theatre in the Pavilion – Embassy Suites Tues, Aug. 4

8 p.m.

Wed, Aug. 5

3 p.m.

Wed, Aug. 5

8 p.m.

Thurs, Aug. 6

3 p.m.

$43

In between performing and raising her daughter, Lotus Marie, Rain serves as an ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, making speeches at fundraisers across the nation. Her father lived with MS for 30 years before his death in 2005.

“For me, finding a cure is the ultimate feat. It is something I have to do,” she said of her ambassadorship.

Also, Rain’s new documentary, “That Daughter’s Crazy,” is expected to be screened as part of the NBTF Film Fest. m

Larry Leon Hamlin Producer Award

Nate Jacobs PUBLICITY PHOTO

PHOTO COURTESY OF MIXED RAIN/NATIONAL BLACK THEATRE

Rain Pryor onstage in her hit one-woman show.

Nate Jacobs is founder and artistic director of Sarasota, Fla.’s Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe (WBTT), where the actor, singer, comedian, playwright, composer and director has developed and produced countless hit productions. Jacobs was presenting shows, including comedies, dramas and musicals, at venues throughout the country and world before he founded WBTT in 1999. His “Soul Crooners” shows have been hits in Sarasota, at the National Black Theatre Festival and abroad in countries like Germany and Switzerland.

A longtime mentor to young performers, Jacobs was honored by the NAACP Youth Council of Sarasota County with a 2012 Men of Valor honor. Earlier this year, he was recognized as a "Champion of Diversity" for the arts by the Biz(941) and La Guia magazines.

www.WSChronicle.com

PHOTO BY MARY LANGE

The Journals of Osborne P. Anderson Albert Hazlett (Jason Galloway), Adam Clark (Shields Green) and Osborne Anderson (Thomas A. Jones) capture Lewis Washington (Bruce Cervi).

The Journals of Osborne P. Anderson Hanesbrands Theatre – Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts

PHOTO BY KEVEN MAJOR HOWARD

Tues, Aug. 4 Wed, Aug. 5

PHOTO BY MARY LANGE

Ted Lange

PHOTO BY MARY LANGE

John Brown (Gordon Goodman) and J.E.B. Stuart (William Reinbold).

Boise Holmes as John Copeland and Starletta DuPois as his mother, Delilah Copeland.

8 p.m.

3 p.m.

Wed, Aug. 5 8 p.m.

Thurs, Aug. 6 3 p.m.

$41

N

BTF favorite Ted Lange is back with another one of his dynamic historical plays.

Festival audiences will be among the first to see “The Journals of Osborne P. Anderson.” Lange, the writer and director, debuted the play, via his Torrance, Calif.-based Lange Productions, just two months ago in Los Angeles.

Critics and theater-goers agreed that Lange has hit another one out of the ballpark with “Osborne,” which spotlights one of American history’s most contentious episodes: abolitionist John Brown’s bloody attempt to incite a slave revolt, an act many credit with sparking the Civil War. Lange is a history buff who does painstaking research, including site visits, before he puts pen to paper. His previous plays include “Lady Patriot,” about Elizabeth Van Lew, a slave in the household of Confederate President Jefferson Davis who spied for the Union; and “George Washington’s Boy,” which revolves around the relationship between the nation’s first president and his favorite slave, Billy Lee. “I call myself a footnote historian,” Lange recently told the entertainment site AXS. “What I’ve been doing for the last seven years is finding these African-American heroes who have participated in American history but are usually just a footnote because the historians are white and they kind of brush over them. They don’t give them what I believe is their due regarding their participation in American history.”

Lange relied heavily on the writings of Osborne Perry Anderson, the only black among Brown’s group of insurgents who escaped the gallows, for the play, which begins with Brown, a white preacher who believed that slavery should have ended 100 years earlier with the American Revolution,

seizing weapons and the inhabitants of a Harpers Ferry, Va., farmhouse. His plan is to go from house to house, fomenting a revolution among slaves as he collects weapons and kills or holds hostage anyone who stands in his way. Lewis William Washington, the great-grand nephew of George Washington, was among Brown's hostages and a key witness in Brown's prosecution.

Lange’s riveting play takes the audience from the revolt to the courtroom to Brown’s ultimate fate. The play premiered with an ensemble cast that included Bruce Cervi (Lewis Washington), Adam Clark (Shields Green), Steve Ducey (Hazlet-Understudy), Jason Galloway (Albert Hazlett), Kareem Grimes (Dangerfield Newby), Gordon Goodman (John Brown), J.D. Hall (Frederick Douglass), Boise Holmes (John Anthony Copeland), Thomas Anthony Jones (Osborne P. Anderson), Daniel Kucan (John Avis), Drew McAuliffe (Judge Richard Parker), Paul Messinger (James Doyle/Lawson Botts), Jeff Murray (Lewis Washington – understudy), Chrystee Pharris (Harriet Newby), Michael Proctor (John Wilkes Booth), William Reinbold (Jeb Stuart/George Sterns) and Stephen Spiegel (Silas Soule, Drury Doyle). NBTF favorite Starletta DuPois, best known for her work in films like “Waiting to Exhale,” is also one of the players, masterfully portraying John Copeland’s mother, Delilah.

Lange, of course, is best known as an actor. His role as “Love Boat” bartender Isaac Washington propelled him to international stardom. These days, he is making a name for himself behind the scenes In addition to his award-winning plays, he has authored several books and directed episodes of popular sitcoms like “Dharma and Greg,” “Moesha” and “Eve.” m 15

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Excelsior Excelsior n M.C. Benton o ti n e v n Co Center – ll a North Main H

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he N.C. Black Repertory Company is giving some of Winston-Salem’s most talented young performers a chance to shine before audiences from around the world. The Teen Theatre Ensemble, a division of the Black Rep created to nurture tomorrow’s on-stage and behind-the-scenes talent, will present Samm-Art Williams’ “Excelsior” at this year’s NBTF, just months after the historical drama was received warmly by local audiences for its debut.

The play tells the story of Charlotte Forten, a black woman born into a wealthy Philadelphia family who packs up and heads South after the Civil War to teach newly emancipated blacks on the South Carolina Sea Islands. She makes this decision to the chagrin of her family and against the advice of doctors, who warn her that the humid Southern climate may kick her tuberculosis into overdrive.

Forten had long fought for an end of slavery. Her anti-slavery work put her in contact with many of the stars of the abolitionist movement, including William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips. Her diaries offer one of the few windows into the life of a free (and wealthy) Northern black woman in the 1860s.

Williams relied on those diaries and other resources to pen the play. The North Carolina native received both Tony and Drama Desk nods for his play “Home,” and his television screenwriting credits, which include “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” and “Cagney and Lacey,” have earned him two Emmy nominations. Williams has frequently collaborated with the Black Rep and is one of the many legends who is a regular at the biennial NBTF. Black Rep Artistic Director Mabel Robinson directs “Excelsior,” whose cast includes Teen Theatre Ensemble veterans like Thatcher Johnson-Welden, Jordan Speas and 16-year-old Sierra Duckett, who plays Forten. m

The talented young cast brings “Excelsior” to life.

Emerging Producer Award

Erich McMillanMcCall

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PHOTO COURTESY OF THE N.C. BLACK REP

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Erich McMillan-McCall is the founder and CEO of Project1VOICE. The mission of the not-for-profit performing arts organization is to expand and promote the African-American theater tradition. Each year on the third Monday in June, Project1VOICE presents 1VOICE/1PLAY/1DAY, when theaters, libraries and other institutions across the world organize readings of the same play or musical. The event is designed to foster community awareness and audience recommitment to local arts institutions. This year, Samm-Art Williams’ “Home” was selected. Past selections have included Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls,” Alice Childress’ “Trouble in Mind” and James Baldwin’s “The Amen Corner.”

McMillan-McCall is also a talented actor and singer whose stage credits include “Once on This Island,” “The Who's Tommy,” “Chicago” and “Harlem Song.”

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he start time of the Midnight Poetry Jam is not hard to forget. Perhaps, that is one of the reasons why it has become one of the National Black Theatre Festival’s most popular and enduring attractions.

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Midnight Poetry Jam Helena D. Lewis is an award winning actress, poet and playwright.

M.C. Benton Convention Center - North Main Hall

The event is a celebration of spoken-word, the poetry genre that has inspired television shows and stage productions and created many stars.

Anyone can become a star – for a few minutes, at least – at the Midnight Poetry Jam. Poets of all skill levels can sign-up immediately before the event to perform on stage, although demand for spots is high and space is limited each night. It is also not unusual to see celebrity guests on stage spitting an original piece. “The Cosby Show” actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who helped to mold the Midnight Poetry Jam, has performed, as has “Judge Judy” bailiff Patri Hawkins-Byrd and Lamman Rucker of “Why Did I Get Married?” fame. Each night, a celebrity will co-host with longtime host Helena D. Lewis, an award winning actress, poet and playwright.

Lewis has picked up several awards, including a 2014 AUDELCO, for her acclaimed one-woman show, “Call Me Crazy: Diary of A Mad Social Worker.” Lewis, who has a Master of Social Work from Rutgers University School, wrote the play based on her own experiences as a social worker, licensed clinical drug and alcohol counselor and HIV/AIDS health educator. In it, she portrays 25 characters, from pimps to

Midnight Poetry Jam

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$6 menopausal women. Lewis has been featured on “Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry” and is the host of VERSES at the famed Nuyorican Poets Café in New York.

Venue space for the Midnight Poetry Jam is abundant, yet it still fills up pretty quickly.

In the past, scores of fans have had to be turned away. Arriving a little early for this amazing event is advised. m

All the ingredients for a great meal.

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The Eve of Jackie

S The Eve of Jackie Arts Council Theatre

ept. 29, 1975 was not unlike any other day for Jackie Wilson. “Mr. Excitement” was on stage showing an audience in Cherry Hill, N.J., just how he earned his moniker. Over the last 20 years, the Detroit-born singer had established himself as one of the planet’s foremost entertainers, with a string of hits and a stage act that was awesomely gravity-defying.

It wasn’t all roses for Wilson: The womanizer was nearly shot to death 3 p.m. by one of his paramours; the IRS was a constant foe; and alcohol and drugs .

Wed, Aug. 5 8 p.m were his constant companions. But by most accounts, Wilson still had Thurs, Aug. 6 8 p.m the magic when he stepped onto $48 the stage that night. Sadly, though, it would be his last performance. He suffered a heart attack on stage while performing his signature hit, “Lonely Teardrops;” reportedly, he had just vocalized the song’s well-known refrain – “My heart is crying, crying” – when his heart stopped beating. He was revived, but remained virtually comatose until his death in 1984.

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In “The Eve of Jackie,” Chester Gregory takes audiences backstage at the Latin Casino on that fateful night. They will see a side of Wilson few knew about. In bittersweet fashion, Mr. Excitement’s peaks and valleys are recounted; all along the way, his hits are delivered by Gregory, whose stage presence has been likened to Wilson’s and Michael Jackson’s.

A native of Gary, Ind. (yes, he is from Michael Jackson’s hometown), Gregory became a star by playing Wilson, breaking onto the scene in 2001 when he shined in the Black Ensemble Theater’s “My Heart Is Crying, Crying ... The Jackie Wilson Story.” The show was a sell-out when it came to the 2003 NBTF; it returned to the festival in 2005.

Gregory, known as Chess to his friends, also made his Broadway debut in 2003 as Seaweed in the Tony-winning musical “Hairspray.” His other Broadway credits include “Tarzan,” “Cry-Baby” and “Sister Act.” In 2009, he embarked on a tour of “Dreamgirls,” picking up a Best Supporting Actor NAACP Theater Award for playing Jimmy Early. Gregory has also released three CDs, “In Search of High Love” and mixtapes “Breakbeat Karaoke” and “If U Only.”

Gregory’s many acting and musical gifts were honed at Chicago’s Columbia College, where he received a BFA in musical theatre and earned the lead role in the school’s production of “Jesus Christ Superstar.” The school gave Gregory a huge pat on the back for all of his success in May, awarding him with an honorary doctorate at its Spring commencement ceremony.

Gregory debuted “The Eve of Jackie” in 2013 and has performed the show in soldout venues around the country – and at the 2013 NBTF. The show is presented by his company, Chess, Not Checkers, Inc. He co-wrote the musical with Crystal Lucas-Perry. m

Chester Gregory personifies Jackie “Mr. Excitement” Wilson.

August Wilson Playwright Award

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Tues, Aug. 4 Wed, Aug. 5

Katori Hall Memphis native Katori Hall made history in 2010 when she became the first African American woman to win the Olivier Award for Best New Play for her instant classic “Mountaintop.” The play centers around Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the hours before his assassination.

“Mountaintop” won critical acclaim after it debuted in London in 2009. It came to Broadway in 2011, with Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett in the lead roles.

Hall, who is also an actress and journalist, has degrees from Columbia and Harvard. The 34-year-old’s other stage credits include “Hoodoo Love” and “Hurt Village,” the 2011 Susan Smith Blackburn Award winner. “Hurt Village” is a gripping and gritty drama about life in a Memphis public housing community. Hall is directing a big screen version of her play.

In 2011, Hall was chosen as one of the “Residency Five” by New York’s The Pershing Square Signature Theatre. Her second play of the residency, “Our Lady of Kibeho,” debuted last November.

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PHOTO BY GERRY GOODSTEIN

Accept “Except” LGBT NY Accept “Except’’ LGBT NY Wake Forest’s The Ring Theatre Tues, Aug. 4

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he thought-provoking “Accept ‘Except’” series is back.

“Accept “Except” Male” was a standout hit at the 2013 NBTF. “Accept ‘Except’ LGBT NY” is being staged this year by Woodie King Jr.’s New Federal Theatre. Writer Karimah created the series to examine various angles of the dichotomy that is the 13th Amendment, which effectively ended slavery when it became law in December 1865. But the writer maintains that slavery still exists. Chains have been replaced by steel bars, she says, as prisons have become the new plantation. Karimah says the public should “accept” that all are free “except” the millions who are not.

“There were approximately 400,000 slaves in the U.S. in 1860, and as of 2011, there were estimated to be 6,977,700 adult citizens under correctional supervision,” she told Broadway World. “Each of these individuals had/has a different story to tell. “Accept ‘Except’” is a vehicle for the telling.”

The LGBT NY story is about the struggle for justice from the time of slavery to modern-day gay rights. It centers around two twenty-somethings who are brought together after each is chased by an angry mob. The female character, a lesbian, outruns a group of gay-bashers in Central Park and hides herself in a tree. There, she encounters the ghost of an 18th century slave, a closeted gay man, who was hanged from the tree more than 200 years earlier.

The play debuted at the legendary New Federal Theatre last year with Tuluv Maria Price and Tyree Young in the lead roles. George Faison, the award-winning producer, writer, composer, director, choreographer and dancer, is the director. Faison won a Tony for choreographing “The Wiz” in 1975, becoming the first African-American to win in that category.

On Broadway, he has also choreographed “Porgy and Bess,” “Purlie” and “Don’t Bother Me I Can’t Cope.” He has produced and directed a number of original productions at Harlem’s Faison Firehouse Theater, which he co-founded in 2000 with Tad Schnugg.

Karimah, a member of the Harlem Playwrights 21 Workshop, earned an undergraduate degree from the University of the District of Columbia and a MFA from Columbia University. m Tyree Young and Tuluv Maria Price bring the two-character play to life.

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The Brothers Size

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ne of the most critically acclaimed plays of the 21st century will be staged by young actors from Norfolk State University.

“The Brothers Size” was penned in 2010 by a then 29-year-old Tarell Alvin McCraney. It centers around the Size Brothers – Ogun and Oshoosi – and is set in the Louisiana bayou.

The brothers share the same blood, but little else. Ogun is hardworking and dependable, while his younger brother is desultory and fresh out of prison. Ogun gives his brother a chance to change his fortunes by giving him work in his repair shop. But when Elegba, Oshoosi‘s former cell-mate, shows up, matters are further complicated and Oshoosi’s loyalties are tested.

By all accounts, the story – a tale of “the tenuousness of freedom and the need to belong somewhere, to something, to someone” – is told beautifully with a mix of poetry, music, dance and West African mythology.

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The Chicago Tribune called McCraney’s play, “The greatest piece of writing by an American playwright under 30 in a generation or more.” The New York Times awarded McCraney, who is now 34, its Outstanding Playwright Award for “The Brothers Size,” which debuted simultaneously at the Public Theatre in New York and the Young Vic in London.

McCraney, a Yale School of Drama alumnus who won a MacArthur Genius Grant in 2013, has written several other plays, including “Choir Boy,” “American Trade” and “Wig Out!” “The Brothers Size,” along with “In The Red And Brown Water” and “Marcus, or the Secret of Sweet,” is part of his Brother/Sister trilogy, which are all set in Louisiana and explore Yoruba mythology.

PHOTO BY DEANA LAWSON

Members of the NSU Theatre Department in “The Brothers Size.”

Anthony Mark Stockard directs NSU’s staging of the play, in which Christopher Lindsay, a junior from Brooklyn majoring in theatre performance, plays Ochoosi Size; Juspin Jones, a Lake Wales, Fla. native who earned a theatre performance degree from NSU earlier this year, plays Ogun; and Derrick Moore, a junior theatre performance student from St. Louis, plays Elegba. Sergio Hargrove, Clifton Thompson and Corey Brown are the understudies.

Ramona Ward is the costume designer. Brando Linsey Sr. is the technical director, and Tyrone Brown Jr. is the stage manager.

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Award-winning playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney.

Stockard, who also serves as lighting, scene and sound directors, was named the director of theatre at NSU just last year. In his first few months on the job, he has helmed productions of “A Raisin in the Sun,” “Dreamgirls,” “For Colored Girls,” “Lady Day at Emersons Bar & Grill” and a tribute musical to the late Whitney Houston. Stockard said the talent pool at NSU is impressive.

“My goal is to turn out polished professionals …

The abundance of talent is amazing. There is no limit to what students at NSU are capable of,” he told NSU’s news service.

The school will soon have a new venue in which to showcase talent. Ground was recently broken for a new Brown Memorial Hall Theater. It is expected to open next year. m

Derrick Moore

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Christopher Lindsay

Juspin Jones

Anthony Stockard

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PHOTO BY KEVIN BERNE

Fetch Clay, Make Man Fetch Clay, Make Man UNCSA’s Gerald Freedman Theatre Tues, Aug. 4 Tues, Aug. 4

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Roscoe Orman and Eddie Ray Jackson in “Fetch Clay, Make Man.”

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ne of this year’s festival’s most memorable performances will be delivered by a familiar face. Roscoe Orman is known and loved by millions for his timeless role as Gordon on “Sesame Street,” but in “Fetch Clay, Make Man,” he sheds all traces of the fun-loving science teacher whom he has played since 1974.

The play came from the creative mind of Will Power after he saw a photo from the 1960s of a young Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) posing ringside with Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry, the black Hollywood star known by the stage name Stepin Fetchit. The two were improbable friends. Ali was the paradigm of black cultural pride, joining the Nation of Islam and changing his name. Fetchit was despised by many in the black community for his buffoonish characters and accused of fostering negative, racist stereotypes.

The pair’s odd friendship is explored in this engaging story, which takes place in 1965 as Ali is preparing for his rematch with Sonny Liston. The bond between the boxer and actor is complex, as their ideologies on many subjects are contrary. There are sub-themes in the play as well. Sonji, Ali’s wife, is finding it hard to let go of her worldly ways in order to conform to the Muslim way of life. Brother Rashid has been tasked by the Nation of Islam to watch over its most famous convert and to keep him and Sonji on the straight and narrow. There are also flashbacks revealing Fetchit’s rise and fall in Hollywood.

He made more than 50 films between the 1920s and 1970s, becoming Hollywood’s first black millionaire in the process, but he struggled financially at several times during his life.

Orman, whose Edgewater, N.J.-based RH Orman Productions is presenting the play, stars as Stepin Fetchit, displaying a range that may surprise those who know him only

from “Sesame Street.” (Washington) DC Metro Theatre Arts raved, “What [Roscoe Orman] does on stage is a Master Class performance.”

Derrick Sanders Orman’s career began on stage when he made his acting debut while a student at the famed High School of Arts and Design in New York. A founding member of NYC’s New Lafayette Theatre, Orman never left the stage. He earned an AUDELCO Award just last year for Best Lead Actor for his performance in Ed Bullins’ “The Fabulous Miss Marie.” His film credits include “F/X,” “Striking Distance” and “New Jersey Drive.” His other television credits include “The Wire,” “Alpha House” and “Law and Order.”

Eddie Ray Jackson plays Ali. Jackson, who earned a MFA from Columbia in 2012, has a long list of stage credits, including “Two Trains Running” (at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival), “Pen/Man/Ship” (at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco) and “X’s and O’s: A Football Love Story” (at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre).

The other cast members are Jefferson A. Russell, Robert Sicular and Katherine Renee Turner. Derrick Sanders directs. Sanders, the founder and artistic director of Chicago’s Congo Square Theatre Company, is often mentioned alongside esteemed directors like Kenny Leon and Marion McClinton. Power, who is also a performer, has earned a trophy case full of awards for his work, including a Jury Award for Best Theatre Performance at the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival and the Trailblazer Award from The National Black Theater Network. m

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“The Dealership” stars (seated, from left) Dan Leech, Baadja-Lyne, Tommy Ford and (standing) Dorien Wilson and Karen Bankhead.

DoubleBilled!

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PHOTO COURTESY OF KOSMOND RUSSELL PRODUCTIONS

The Dealership

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he Dealership” is billed as a “Southern comfort comedy” in which “Cheatin’, Tweetin’, Facebookin’ and Twerkin’” all play a part.

Kosmond Russell

Writer/director Kosmond Russell has set this tale in a tiny town in the Mississippi Delta. There, 80-yearold Deacon Bartholomew Jackson has discovered the wonders of social media.

The amount of time he invests on Facebook and Twitter rouses the suspicions of his wife, Bettie Jean, who believes, “If he tweetin,’ he must be cheatin’.” Actually, Deacon Jackson has been spending his time online communicating with an auto-dealer who has long held a secret that he is finally ready to reveal to the Jacksons.

Clinton Turner Davis

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Lloyd Richards Director Award

Acclaimed director Clinton Turner Davis has long been linked to the work of August Wilson. His knack for bringing the late playwright’s work alive on stage was evident in 1989, when he directed his first Wilson play, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” for Theatreworks in Palo Alto, Calif. Over the course of his more than 40-year-long career, he has helmed about half of Wilson’s "The Pittsburgh Cycle” plays. In 1996, he directed a revival of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” at the New Federal Theatre that earned six AUDELCO awards, including the Outstanding Production and Direction prizes.

Davis’ many non-Wilson credits include “One Night…,” “Going to the River,” “Trinidad Sisters,” “Homer G and the Rhapsodies” and The African Company’s “Richard III,” for which he also earned one of his many AUDELCOs. A Howard University alumnus, Davis has worked in every aspect of theatre and has served as an artistin-residence and/or lecturer at several schools, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Yale and Columbia.

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This year’s staging will be an encore for “The Dealership;” it had a successful run at the 2013 NBTF. The cast has changed. Dorien Wilson will play Deacon Jackson, a character many years his senior. Wilson is best known for playing Professor Stanley Oglevee on “The Parkers,” a role that earned him an NAACP Image Award, and Terrence Winningham on “Sister, Sister.” He also starred alongside Steve Harvey on Harvey’s eponymous sitcom and with the late Sherman Hemsley on “Goode Behavior.” Wilson is a regular at the National Black Theatre Festival. In 2013, he was a celebrity co-chair and co-starred in “Love and Other FourLetter Words.” Tommy Ford will portray the wise-cracking country preacher Reverend Willie.

Ford, known best for playing Tommy Strawn, Martin Lawrence’s pal on the classic sitcom “Martin,” is also an NBTF regular and fan favorite. Ford also played Lt. Barker on “New York Undercover.” The towering actor (he’s 6’4”) also has an extensive film resumé that includes roles in “Harlem Nights,” “Class Act” and “Across the Tracks,” in which he co-starred with a young Brad Pitt.

Baadja-Lyne plays Tutti. She has guest-starred on a bevy of hit television dramas, from “ER” and “Cold Case” to “CSI:NY” and “24,” but is best known as Diana Peabo on “The Shield.” Fans may also remember her from the films “Flatliners” and “The Ladykillers.”

The role of Mrs. Jackson will be played by Karen Bankhead. UCLA alumna Bankhead played the light-headed receptionist Taylor of the ABC sitcom “New Attitude” and the nerdy Adrienne on “Boston Common.” She also appeared in the first season of the HBO hit “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” playing television producer Denise Pendergrass. Dan Leech plays the car dealer. He has appeared on television shows like “The Cutting Room” and the Christian-themed “Get Thee Behind Me.” “The Dealership” is presented by Kosmond Russell Productions. m www.WSChronicle.com

The Homecoming PUBLICITY PHOTO

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The Dealership & The Homecoming

Hawthorne James

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“gripping drama about fatherhood, abandonment, love and redemption.”

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That is how “The Homecoming” is described. The powerful play is back, after winning over NBTF audiences two years ago. Writer Kosmond Russell has crafted an unforgettable tale about a father, Nathaniel, who returns to his hometown for a funeral and is confronted by the daughter and family he left behind 25 years earlier. He absconded when his daughter was just five. Now a young, beautiful woman, she wants answers from her father.

The two-person play stars Hawthorne James and Tiffany C. Adams. James’ face should be familiar. The distinctive-looking Chicago native played Big Red Davis in everybody’s favorite film, “The Five Heartbeats,” and One-Eyed Sam in “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka.” In “Speed,” the 1994 blockbuster that launched the career of Sandra Bullock, he played Sam, the bus driver whose vehicle is the center of the movie’s plot. His small-screen credits include “ER” and “Charmed.”

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Living Legend Award

A. Peter Bailey

Tiffany C. Adams

Journalist/author/lecturer A. Peter Bailey is a former associate editor of Ebony magazine and former associate director of the Black Theatre Alliance. He edited the Alliance’s newsletter and served on the Tony Awards Nominating Committee for the 197576 theater season.

A former president of the New York Association of Black Journalists, Bailey met Malcolm X in the 1960s, and the two became friends. He was one of the founding members of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, which Malcolm X founded after he left the Nation of Islam. He wrote “Seventh Child: A Family Memoir of Malcolm X” with Malcolm X’s nephew Rodnell Collins in 1998. In 2013, he wrote the memoir “Witnessing Brother Malcolm X: The Master Teacher.”

On stage, Adams has appeared in plays like Ted Lange’s “George Washington’s Boy” and the Washington Playhouse’s “For Colored Girls …”. She has had co-starring or guest roles on several televisions shows, including “MadTV,” “Major Crimes” and “All My Children.” Her film credits include leading roles in “Alien Dawn,” “Headshot” and “The God Project.”

Denise Dowse is the director. As an actress, Dowse has had recurring roles on “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “The Guardian;” as a director, she has helmed several productions, including “Long Time Since Yesterday,” her stage debut, for which she won a NAACP Theatre Award in 1995. Dowse will also be working on-stage at this year’s festival. She is one of the three female leads in “Sassy Mamas.”

Russell’s Los Angeles-based Kosmond Russell Productions is presenting the play. Russell fell in love with theater after performing in a play in the ’70s at his alma mater, Bowling Green State University. He headed to LA after college and honed his acting skills in several theater groups, including The Watts Players and The Beverly Hills Playhouse. By the 1990s, he had turned his focus to writing plays. His first play, “The Visit,” was a blockbuster and racked-up more than a dozen awards. In 2000, it was adapted into a film starring A-listers like Billy Dee Williams, Hill Harper, Phylicia Rashad and Rae Dawn Chong. His other plays include “The Marriage,” “Love TKO” and “The Cubicle People,” which is now a web series. m

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Barbara Jordan: A Rendezvous with Destiny

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ew can legitimately claim the title of legend. Saundra McClain is among that few. She has earned that status over the last four decades through her professionalism, dedication and immense talent.

Festival-goers saw her stage acumen at its very best in 2013 when she played one of history‘s most transformative lawmakers in “Barbara Jordan: A Rendezvous with Destiny.” Those who have been beating themselves up for missing the show can redeem themselves this year. It is back this year, being presented by the Kansas City Theater Foundation and directed by Oz Scott, a legend in his own right.

Jordan has been dead for more than 20 years, but it bothered McClain – the proud grandmother of four – when she realized her own progeny had no idea who Jordan was.

“I think the inspiration was a political argument with my son,” McClain told the Kansas City Star. “He’s very into inalienable rights, and I was talking about civil rights ... and when I mentioned Barbara Jordan, he said, ‘Who?’”

Saundra McClain

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The exchange led McClain to write the one-woman show and to Wed, Aug. 5 8 p.m. shine a spotlight on Jordan, who in 1967 became the first African$41 American since Reconstruction to be elected to the Texas State Senate. In 1973, Jordan made history again, becoming the first black Southern woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. An eloquent and powerful speaker, Jordan became a national figure after television viewers watched her deliver an impassioned speech in support of Richard Nixon’s impeachment before the House Judiciary Committee. At one point, Jordan’s name was tossed around as a possible running mate for Jimmy Carter. Though the Carter campaign went with Walter Mondale, Jordan was picked to deliver the keynote address at that year’s Democratic National Convention. Her speech is consistently ranked as one of the best of the 20th Century.

Philadelphia native McClain was attending Temple University when she was picked from a crowd for a bit role in the Sidney Poitier film “The Lost Man.” The experience so captivated her that a few months later she took a train to New York to pursue an acting career.

“While working at NBC as assistant talent coordinator for Johnny Carson’s ‘Tonight Show,’ I took classes and participated in workshops everywhere, from HB Studio to the Actors Studio to the Negro Ensemble Company and all places in between,” McClain recalled.

She has worked in every aspect of theatre, from directing and writing to serving as an arts consultant and teacher, but she is known and respected mostly as a dynamic actress who has shined on stage and on the big and small screens. Her film credits include “Maid in Manhattan,” “The Sixth Man,” “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge” and “Dirty Teacher.” She has had recurring roles on “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Third Watch,” “Law and Order,” “Law and Order: SVU” and recently starred as Aunt Bae in Lifetime’s hit biofilm “Whitney.” Her stage credits include virtually every classic there is. She is an ensemble member of Hollywood’s Antaeus Theatre Company and a lifetime member of the Actors Studio. m

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Adam: The Story of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. DoubleBilled!

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imothy Simonson has made a name for himself by playing some of history's luminaries on stage. He was W.E.B. DuBois in “Dr. Du Bois and Miss Ovington;” black cowboy Nat Love in “Deadwood Dick Legend of the West;” and the trailblazing lawmaker in “Adam: The Story of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.,” which will have an encore run at the NBTF this year after bowling audiences over two years ago.

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Presented by New York’s National Black Touring Circuit, “Adam” is written by Peter DeAnda, who is also an acclaimed actor, director and producer. His other playwriting titles include “They Were Doin’ a Jig but Mr. Bones Didn’t Feel Like Dancin’” and “Ladies in Waiting.” Actress Ajene D. Washington takes on directing duties.

Simonson has been playing Powell for decades. In the 1980s, he received the best dramatic actor AUDELCO award for the title role in “The Trial of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.” Known as a captivating actor with the ability to pull his audiences in through his performances, Simonson has many titles on his long acting resume, including the National Black Theater’s “Ghost Stories of the Blacksmith, Black Codes From The Underground,” the Billie Holiday Theatre’s “Women in the Pit, Blues for a Gospel” and “Equus” at the 127th Street Rep. As Powell, Simonson takes audiences from Harlem’s influential Abyssinian Baptist Church, where Powell served as pastor, to the halls of Congress to Bimini, the chain of Bahamian islands where Powell lived out his last years.

Powell’s name and story are still unknown to many. The charismatic New Yorker broke through huge barriers when he walked through the doors of the U.S. Capitol in 1945, becoming the state’s first elected black member of Congress. By the 1960s, Powell was one of the nation’s most powerful leaders, helping Presidents Kennedy and Johnson push through landmark pieces of legislation as the chair of the Education and Labor Committee. But Powell had his challenges.

Born to mixed-race parents, Powell’s blackness was questioned by his critics, and his spending of public money and frequent trips away from Harlem and Washington led to a controversy that would be his political demise. Powell lost his reelection bid in the Democratic primary in 1970 to Charles Rangel, who is still serving in Congress today. m

Timothy Simonson as Adam Clayton Powell Jr.

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people came 13, thousands of First Street in On Monday, July ning Plaza on West ay together at the Corpe pate in the Mass Moral Mond partici Monday Winston-Salem to , as part of the Moral Rights Voting -state, came to witMarch for in-state and out-of the crowd: ‘This is movement. People, chanted throughout ness what has been history before the our Selma.’ to the moments in The phrase refers signed into law on Aug. 6, 1965. was to es from Selma Voting Rights Act nce to the march on Bloody Sunday, This is a refere ma, including “no” to “yes” from Montgomery in Alaba e votes in Congress that helped chang Act. Voting Rights votes for the 1965 number of participants range from Police Estimates of the Winston-Salem the N.C. cording to the

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voting laws versial changes to North Carolina’s controday in court. their v. McCrory is are currently having case N.C. NAACP The trial in the legal federal court in Winston-Salem, in currently being heard ffs say are restrictions that disenplainti challenging what Latino voters on the basis of race and franchise black and vote under the 14th and 15th amend violate the right to Constitution. The trial began on ments to the U.S. opening arguments. with P v.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF SPIRIT SISTER PRODUCTIONS

Gogo and Big Sister Gogo and Big Sister

Salem College’s Shirley Recital Hall

p.m.

Tues, Aug. 4 8 p.m.

Wed, Aug. 5 3 p.m.

Wed, Aug. 5 8 p.m Thurs, Aug. 6 8

$41

Hlengiwe Lushaba Madlala, Thembi Mtshali-Jones and Lillian Tshabalala of “Gogo and Big Sister.”

“G

ogo and Big Sister” is billed as a “captivating, humorous and emotional journey, where the fine art of storytelling and musical interludes cut across all generations.”

Originally created by Thembi Mtshali-Jones and presented by her Cape Town, South Africa-based Spirit Sister Productions, the musical drama explores the early days of African jazz, when female legends like Miriam Makeba, the Dark City Sisters, the Mahotella Queens, Dolly Rathebe and Margaret Mcingana ruled. The setting is backstage at a concert given by Gogo, played by Mtshali-Jones, who is returning from performing abroad to make her South African debut. With her backstage are her opening act, Big Sister (Hlengiwe Lushaba Madlala), and Little Sister (Lillian Tshabalala), who is a rising singing sensation. Gogo takes them and the audience back in the day, as she recalls her storied career and the struggles faced by musicians who paved the way and contributed to South Africa’s musical liberation. The walk down memory lane and the songs the women perform have been praised for making audiences cry, laugh and sing along.

“Gogo” is one of two international productions being staged at this year’s festival.

(The other is Brazil’s “Body of a Woman as Battlefield.”)

Mtshali-Jones is a NBTF vet, having starred in the gripping drama “Mother to Mother” in 2013. In 2004, she wrote and first starred in “Gogo and Big Sister” as a BBC Radio 4 drama. It was then chosen as the Play of the Week by the BBC World Service and broadcast globally to an estimated audience of 45 million.

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Mtshali-Jones was born to perform. She started singing as a child in KwaMashu Township in Durban. Today, she is recognized as one of South Africa’s most celebrated artists. As a singer, she has performed with artists like Dizzy Gillespie, Makeba, Hugh Masekela and Abdullah Ibrahim and has recorded several albums, including solo records and ones as the lead vocalist for The Sipho Gumede Band and the African Jazz Pioneers.

Mtshali-Jones has been an artist-in-residence at two U.S. colleges – Galluadette University in Washington, D.C. and the University of Louisville in Kentucky. In 2009, she was given a Living Legend Award by the City of Durban and the premier of KwaZulu Natal province.

Madlala, a legendary performer in her own right, is known for creating “It’s Not Over Until the Fit Fat Phat Lady Sings,” which she performed in Africa, France and Switzerland. In 2009, Tshabalala co-wrote and performed the production “Tick Tock” at the Sibikwa Arts Festival, where she picked up Best Actress and Best Writer awards.

“Gogo” was staged last year at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, with award-winner Princess Zinzi Mhlongo in the director's chair. Ezbie Moilwa served as the musical director. m

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PHOTO COURTESY OF UNIVERSES

UNIVERSES Live! From the Edge UNIVERSES Live!

From the Edge Salem College – The Drama Workshop Theatre Tues, Aug. 4

8 p.m.

Wed, Aug. 5

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Thurs, Aug. 6

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Fri, Aug. 7

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$41 The members of UNIVERSES work their magic on stage.

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an Francisco’s Cultural Odyssey’s relationship with the National Black Theatre Festival extends all the way back to the festival’s inception in 1989.

The cutting edge theater company has presented at every festival, a streak that will continue this year with “UNIVERSES Live! From the Edge.”

UNIVERSES is a New York-based poetic musical theater ensemble whose main members are Steven Sapp, Mildred Ruiz, Gamal Abdel Chasten and William “Ninja” Ruiz. It was founded in 1996; the ensemble’s NBTF show will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a retrospective of some of its most popular and acclaimed work. Excerpts from “Ameriville,” commemorating the 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and “Party People,” an ode to the Black Panthers and Young Lords movements of the ’60s, will be included, as will a preview of UNIVERSES’ upcoming show, “The Unpublished Poetry of August Wilson.”

UNIVERSES’ unique blending of poetry, theatrical elements and music (everything from hip-hop to boleros) has earned the group kudos and invitations to perform around the globe. All of the group's core members grew up in public housing in New York City and immersed themselves in the inchoate spoken-word scene of the

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early 1990s, when each of them began performing at the famed NuYorican Poets Cafe. With the help of the New York Theatre Workshop, the ensemble graduated from performing short vignettes to delivering full-fledged theater shows.

UNIVERSES' first major show, “Slanguage,” was hailed by the Boston Herald as a “linguistic fireworks display,” while the New York Times proclaimed that the members delivered the “poetry of the city, minted in the urban furnace where the flint of real life strikes the sparks of creation from concrete pavement and steel tracks.”

Cultural Odyssey was founded by Idris Ackamoor, who serves as executive and coartistic director, in 1979. His partner in creativity, Co-Artistic Director Rhodessa Jones, signed on in 1983. Together, they have developed a variety of original productions that demonstrate their vision of “Art as Social Activism” and have supported and presented the endeavors of other creative artists. m

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Letters from Zora: In Her Own Words PHOTO COURTESY OF OPAS

Letters from Zora: In Her Own Words SECCA – McChesney Scott Dunn Auditorium Tues, Aug. 4

3 p.m.

Tues, Aug. 4

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Vanessa Bell Calloway on stage as Zora Neale Hurston.

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Calloway, known for her roles in films like “Coming to America,” “What’s Love Got to Do With It” and “Crimson Tide,” is a frequent NBTF guest and performer, but in her previous festival productions, she has acted as part of ensembles. “Zora” is all Calloway, and she shines brightly, just as her many fans would expect her to.

heart,” Pina said. “The result is a spirited play in two acts that Gabrielle Denise Pina consists of authentic letters from Zora Neale Hurston fused with fictional narrative intended to illuminate her life, her extraordinary career and her contributions to the American literary canon. Ms. Hurston’s life in and of itself was a musical soundtrack.”

The woman behind the prose comes to life through Calloway’s performance. We see that even at her artistic height, Hurston was still haunted by self-doubt and far from immune from criticisms leveled at her by famous colleagues like Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison. The First Lady of the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston penned four novels and numerous essays, plays and short stories. Her seminal work, “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” has been named one of the 100 best English-language novels of all time.

Calloway, who recently won an NAACP Theatre Award for the role, said she was drawn to the part by Hurston’s strength and the way she marched to the beat of her own drummer.

Hurston was as fiery and controversial as she was talented. She was criticized for being a vocal opponent of integration; had failed marriages (including one that lasted just seven months); and had rifts with famous friends like Langston Hughes.

But her lowest point came in 1948, when she was falsely accused of molesting a 10-year-old boy. The accusation had a devastating effect on her career. She died penniless in a Florida welfare home.

“What is special about Zora Neale Hurston is she chose to live life on her own terms,” Calloway said. “She chose to be her own woman in a time when women were supposed to dress a certain way… act a certain way. She did her own thing. She was a renaissance woman.”

Anita Dashiell-Sparks directs, and Dr. Ronald McCurdy serves as music director and composer. “Letters from Zora: In Her Own Words,” which is being presented by Los Angeles-based OPAS, has virtually sold out every venue where it has been staged since its 2012 debut – from the Pasadena (Calif.) Playhouse to the Crossroads Theater (in New Jersey) and the (Washington) DC Black Theatre Festival.

ne of this year’s most eagerly anticipated celebrity shows is “Letters from Zora: In Her Own Words,” in which show-business veteran Vanessa Bell Calloway plays the acclaimed writer Zora Neale Hurston.

Writer Gabrielle Denise Pina stumbled across actual letters written by Hurston while touring the California African American Museum, and she was immediately rapt.

“I literally became lost in her prose, her life and her grasp of the African-American

New Brunswick Today’s M. Lennon Perricone’s summed up the sentiments of most critics who have reviewed the play when he wrote, “‘Letters from Zora: In Her Own Words’ is a witty, lyrical and clever monologue that has much to say, and says it wonderfully.” m

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ith An Evening ewd Vivian Re om Gaines Ballro el v e L r e w in Lo of the es a b Em ssy Suit Wed, Aug. 5 Thurs, Aug. 6 Fri, Aug. 7 Sat, Aug 8

10:30 p.m.

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he road to becoming a Broadway musical legend began for Vivian Reed at the famed Apollo Theater. When she was a teenager, one of her teachers at Juilliard, where she was studying classical music and singing, suggested she put her talent to the ultimate test – Apollo’s Amateur Night. Apollo owners Bobby Schiffman and Honi Coles were so blown away by the budding talent, they invited Reed to regularly return to the Apollo in the evenings – after she completed her homework – to study the musical legends who graced the theater’s stage.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KEDRON PRODUCTIONS

An Evening with Vivian Reed Vivian Reed sizzles on stage.

With an education like that, there is little wonder why Reed is, as one critic proclaimed, “arguably the finest working female performer in show business today.”

The world discovered Reed in the 1970s when she earned a Tony nod and Drama Desk Award for the role of Young Irene in “Bubbling Brown Sugar,” a musical featuring songs from the ’20s and ’30s. She toured with the production around the globe, performing in England, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Italy and France, where she was proclaimed “the new Josephine Baker.” She would later play Baker in the French film “La Rumba.” Reed has also appeared on the big screen in “Heading for Broadway,” “‘L’Africain’” (with Catherine Deneuve) and “What Goes Around,” a recent short film she produced.

But it is on stages where Reed has made her mark. A long list of Broadway productions followed her “Bubbling” debut, including 1992’s “The High Rollers Social and Pleasure Club,” for which she received her second Tony nomination, “Sophisticated Ladies,” “Roar of the Greasepaint,” “Smell of the Crowd” and “Blues in the Night.”

Reed took a years-long hiatus from showbiz to care for her ailing mother.

She marked her return in grand style in 2013 when she debuted “An Evening with Vivian Reed” in New York City at 54 Below – “Broadway’s Supper Club.” Her four shows were sell-outs, and fans showed with a record number of standing ovations that Reed had been gone for far too long.

These days, Reed, who is working on the new musical “One For My Baby,” is the teacher. Students at Boston’s Berklee College of Music and NYC’s Marymount College take their musical cues from her, just as she did from Apollo legends decades ago. m

Living Legend Award

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She is ready to live up to that acclaim at the NBTF. Her musical revue, “An Evening with Vivian Reed” presented by New York’s Kedron Productions, Inc., is designed to show her incredible vocal range. She goes from Motown to Broadway-fare to the Great American Songbook with impressive ease, blessing each tune with her unique vocal styling and pizazz.

Maurice Hines Maurice Hines was 10 when he made his Broadway debut in “The Girl in Pink Tights.”

He and his younger brother, Gregory, had been studying tap from the time they could walk.

Their immense talent often drew comparisons to the famed Nicholas Brothers. By the time they were old enough to drive, they were touring the world, opening for Lionel Hampton, Gypsy Rose Lee and others and appearing on programs like “The Hollywood Palace” and “The Tonight Show.”

As a solo performer, Hines has appeared on Broadway in musicals like “Eubie!,” “Bring Back Birdie” and “Sophisticated Ladies.” His performance in “Uptown …

It’s Hot,” which he also choreographed, earned him a Best Actor in a Musical Tony nomination. In 2006, he conceived, choreographed and directed “Hot Feet” on Broadway.

Hines honored his late brother, Gregory Hines, in 2013 with the show “Tappin’ Thru Life: An Evening with Maurice Hines.” It was hailed by critics as a masterpiece by a master showman.

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At Last: A Tribute to Etta James

At Last: A Tribute to Etta James

BE PHOTO BY DANNY NICHOLAS

K.R. Williams Auditorium at WSSU Wed, Aug. 5 8 p.m.

Thurs, Aug. 6 8 p.m.

8 p.m.

Fri, Aug. 7 Sat. Aug. 8 Sat. Aug. 8

3 p.m.

8 p.m.

$48

N A vintage image of the real Etta James.

o one can bring a bio-musical to life quite like Jackie Taylor’s Chicago-based Black Ensemble Theater. Teddy Pendergrass, Dionne Warwick, Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson are among the icons whose musical highs and personal lows were masterfully spun into infectious stage productions by Taylor, founder of the Black Ensemble and writer and director of most of its greatest hits.

“At Last: A Tribute to Etta James” is BE’s National Black Theatre Festival offering this year, and, like the many productions before it, it has left audiences in Chi-Town, where it was recently restaged, wanting more.

Dubbed “The Matriarch of R&B,” James was born as Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles in 1938. Her childhood was not easy; there were foster homes and abuse.

She first sang in the church. Her deep, rich pipes packed them in at South Central L.A.’s St. Paul Baptist Church. By the time she was 16, James was a sought-after nightclub performer and began recording and touring. Her first breakout hit was “All I Could Do Was Cry.” A string of other classics, recorded for various labels, would follow over the decades; they include “Trust in Me,” “Something’s Got a Hold on Me,” “Stop the Wedding,” “Push Over,” “Tell Mama,” “Sunday Kind of Love” and her signature hit, “At Last.”

Five singer/actresses portray James, who died in 2012, at various points in her career in the production. Taylor, who wrote and co-directs with Daryl D. Brooks, said James’ labyrinth of a life could not be encapsulated by just one actress.

“As the playwright, I found it impossible to tell this story using only one person as Etta James,” Taylor said. “Her life was so complex that one actress just couldn’t do her justice. That is why I’ve chosen five Ettas to bring this play to life.”

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BE PHOTO BY DANNY NICHOLAS

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Performers Yahdina Udeen, Candace Edwards, Melanie McCullough, Arzula Gardner and Alanna Taylor as Etta James.

The women of “At Last: A Tribute to Etta James.”

For its Chicago revival late last year, Candace Edwards, Arzula Gardner, Melanie McCullough, Alanna Taylor and Yahdina Udeen played James, taking audiences from her teen years in the ‘50s to her evolving superstardom in the ‘60s and ‘70s to her struggle to take control of her life and restart her career in ’80s and to her triumphant comeback in the 1990s. The actresses impressively execute dozens of James’ songs along the way.

Daniel Phillips, Mark Hood and Adrian Byrd represent some of the men in her stormy life. Ms. Real, a fierce drag queen who was played by Rueben Echoles, leads the audience through the story. Robert Reddrick is the music director.

Taylor founded the Black Ensemble Theater on Chicago’s South Side in 1976 with a mission “to eradicate racism and its devastating effects upon society through the theater arts.” The Black Ensemble has long had a presence at the National Black Theatre Festival and is credited with bringing what was arguably the most successful production in NBTF history, “The Jackie Wilson Story (My Heart is Crying, Crying).” m

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Beyond the Stage: FREE Events

International Colloquium Award-winning poet and playwright Marcus Gardley will deliver the keynote address at this year’s International Colloquium, a collaborative effort between the National Black Theatre Festival, Winston-Salem State University and the Black Theatre Network. “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Black Life” is the theme of the four-day (Aug. 4 - Aug. 7) Colloquium, which is again being coordinated

by Dr. Olasopé Oyelaran.

Gardley, who has an MFA from the Yale School of Drama, teaches at Brown University. His play “Every Tongue Confess” premiered at Washington. D.C.’s Arena Stage in 2010, with Phylicia Rashad in the starring role and Kenny Leon in the director’s chair. His “On The Levee” earned 11 Audelco Award nominations. His other credits include “And Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi,” “This World in a Woman's Hands” and “Love is a Dream House in Lorin.”

PHOTO BY JARED OATES

This year’s theme is timely. There are three plays – “Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South,” “Accept ‘Except’ LGBT NY” and “The Brothers Size” – being staged at the festival that explore LGBT issues. Many other academics and theater professionals from around the globe will be weighing in on the topic as well. The International Colloquium is free and open to the public.

It will be held in the Embassy Suites. For exact times of presentations, check the information desk in the Marriott Hotel or see the schedules that will be posted in the Embassy and Marriott hotels.

Marcus Gardley

Tribute to Thompson This will be the first National Black Theatre Festival without the vibrant presence of Garland Lee Thompson Sr. The well-respected actor, stage manager, dramaturge, producer and playwright died in November after a long illness. Thompson, who founded the Frank Silvera Writers Workshop with Morgan Freeman, Billie Allen and Clayton Riley, was a constant at the NBTF, often leading the Closing Night Parade in unique garb and while playing a drum.

“A Celebration of Life Salute for Garland Lee Thompson Sr.” will be held on Thursday, Aug. 6 from 3-6:30 p.m. on the Main Level of the Benton Convention Center. Coordinated by Aduke Aremu, the program will feature music, ritual salutes, dance, monologues and celebrity guests. It is free and open to the public.

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Beyond the stage, the National Black Theatre Festival has a lot to offer. Here is information about some of the free events that will be offered throughout the week.

Garland Lee Thompson Sr.

Readers’ Theatre, Workshops and Seminars The first component of the popular Readers’ Theatre, “New Plays at High Noon,” will start in the Marriott Hotel on Tuesday, Aug. 4 at 11:30 a.m. Later in the week, “Theatre Conversations at Midnight” will begin, also at the Marriott, at 11:30 p.m. During the week, more than 25 original works by up-andcoming playwrights will be read before an audience that will include actors, directors and other theater professionals. The general public is also welcome to attend these free readings, which are being coordinated

by Garland Lee Thompson Jr., who is continuing his late father’s legacy at the Frank Silvera Writers’ Workshop. Locations for the readings will be posted in the hotel’s lobby, as will times and locations of the many free workshops and seminars that will be offered. Among the presenters are Actors’ Equity Association’s Luther Goins and Vera Katz, a wellrespected acting coach.

Kathryn Mobley is the coordinator of the workshops and seminars.

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FREE Events Throughout the Week

Luther Goins

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Film Festival This year, the National Black Theatre Festival Film Festival, a celebration of independent films and filmmakers, will include several acclaimed movies.

Actress Rain Pryor will be on hand to screen “That Daughter’s Crazy,” which explores her life growing up as the biracial daughter of comedy legend Richard Pryor.

The documentary “Home,” which details the blacks’ Great Northern Migration, will be screened, too. Dr. Maya Angelou is among those interviewed in the film.

Moe Irvin’s short film “Stanford & Son” will also be shown. Released last year, the film is about a son’s attempt to abandon the dreams his eccentric father has for him.

Writer/director Irvin is also an actor who is best known for playing Nurse Tyler on “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Kathryn Mobley is coordinating the film festival. Details about screening times and locations will be posted throughout downtown and available at the information desk.

National Black Theatre Hall of Fame and Museum The National Black Theatre Hall of Fame and Museum has been a longtime dream. Now, it is moving one step closer to reality.

During this year’s NBTF, the New Winston Museum, 713 S. Marshall St., will host a preview exhibition that will show what the proposed NBTF museum will look like.

For many years, city leaders and arts advocates have lobbied for a permanent museum to honor the NBTF and the “cultural contributions of black actors, playwrights, directors and others of significance.” An interactive museum in the heart of downtown Winston-Salem is in the works. Admission to the New Winston Museum is free.

Moe Irvin

Youth/Celebrity Project and Teentastic The Youth/Celebrity Project and Teentastic will work to get young people engaged in the festival. More than 6,000 kids are expected to take part in Youth/Celebrity Project events, which will include live entertainment and one-on-one powwows with celebrities. The events, coordinated by Cleopatra Solomon, will be held at in Embassy Suites throughout the week.

Teentastic, a collaborative effort between the City of Winston-Salem and the NBTF, is designed for those between the ages of 15-19. Activities will be held throughout the week at the Education Annex at the WinstonSalem Fairgrounds. Coordinator Demetria Dove Nickens has put together an exciting slate of activities that will include performances by “American Idol” contestant Qaasim Middleton and rapper K Camp. The N.C. Black Repertory Theatre Teen Theatre Ensemble in also slated to perform.

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A vintage headshot of N.C. Black Rep and NBTF Founder Larry Leon Hamlin.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF THE N.C. BLACK REPERTORY COMPANY

Beyond the Stage: FREE Events

Call the N.C. Black Rep office at 336-723-2266 for more details.

For hours and/or other information, call the NWM at 336-724-2842.

Qaasim Middleton

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PHOTO COURTESY OF THE N.C. BLACK REP

The cast makes a joyful noise.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE N.C. BLACK REP

The Glory of Gospel The Glory of Gospel UNC School of the Arts Stevens Center Thurs, Aug. 6

8 p.m.

Fri, Aug. 7

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Sat, Aug. 8

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$41 Mabel Robinson

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“Gospel just continues to grow, even with the young people rapping the gospel message. It’s something that has been a part of our lives, and I think it’s something that will continue to be a part of our lives,” she said.

“The Glory of Gospel” is one of the Black Rep’s contributions this year. It is a throwback, a classic from the Company’s expansive oeuvre. Local audiences first fell under its spell in 1996; national crowds did the same in 1997, when it made its NBTF debut. But the origins of the show stretch back even further than that. Black Rep Artistic Director Mabel Robinson was commissioned by a Dutch company to write, direct and choreograph the show in the early 1990s. It was a hit in places like Germany, Holland and Belgium long before American audiences were hooked.

The gospel musical has become Robinson’s signature. She has helmed acclaimed stagings of “Crowns” and her original show “Mahalia, Queen of Gospel” at past festivals, and her foot-stomping, soul-enriching “Black Nativity” is an annual Black Rep tradition. Robinson, who is also a noted choreographer and dancer, has earned both Emmy and Tony nominations during her long, illustrious career. Her longtime partner-in-excellence, Tony Gillion, serves as the show’s music director. m

“The Glory of Gospel” is an uplifting history lesson, telling the story of a people who broke the chains of slavery and rose from the degradation of Jim Crow with the help of a powerful musical genre. Along with enlightening narration, about 50 songs are packed into the two-act musical.

In May, when the production was staged a handful of times to receptive local audiences, Robinson told The Chronicle the first act is a journey through the Middle Passage, the auction block, plantation life and, finally, the Emancipation Proclamation. Songs, many of them well-known classics, are used to drive home the emotions and tumult of each period. A cast of talented performers use their powerful pipes to emanate pain, longing and a desire for better tomorrows.

“A lot of the spirituals became message songs and work songs so that we found a way of communicating and stayed connected to the Motherland,” Robinson said, noting how vital gospel has been to African-Americans. “That’s been our savior in our culture throughout our work, play, services, funerals, escapes and events like that.”

The second act pays homage to pioneers who pushed gospel into the forefront in the 20th century, people like Thomas A. Dorsey, a composer whose songs include “Take My Hand Precious Lord” and “Peace in the Valley;” and Lucie E. Campbell, the woman behind standards like “King’s Highway” and “Touch Me Lord Jesus.”

Hits by the likes of Robert Bradley, The Spirit of Memphis, The Angelic Gospel Singers, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, Mahalia Jackson, James Cleveland, the Jubilee Singers and many more are given new life by the cast of 24, which includes members of the Black Rep’s Teen Theatre Ensemble. Robinson believes gospel’s reach is wide and offers something for everyone – young, old, black, white.

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Living Legend Award

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orld-class theater is available in our own backyard year-round. The North Carolina Black Repertory Company will drive home that fact during the NBTF and show it is no slouch when it comes to staging high-quality shows.

Robert Hooks Robert Hooks first stood under the spotlight when he was in elementary school and starring in his very first play, “The Pirates of Penzance.” By the time he was in his early 20s, he was traveling the nation in a tour of “A Raisin in the Sun.” “Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright” was his Broadway debut; he also earned great acclaim for playing the lead in Amiri Baraka’s “Dutchman.” Hooks co-founded the illustrious Negro Ensemble Company in 1967.

The New York-based theater company has been a training ground for a long list of stars and has produced some of black theater’s most landmark works.

Hooks has also had a long and notable career on the big and small screens. His television credits include “A Different World,” Sister, Sister,” “Trapper John, M.D.,” “WKRP in Cincinnati,” “Diagnosis Murder” and “Seinfeld.” His film credits include “Airport '77,” “Posse,” “Passenger 57” and “Fled.” (The latter two were directed by his son, Kevin Hooks.)

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF JAZZ LION PRODUCTIONS

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Siaka Massaquoi as Clay and Tanna Frederick as LuLu in “Dutchman.”

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ward-winning playwright/director/actor Levy Lee Simon is everywhere at this year’s National Black Theatre Festival. He wrote the sweeping period production “The Magnificent Dunbar Hotel;” stars in “The Last Revolutionary,” which he also wrote; and directs “Dutchman,” a jewel of a play written by the incomparable Amiri Baraka.

The two-character “Dutchman” centers around Clay, a middle class black man, and a Bohemian white woman, LuLu, who has suspect intentions toward him.

They encounter each other on a New York City subway bound for an unknown destination. Their interaction is tense, and their flirtation, intellectual discourse and “sexual dance” lead to a struggle for life and death.

Primarily known for his poetry, Baraka set the theater world ablaze in the 1960s when “Dutchman” made its debut, forcing many to examine relationships between whites and blacks. Simon’s North Hollywood, Calif.-based Jazz Lion Productions is presenting the drama, in conjunction with the Kilpatrick/Cambridge Theatre Company, which is also based in Southern California.

Siaka Massaquoi plays Clay. He discovered acting while at the University of Iowa, where his drama teacher was Simon. He moved to Los Angeles after earning his degree and has won roles in films like “Consensual,” “Sadie’s Song” and “Written By.” His television credits include “Wingmen” and “The Adventures of J.A.B.” He is currently a student in the acclaimed Beverly Hills Workshop Master Class.

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The role of LuLu is played by Tanna Frederick, who is also a producer. Her collaborations with indie filmmaker Henry Jaglom have led to starring roles in six films, including “The ‘M’ Word” and the soon-to-be released “Ovation.” Her stage credits include A.R. Gurney’s “Sylvia,” Richard Nash’s “The Rainmaker” and Claire Chafee’s “Why We Have a Body,” which also marked Frederick’s directing debut.

Erik Kilpatrick, who is best known for his role as Curtis Jackson on the television series “The White Shadow,” is the play’s producer. The son of acclaimed actor Lincoln Kilpatrick, he has built quite the reputation as a stage producer, writer and director over the last 30 years. One of his proudest achievements is the documentary “Homer G. Phillips, The Lost Leader,” which he wrote, produced and directed.

Simon’s work is regularly featured at the NBTF. At the very first festival in 1989, he appeared in Carl DeJung’s “Do Lord Remember Me,” a performance that led Dr. Maya Angelou to proclaim him a “Young Lion.” (Note the name of Simon’s production company.) He was back at the NBTF in 2002, starring in “Before It Hits Home.” He made his festival debut as a writer in 2007 with “The Bow Wow Club.”

In 2011, his play “Same Train” was featured, and “The Last Revolutionary,” debuted in 2013. m

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The Last Revolutionary

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ac Perkins is “The Last Revolutionary.”

In the 1970s, he was a member of a black power organization, but as time and ideologies progressed, Mac remained in the 1970s – quite literally. (He still dresses in his military fatigues, and his present day New York apartment is adorned with bead curtains, black lights, bean chairs and other pieces from an era long passed.)

Mac has his sights set on re-establishing the black power organization in order to protect President Obama and put a stop to anti-Obama sentiment spread by racists and Tea Party-like groups. As he is making his plans, curiously, his ex-revolutionary friend Jack Armstrong arrives, challenging Mac’s idea and political stance. As each man tries to get the other to see his point of view, secrets are exposed that lead to a dramatic life and death confrontation.

“The Last Revolutionary” stars Levy Lee Simon, the writer of the play, as Mac Perkins and John Marshall Jones as Jack Armstrong. Simon is best known as a playwright, but he is also an accomplished actor. He is a former member of the Circle Rep LAB, The Negro Ensemble Company and the African American Studio and has appeared in more than 50 plays, including “Ms. Evers’ Boys” at the Barbican and Bristol Old Vic theatres in England.

Jones currently plays Lt. Eric Snow on the new sitcom “Mann and Wife.” Television viewers will also know him from his roles on “The Troop” and “Smart Guy” and his guest appearances on hit shows like “The Mentalist,” “Hart of Dixie,” “Shameless,” “Glee” and “Pretty Little Liars.”

He has also appeared in more than 20 feature films, working with Oscar winners Sean Penn, Helen Hunt, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker and Robin Williams. Jones’ stage work earned him a Best Actor prize at New York’s African American Theater Awards in 2008.

An accomplished public speaker, he has authored a “media fusion” book and mp3 called “Mastering The Audition” that is sold in seven countries.

“It is impossible to do something every day to build your dream and have it turn into nothing. The key is to keep building and dreaming, and building and dreaming, until the day that everyone else can see it as clear as you can,” Jones believes.

John Marshall Jones

Erik Kilpatrick

“The Last Revolutionary” is presented by Simon’s Jazz Lion Productions and the Kilpatrick/ Cambridge Theatre Company, a venture of Erik Kilpatrick, who directs the play, which was also staged at the 2013 NBTF. m

Living Legend Award

Grace L. Jones Grace L. Jones is one of the “great women of black theatre.” In the 1960s, she co-founded the New York-based training school and production company The Double Image Theatre. For decades, she has kept New Yorkers abreast of important people, news and events through her company, A Touch of Grace & Associates, which, among other things, produces a cable television program. For many years, Jones has served as president of AUDELCO (Audience Development Committee), which holds an awards ceremony each year that honors the best in black theatre.

A well-known community activist, Jones helped found Concerned Citizens for Community Action in the 1980s; the organization lobbied against drugs and violence and for affordable and safe housing for seniors in Manhattan. A lifelong member of Harlem’s illustrious Abyssinian Baptist Church, Jones developed an acumen for community advocacy under the tutelage of Adam Clayton Powell Jr., a former Abyssinian pastor.

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Maid’s Door Scottie Mills as Ida Farrell in “Maid’s Door.”

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former maid moves on up but is faced with past wounds that have long festered in “Maid’s Door,” a powerful drama from New York’s Billie Holiday Theatre.

Ida Farrell was like many black women of her era: she worked as a domestic in the homes of rich white families in order to make ends meet and support her family. But now Ida’s working days are over and her mental health is failing. It is now time for her adult children to care for her, and that is exactly what her daughter Betty does, moving her mother into her new Upper West Side apartment.

The dwelling is in the kind of tony buildings that Ida spent her life working in as a maid. Now, she is among the privileged few, a transition that causes her to revisit her bittersweet past and the broken dreams that have haunted her. Betty is steadfast in helping her mother battle her demons, stopping at nothing to restore her well-being and preserve her legacy.

Writers Guild Award winner and Emmy nominee Cheryl L. Davis wrote “Maid’s Door.” She says it is semi-autobiographical.

“In high school, my family moved into an Upper West Side apartment, and I was intrigued with the fact that the kitchen had a second entrance door,” Davis said. “My

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Melissa Joyner as Betty with Nate James, who plays Betty’s husband, Case.

grandmother, who had been a maid for a family that lived only blocks away, explained to me that my prized second door was in fact a ‘Maid’s Door.’ I immediately knew there was a story waiting to be told.”

Princeton educated, Davis is a former writer for the daytime drama “As the World Turns.” Her play “The Color of Justice,” about school desegregation, was commissioned by Theatreworks/USA, while “Winnie the Pooh KIDS,” another of her plays, is licensed by the Disney Theatrical Group. Her credits also include the stage production “Cover Girls,” an adaptation of the Bishop T. D. Jakes’ novel.

Jackie Alexander, the accomplished artistic director of The Billie Holiday Theatre, directs. The cast features Joan T. Anderson, Nicola d’Alessandro, Nate James, Melissa Joyner, Scottie Mills and Kimberlee Monroe. The creative team includes Patrice Andrew Davidson (Set Designer), Helen L. Collen (Costume Designer) and Avan (Lighting Designer). m

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Repairing a Nation PHOTO COURTESY OF CROSSROADS THEATRE

Repairing a Nation Wake Forest’s The MainStage Theatre

Landon Woodson, Stephanie Berry and Phil McGlaston in “Repairing a Nation.”

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roductions rooted in historical events have always been popular at the National Black Theatre Festival. This year, “Repairing a Nation” can be added to the “edutainment” category.

The play, written by Obie winner Nikkole Salter, is set in 2001 in Tulsa, Okla., where the Davis family has gathered to celebrate Christmas. The festiveness hits a bump when one member of the clan – Lois – argues that the Davises should join a class action lawsuit seeking reparations for the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 that devastated the family. Lois is egged on by Debbie, a young community organizer who used to date Lois’ son Seth, a law student at NYU. Lois’ insistence irritates her cousin Chuck, a family elder, and his wife, Anna, and opens 80-year-old family wounds, some of which go beyond the riot.

Salter’s work is one of fiction, but the two-day Tulsa Race Riot was very real, though it was long omitted from state records. White residents, angered by a false report that a black man had assaulted a white woman, burned the prosperous Greenwood District (or Black Wall Street, as it was known) to the ground and killed blacks indiscriminately. There had long been white resentment over the success of Greenwood, with its streets lined with every kind of black-owned business imaginable. Officially, 39 people were killed during the riot, but many survivors put that figure closer to 1,000.

A 2001 report commissioned by the Oklahoma legislature found that Tulsa’s black community had been greatly adversely affected by the riot. Compensation for

victims was recommended but never Nikkole Salter implemented; a scholarship fund for survivors’ descendants and a memorial site did come to fruition. Also that year, famed attorneys Charles Ogletree and Johnnie Cochran filed suit against the state on behalf of five riot survivors Citing statute of limitations laws, district and appellate courts dismissed the suit.

Salter, whose Obie came in 2006 for “In the Continuum,” told Broadway World that she wrote “Repairing a Nation” to broach the topic of reparations from all sides.

"I wanted to talk about reparations beyond the staunch opinions and concerns about whether or not it was feasible or who would pay for what,” she said. “I wanted to talk about why it's so difficult - the complexities of inherited wounds, the nature of apology, healing and reconciliation.”

“Repairing a Nation” is being presented by the Crossroads Theatre of New Brunswick, N.J. and directed by Marshall Jones III, Crossroads’ producing artistic director. The theatre earned universal kudos for its staging of the play earlier this year, when Stephanie Berry played Lois; Phil McGlaston played Chuck; Chantal Jean-Pierre played Anna; Angel Moore played Debbie; and Landon Woodson played Seth. The creative team included costume designer Sasha Corrodus-Odum; lighting designed Jeff Carr; sound designer Matt Bittner; scenic designer Gennie Neuman Lambert; projection designer Alan Peters; and stage manager Karen Parlato. m 45

The Bluest Eye NCCU DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE PHOTO

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Dr. Stephanie “Asabi” Howard Daja Middleton, Moriah Williams and Kalyn Monet in “The Bluest Eye.”

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he North Carolina Central University Department of Theater is returning to the National Black Theatre Festival with its stage adaptation of Toni Morrison’s best-selling novel “The Bluest Eye.” It is one of the festival’s Fringe offerings, a collection of plays by college and youth theater troupes.

inspiration and determination to find my role in preventing such atrocities and fallacies from reaching our community of African-American children.”

The story is set in 1940s Lorain, Ohio, and centers around 11-year-old Pecola Breedlove, an abused and lonely black girl who longs to have blue eyes because she thinks they will make her beautiful. Pecola’s sense of self-worth has been stripped away. Her mother, Pauline, a domestic who works for a white family, also has low self-esteem; her father, Cholly, is violent and cruel. The McTeer sisters, Pecola’s friends, are fighting an uphill battle in trying to convince Pecola to stop worshipping European standards of beauty.

“‘The Bluest Eye’ forces us to confront our own ideas of what counts as beautiful through the incomprehensible, lower depth of existence experienced by a malnourished soul,” said Howard, who is also an actress who has appeared in N.C. Black Repertory Company productions. “Pecola’s desire for blue eyes is symbolic of self-worth, love, acceptance and happiness. This play makes us take a hard look at the world we create.”

When Morrison’s novel was released in the 1970s, it was praised for its lyrical prose and its unflinching portrayal of sensitive subjects, including incest, prostitution, domestic violence and racism. Still today, the book is often deemed too controversial and frequently banned from school shelves. Dr. Stephanie “Asabi” Howard, who directs the play and serves as an assistant professor in NCCU’s Department of Theater, says the story should be viewed as a cautionary tale on many levels.

She added that the story demands African-Americans to examine their own color and hair prejudices, biases that are passed on to impressionable children.

When the play was staged at NCCU last year, the cast included Moriah Williams as Pecola Breedlove; Daja Middleton as Claudia McTeer; Kalyn Monet as Frieda McTeer; Tierra McMickle as Pauline Breedlove; and Robert Dartez Wright as Cholly Breedlove. Toni Oliver, Lekeeda Barbara, Diarra Fields, Kelvin Carter, Malcolm Green and Tiara Jones were also a part of the cast. m

“I must admit that after every reading of the play, I am filled with despondency,” Howard said in a press release. “But, redemptively, I am also soon replete with an

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The Monkey on My Back (An Intimate Evening with Debbi Morgan)

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ebbi Morgan, the popular actress who is co-chairing this year’s National Black Theatre Festival, just saw the realization of a longtime goal. Her book, “The Monkey on My Back: A Memoir,” was released in June; she had been working on the project for many years. Along the way, she developed an acclaimed one-woman show – “The Monkey on My Back! (An Intimate Evening with Debbi Morgan).” Her Bowie, Md.based Dam Entertainment brought the show to the 2013 NBTF. It is back again this year.

The Monkey on My Back!

(An Intimate Evening with Debbi Morgan)

Reynolda House Museum of American Art

On stage, like in the book, Morgan takes her fans on a deeply personal journey through her family’s long legacy of abuse and fear, detailing the effects that legacy has had on three generations of women – her grandmother, her mother and Morgan herself. The candid play is emotional and, at times, painful, but there are also bits of humor. Morgan, one of the best actresses in the business, captivates her audience and shows why she has had such a long and successful career.

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Morgan, who was born in Dunn, N.C., started acting in high school productions when she was 15. She was still a teenager when she joined New York’s Players Workshop and the New Federal Theater Company. She tested her fortunes in Hollywood when she was in her 20s and quickly landed roles on “Good Times” and in the landmark miniseries “Roots.”

“The Monkey on My Back” is directed by Denise Dowse, who will be ubiquitous at this year’s NBTF, as an actress in “Sassy Mamas” and director of “The Homecoming.” m PUBLICITY PHOTO

RDS Y OF INFINITE WO IMAGE COURTES

She is best known for "All My Children,” on which she played Angie Baxter Hubbard for many years. The role earned her a Daytime Emmy in 1989. Among her many other honors is a NAACP Image Award for her recurring role on “Soul Food” and an Independent Spirit Award for the film “Eve’s Bayou.” On the big screen, Morgan has starred opposite some of Hollywood’s most popular leading men, including Denzel Washington (“The Hurricane”) and Samuel L. Jackson (“Coach Carter”).

Debbi Morgan’s memoir is available in stores and online at popular sites like Amazon.

Denise Dowse

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Mr. Joy

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aniel Beaty is returning to the National Black Theatre Festival with another one-man tour de force, “Mr. Joy.”

Back in 2005, the NBTF helped to put the talented playwright/ actor/singer/poet/author/producer on the map. His “EmergenceSee!” (since renamed “Emergency”) was that year’s festival’s breakout hit. The play went on to a sold-out extended Off-Broadway run at The Public Theater and earned Beaty Obie and AUDELCO awards.

He returned to the NBTF four years later with another powerful solo show, “Through the Night,” for which he earned another AUDELCO and Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, Drama League and Outer Critics Circle nominations.

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“Knock Knock,” his spoken word piece about an absentee father, became a viral hit after he delivered it on HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam.” He has since adapted it into a children’s book, “Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me.” He is also the author of “Transforming Pain to Power,” in which he writes about growing up with a father and older brother who were addicted to drugs.

His other stage credits include “Resurrection,” which won the coveted New American Play Award from the Edgerton Foundation in 2008; “Breath & Imagination – The Story of Roland Hayes,” an ensemble musical about the famed tenor that debuted in 2013; “The Tallest Tree in the Forest,” his oneman celebration of Paul Robeson; and “Far But Close,” which is billed as a “spoken word ballet.”

Beaty is also an educator, sharing his gifts with others as a member of the New Dramatists and an adjunct professor at Columbia University. m

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Beaty's star has grown bright since his appearance at the NBTF 10 years ago. The Yale alumnus has performed his original works throughout the U.S., Europe and Africa and has shared stages with the likes of Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Jill Scott, Sonia Sanchez, MC Lyte, Mos Def, Tracy Chapman, Deepak Chopra and Phylicia Rashad.

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SECCA’s McChesney Scott Dunn Auditorium

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Beaty again uses his trademark fusion of comedy, poetry, music and multi-character transformation to make “Mr. Joy” a magical stage journey. The title character is a Chinese American immigrant whose shoe repair business has been a staple in a Harlem community for 25 years. As the play opens, an event has occurred that has jarred the neighborhood, inspiring nine of Mr. Joy’s customers to reflect on the shop-owner’s impact. Beaty plays all of the characters, including 11-year-old Clarissa – a budding shoe designer – and “gangsta granny” Bessie. Some of characters from “Emergency” re-emerge in “Mr. Joy,” which debuted in May 2012. An iteration of the play starring actress Tangela Large debuted earlier this year. New York-based Daniel Beaty Productions is presenting the play, which is directed by Stevie Walker-Webb.

Mr. Joy Daniel Beaty made his NBTF debut 10 years ago.

Hattie Winston Hattie Winston began building her impressive career more than 40 years ago. The Mississippi native and Howard University alumna got her big break on the stage. She appeared on Broadway in “The Tap Dance Kid,” “The Me Nobody Knows,” “Two Gentlemen of Verona” and “I Love My Wife.”

She made a name for herself on television in the mid-1970s when she landed the role of Valerie the Librarian on the popular PBS children’s program “The Electric Company.” In the ’80s and ’90s, she was a regular on the CBS series “Nurse,” the acclaimed show “Homefront,” and on “Becker,” on which she played Margaret for six seasons. Winston is also a singer and voice actress who voiced Lucy Carmichael on the cartoon classic “Rugrats.”

She is now a cast member of “The Soul Man,” the TV Land hit starring Cedric the Entertainer.

Winston’s film credits include “Clara’s Heart,” “Jackie Brown,” “The Battle of Shaker Heights” and “True Crime.” Winston is married to Harold Wheeler, a wellknown music director best known from “Dancing with the Stars,” whose work will be saluted after the Opening Night Gala during the “Black Stars of the Great White Way” performance.

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PHOTO BY ALEC HIMWICH

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The Amazing Adventures of Grace May B. Brown The Amazing Adventures o Grace May B.f Brown Benton Convention Center - Nort Main Hall h

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The women of “The Amazing Adventures of Grace May B. Brown.”

Grace’s amazing adventures are artistically recounted by her sidekicks – Mercy, Indeed, Um Hm and Well – and vocally shared by Nanadwoa and Sister Seychelles, the storyteller to whom Grace entrusts with her memories and her magic.

This engaging dance theater production is choreographed, directed and written by Woods Valdés, an internationally acclaimed performer and associate professor of dance at Duke University. She is one of the dancing stars of the show, as are Jessica Burroughs, Chanelle Croxton, Aya Shabu and Kara M. Simpson. Dorothy N. Clark provides the narration. Also helping to make the magic are musicians/composers Shana Tucker and Julia Price, costume designer Pamela Bond, lighting designer Kathy Perkins and Heather A. Williams, whose beautiful quilts are incorporated into the dancers' moves.

The acclaimed production is being presented by the Durham, N.C.-based Andrea E. Woods & Dancers and SOULOWORKS, which Woods Valdés created to perform and teach dance in the African-American community via colleges, universities, theaters, schools, places of worship or community centers and through national and international concerts and events. SOULOWORKS’ performances have been presented throughout the country and internationally in places like Russia and Poland.

A native of Philadelphia, Woods Valdés is a magna cum laude graduate of Adelphi University; she also and holds an MFA in dance technology from The Ohio State University and a Master of Arts in Humanities in Caribbean Cultural Studies from SUNY Buffalo.

She has danced with notables like Clive Thompson, Leni Wylliams and Saeko Icinohe.

From 1989 to 1995, she was a dancer and rehearsal director with the Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Dance Co. She has been a guest faculty member and choreographer at Medgar Evers College, Howard University, Ohio University, Rhode Island College, California State University Long Beach, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (in Winston-Salem), Hollins University, Spelman College and Goucher

College. From 2002-2007, she taught modern dance and dance for the camera as an adjunct at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Woods Valdés has received grants from the Jerome Foundation, (NEFA) the National Dance Project, the National Performance Network and Arts International and her work and research have taken her abroad to France, Taiwan, Russia, Senegal, Morocco, Korea, Poland, Singapore, Belize and Cuba. m

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he Amazing Adventures of Grace May B. Brown” has been dubbed “performed folklore” by the woman who created it – Andrea E. Woods Valdés. Dance, music, song and narration are employed to tell the story of Grace May, who journeys through time and space, sharing life-affirming experiences and learning lessons from her ancestors, friends and sheroes.

Allen Lee Hughes Allen Lee Hughes, an associate professor in NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, is a legend in his field – stage lighting design. A winner of the USITT (United States Institute for Theatre Technology Inc.) Distinguished Achievement Award and two Helen Hayes Awards, Hughes designed for more than 60 productions at Washington’s Arena Stage, where the Allen Lee Hughes Fellowship & Internship Program has been established in his honor. The program’s mission is to “cultivate the next generation of theater professionals by providing the highest standard of training through immersion in the art and business of producing theater.”

Hughes earned a Tony nomination and won Outer Critics Circle and Joseph Maharam awards for “K2.” He has also been nominated for Tonys for “Once on This Island” and “Strange Interlude.” His other Broadway credits include “Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” “Clybourne Park,” “Having Our Say” and “Mule Bone.”

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National Youth Talent Showcase Sharing knowledge.

Supporting the arts.

It’s part of our culture.

At BB&T, we’ve been sharing financial knowledge with our clients and communities for more than 140 years. We also share a passion for arts and culture, and proudly support the exceptional work of arts organizations locally and across the state.

Please join us in celebrating the creativity that enriches our community and gives us so many memorable experiences to share. BBT.com

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ne of National Black Theatre Festival Founder Larry Leon Hamlin’s many legacies is his embracing and fostering of young talent.

Introducing young people to – and indoctrinating them into – the richness and beauty of black theatre was a mission he pursued throughout his life. His N.C. Black Repertory Co. regularly staged special performances for schools and youth groups; he saw through the creation of the Black Rep’s Teen Ensemble before his death in 2007; and he planted the seeds of the National Youth Talent Showcase, a permanent component of the NBTF that gives up-and-coming performers the chance to be judged by notables and shine before a crowd of hundreds.

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Tomorrow’s stars are gearing up for this year’s showcase, which is being coordinated by Dr. Stephanie “Asabi” Howard, a noted director, actress and N.C. Central University professor. A nationwide call for talent went out several months ago. Would-be participants had to submit a videotaped snippet of them singing, dancing, acting, reciting poetry or entertaining in some other form. The best and brightest will be invited to compete during a two-day showcase. Celebrity judges will critique the performers after they do their thing before what is typically a packed house.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE N.C. BLACK REPERTORY CO.

The family friendly event has grown in popularity, thanks, in part, to the high level of talent. Standing ovations are frequent, and many alumni of the Showcase have gone on to acclaim, including Alyssa White, who has been featured on Best of the Best show on “Showtime at the Apollo,” and Qaasim Middleton, who had a stellar run on the last season of “American Idol.” m

Young dancers perform at the 2009 festival.

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Storytelling Festival

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t’s a festival within a festival with legions of devoted fans of its own.

The Storytelling Festival offers as much drama, intrigue and laughs as any fullfledged play or musical. Members of the N.C. Association of Black Storytellers, Inc. are the stars of the Storytelling Festival, and from their mouths, a story is not just a story.

Intonation, facial expressions, hand gestures and, sometimes, musical instruments are their tools, and with them, they hold young audiences captive.

Many of their stories are parables that teach life lessons; others share cultural and history lessons. The Storytelling Festival is one of those NBTF classics. It is offered every two years and was the first NBTF experience that many had.

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The mission of the North Carolina Association of Black Storytellers (NCABS) is to promote and perpetuate the art of black storytelling, an art form that members say “embodies the history and cultures of Africans and African-Americans.” NCABS members hail from across the state. They derive many of their stories from family and community histories, tall tales, folktales, African-American Literature and the Bible.

The group was founded in 1995 and is one of the 15 affiliates of the National Association of Black Storytellers, which was founded in 1982 by Linda Goss and the late Mary Carter Smith. m

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Some of the members of the N.C. Association of Black Storytellers Inc.

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Body of a Woman as Battlefield PHOTO COURTESY OF TEATRO VILA VELHA

The set of the play puts actress Iana Nascimento an arm’s length away from the audience.

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nternational” Black Theatre Festival would be a more veracious name. Productions from abroad have become common at the National Black Theatre Festival, and this year is no different.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MÁRCIO MEIRELLES

“Gogo and Big Sister” will be presented by a South African theater company, and “Body of a Woman as Battlefield” is being offered by Salvador, Brazil’s Teatro Vila Velha. It is a visually intriguing production that uses screens to shade characters and translate Portuguese dialogue and arena-style seating that puts the audience close to the performers.

Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design

Emilio Sosa ESOSA

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Márcio Meirelles

ESOSA (Emilio Sosa) became known to the world after his long run on the seventh season of the popular reality show “Project Runway” in 2009. But in theater circles, he was star long before then. Inspired by his mentor actor/ dancer Geoffrey Holder and educated at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, Sosa made a name for himself with his unconventional designs for productions like the Public Theatre’s “Radiant Baby” and the Arena Stage’s “Señor Discretion Himself,” for which he earned a Helen Hayes Award nomination. His designs for “Twist” earned him an Ovation Award; he claimed a Lucille Lortel Award for “Meet Vera Stark.”

Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in the South Bronx, Sosa nabbed a Tony nomination in 2012 for his work for “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess.” His other recent Broadway credits include “Motown, The Musical,” “Topdog/Underdog,” “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill” and “On Your Feet!”

His ESOSA fashion line, which he operates with the help of his brothers Filipe and Nick, is turning heads and creating buzz in the fashion world and beyond.

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Violence against women is the theme of the play, which is written by Romanian journalist/playwright Matéi Visniec. The Bosnian War of the 1990s – in which tens of thousands of civilians, mainly ethnic Muslims, were slaughtered – was the inspiration for “Body of a Woman as Battlefield.” Two women bring the story to life. Kate (Giza Vasconcelos) is an American who has travelled to Eastern Europe to help to excavate some of the many unmarked graves left after the war. At a medical facility, she meets Dorra (Iana Nascimento), a local woman who was gang-raped by ethnic enemies.

The act of violence has left Dorra pregnant and mentally broken. As Kate attempts to care for Dorra, the ways that aggression – both the psychological and physical varieties – have affected the women are revealed, and the global issue of violence against women as a whole becomes elucidated.

The stars of the play say that although Eastern Europe is the setting of the story, the issue is one that women in every corner of the globe grapple with.

“Women are raped here in Brazil as in any other place, and when you stop to analyze a conflict such as this one, you see how this happens here in front of us and that it is an issue that people need to discuss,” Vasconcelos told the Brazilian publication Agenda Arte e Cultura.

Nascimento said she researched her role by drawing from the experiences of Brazilian women who have been raped and/or victimized in other ways.

With director Márcio Meirelles at the helm, Teatro Vila Velha staged “Body of a Woman as Battlefield” last year in Salvador. The actresses and behind-the scenes team had only two months of preparation because they were busy with another project.

“It was a quick process. We finished one play, which commemorated the theatre’s 50th anniversary, and then Márcio announced this project,” said Vasconcelos, who added that Visniec’s work is greatly admired by Meirelles and other Brazilian directors.

Plays by Visniec, who now lives and works in France, have been performed around the world, including on stages in the U.S. His other stage credits include “Old Clown Wanted,” “The Story of the Panda Bears Told by a Saxophonist who has a Girlfriend in Frankfurt” and “How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients.” m

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PHOTO COURTESY OF SPARKLING CITY ENTERTAINMENT

PHOTO COURTESY OF SPARKLING CITY ENTERTAINMENT

Sassy Mamas

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$41 Denise Dowse with Derek Shaun.

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estival-goers beware! Cougars will be on the prowl – at least on the stage, anyway.

“Sassy Mamas” is a cleverly written, wickedly funny comedy about seasoned women who break all the dating norms by pursuing men half their age.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SPARKLING CITY ENTERTAINMENT

Elayn Taylor, Iona Morris and Denise Dowse are “Sassy Mamas.”

From the creative mind of Celeste Bedford Walker comes this two-act play that centers around three women – the very single Wilhemina “Wil” Sorenson, the deputy National Security Advisor to the President of the United States; Mary Wooten, who after 30 years has just divorced her ambassador husband; and the recently widowed Jo Billie Massey, a lead hospital administrator. They have been friends for decades and now live together in a very posh Washington, D.C., bachelorette pad.

They have not had the best romantic experiences with men their own age. Younger men are now their preference, and their adventures with their handsome conquests are bawdy, brazen and hilarious.

The comedy debuted earlier this year in Los Angeles and was so popular that demand for tickets could not be met. Thirty folks a night had to be turned away because of space limitations. Eventually, matinees and evening shows were added. Celebrities were among those who flocked to the play. Blair Underwood called it “funny, poignant, sexy and right on time,” while Wendy Raquel Robinson praised the three stars: “These phenomenal women bring the house down with such riveting performances that you'll laugh until you cry.”

The phenomenal women in question are Denise Dowse (Wil), Elayn Taylor (Mary) and Iona Morris (Jo Billie), who also directs “Sassy Mamas.” Morris has performed in a number of productions that have been featured at the National Black Theatre Festival, including M.O.I.S.T. in 2009 and 2011. Her long list of television credits include roles on “Moesha,” “Lincoln Heights” and “The Soul Man.” Taylor has appeared in films like “The Wood,” “Dr. Dolittle 2” and “Something’s Gotta Give.” Dowse is best-known as a stage director. She has won four NAACP Theatre Award Best Director honors for her work. Three very talented actors also appear. Kareem Grimes, Jah Shams and Derek Shaun have won kudos for holding their own in the company of such vivacious and accomplished actresses.

Married couple Vanessa Paul and Alex Morris produce the play, via Los Angeles-based Sparkling City Entertainment. They have produced many popular productions, including “Camp Logan,” another play written by Walker, for which they received five 2012 NAACP Theatre Award nominations. m

The ladies of “Sassy Mamas” – Iona Morris, Denise Dowse and Elayn Taylor.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF NEW BLACK FEST

Eric Holmes

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Nathan James

erhaps no play is as timely and relevant as “Hands Up: 6 Playwrights, 6 Testaments” from New York’s Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre.

“Hands Up,” of course, became a cry and call for social justice last summer after unarmed African-American teenager Michael Brown was shot to death by a white Ferguson, Mo. police officer while his hands were reportedly in the air. (Some recent evidence questions the notion that Brown’s hands were up, but several witnesses maintain that they were indeed up in the air.) Brooklyn's New Black Fest responded to Brown’s death (and the spate of other unarmed African-Americans killed by cops) by commissioning six talented young black male playwrights to each pen a 10-to-15-minute-long monologue about their experiences in a country where those like them are often viewed as dangerous and disposable. Six equally talented black actors bring the testimonies to life on stage, exuding all of the emotions the writers released on paper.

Playwrights Nathan James, Nathan Yungerberg, Idris Goodwin, Glenn Gordon, Eric Holmes and Dennis A. Allen II have a lot to say, and they do so quite eloquently.

In “Abortion,” Gordon’s contribution, he writes to his unborn son, expressing his reluctance to bring him into a world that is so hostile to those with black or brown skin. Goodwin’s spoken-word piece, “They Shootin! Or I Ain’t Neva Scared,” imagines a world free of racial hangups. Holmes tackles his mixed-race background in “Walking Next to Michael Brown (Confessions of a Light-Skinned Half-Breed).”

In “Holes in My Identity,” Yungerberg (who was adopted by a white couple as a child) also deals with his racial identity, as he explores what is considered black enough.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF NEW BLACK FEST

Reese Theatre in the Pavilion Embassy Suites

Glenn Gordon

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Allen’s “How I Feel” points out the absurdity of those who refuse to see racism as an issue in the 21st century. In his “Superiority Fantasy,” James details his own run-ins with cops in Philadelphia.

The National Black Theatre and the New Black Fest – which was created five years ago to nurture black playwrights – jointly staged “Hands Up” in February for a benefit for the nonprofit Unlocking Futures. The featured actors were Joshua Boone, Kamal Angelo Bolden, Jahi Kearse, Jevon McFerrin, Glenn N. Sangou and Chinaza Uche. Jonathan McCrory directs. The Obie winner is no stranger to the NBTF. In 2011, he directed (and conceived) “Hope Speaks,” a unique storytelling piece that centers around President Obama’s historic victory.

The Washington, D.C. native is the director of Theatre Arts Program at Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre. m PUBLICITY PHOTO

Idris Goodwin PHOTO COURTESY OF NEW BLACK FEST

Dennis Allen

Hands Up: 6 Playwrights, 6 Testaments

PHOTO COURTESY OF NEW BLACK FEST

PHOTO COURTESY OF NEW BLACK FEST

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Hands Up: 6 Playwrights, 6 Testaments

Jonathan McCrory

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Soul Crooners 2

NBTF-goers first fell under the spell of the Crooners in 2013. This new show offers more soul, as Jacobs and four other talented singers serve as guides on a musical tour of the “unforgettable melodies, heavenly harmonies and great vocalists of the 1970s.”

The production features about 40 songs made famous by an array of artists, from Billy Paul and Lou Rawls to The Delfonics and The Stylistics.

The renditions delivered by Jacobs and company – Chris Eisenberg, Michael Mendez, Leon Pitts II and Emmanuel Avraham – are so good that they could stand as classics in their own right. The Crooners are accompanied by a five-piece band made up of Todd Bellamy, Jamar D. Camp, Etienne J. Porter, James Johnston and music director/stage manager Jay Dodge II. They are

Soul Crooners 2

WBTT PHOTO

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his will be a National Black Theatre Festival to remember for Nate Jacobs.

The wildly talented entertainer will be presented with this year’s Larry Leon Hamlin Producer Award at the Opening Night Gala on Monday, Aug. 3. On Friday, Aug. 7, the four-show run of “Soul Crooners 2” – which he conceived, adapted and stars in – opens.

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$41 Crooners Leon Pitts II, Chris Eisenberg, Nate Jacobs and Michael Mendez.

accoutred in threads from the era by costume designer Cristy Owen.

“Soul Crooners 2” is being presented by the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, the Sarasota-based company Jacobs founded in December 1999. It is the only professional black theater company on Florida’s west coast and one of only two in the entire state. Jacobs already had an established relationship with the N.C. Black Repertory Company and National Black Theatre Festival when WBTT made its festival debut two years ago. Fourteen years ago, the Black Rep staged Jacobs’ side-splitting one-man comedy “Aunt Rudele’s Family Reunion.” The play, which Jacobs wrote, also had a run at the NBTF. Besides offering high quality, award-winning entertainment, WBTT is a training and proving ground for gifted performers. The troupe’s alumni include Apphia Campbell, who has performed her one-woman show, “Black is the Color of My Voice,” in Shanghai and New York; Teresa Stanley, who has appeared on Broadway in “Rock of Ages” and “The Color Purple;” Alyssa White, an Apollo Theatre Amateur Night winner; and Crooner star Christopher Eisenberg, who made it to a top tier on “America’s Got Talent” in 2010 when he was just 13.

A graduate of Florida A&M University, Jacobs does it all, as an actor, singer, comedian, playwright, composer and director. His other productions include “Motown 60s Review,” “Magnificent Music of the 40s,” “Love Sung in the Key of Aretha,” “Jazz Hot Mamas” and “The Sam Cooke Story.” m

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Sojourner Truth, A Legacy Sandra Jones on stage as Sojourner Truth.

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frican-American history is replete with examples of strong women who spoke truth to power and shattered glass ceilings and busted through racial walls. Few are as famous as Sojourner Truth, who absconded from her master with her infant daughter in tow and later won a court case that led to her son being freed from slavery. It was the first time in U.S. history that a black woman had won a legal challenge against a white man. Truth would go on to fight the establishment, spending the remainder of her life battling for the abolishment of slavery and the establishment of women’s rights. In fact, her most famous speech, “Ain’t I a Woman?,” delivered in 1851 at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention, is still today one of the most famous feminist mantras.

Longtime Greensboro, N.C., resident Sandra Jones has been fascinated by Truth, whom she lovingly calls “Mother Truth,” ever since she first learned about her nearly three decades ago. Moved by Truth’s sheroism, Jones began piecing together a music-infused play about her life. Long a work in progress, “Sojourner Truth, A Legacy,” made its N.C. Black Repertory Company debut last year with Black Rep Artistic Director Mabel Robinson in the director’s chair.

On stage, Jones, well known in the Triad for her powerful church-honed pipes, becomes Mother Truth, effectively relaying Truth’s struggles, hopes and passion for the movement.

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Sojourner Truth, A Legacy & WEB Du Bois:

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The several songs that Jones – and the two musicians who provide accompaniment – performs provide exclamation points to the powerful, moving dialogue. (Some of the songs were written by Truth herself.)

One highlight is Jones’ deliverance of the entire “Ain’t I a Woman?” address, in which Truth cleverly denounces racism and sexism: “That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mudpuddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman?”

Jones is a native of Winterville, N.C. Although she earned a BFA in theater from East Carolina University, she proudly points out that her theater training began at N.C. A&T State University. Her many acting credits include starring roles in the Black Rep’s “Crowns” and a 1994 co-starring role alongside the late Dr. Maya Angelou in Langston Hughes’ “Tambourines To Glory.”

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She says Truth’s story is still very much relevant.

“Mother Truth reminds us of the power that's greater than any man that ‘pervades the universe!’

She reminds us ‘there is no place where God is not!’ Her story is a true inspiration,” Jones states on her website. m

Sandra Jones

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udiences from New York to England have had high praise for “W.E.B. Du Bois: A Man for All Times.” Now, the NBTF set will get a chance to see what all the hype is about.

Presented by New York’s Pulse Ensemble Theatre and written and directed by Alexa Kelly, the play spans nearly all of Du Bois’ 95 years of life.

Brian Richardsonis gripping as Du Bois, effectively portraying the writer and activist’s powerful life saga.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Du Bois was born in Great Barrington, Mass. in 1868, three years after the end of the Civil War. He died in Ghana in 1963. During the more than nine decades that he lived, he accomplished much, including becoming the first African-American to earn a doctorate from Harvard; co-founding the NAACP; leading the Niagara Movement for equal rights for blacks; authoring the groundbreaking collection of essays “The Soul of Black Folk;” and pushing for Pan Africanism. His private life has not been as well documented as his public work. Kelly's play provides insight into some of his personal highs and lows and shows the content of this giant of a man’s character.

W.E.B. Du Bois

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PULSE ENSEMBLE THEATRE

W.E.B. Du Bois: A Man for All Times

Brian Richardson portrays W.E.B. Du Bois.

The play recently finished a threevenue tour of Europe, where audiences showed their appreciation with standing ovations. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands was among the attendees, and she had nothing but good things to say about the play and the man it celebrates.

“A very wonderful play about an excellent and dedicated man,” the Queen said. “He deserves to be remembered.”

One reviewer said, “Brian Richardson gives Du Bois a fiery dignity that the real Du Bois would have approved.” The actor is classically trained and has displayed his acting chops in a number of other Pulse Ensemble productions, including “Macbeth,” “The Tempest,” “Night Must Fall” and “The Lower Depths.” Richardson was born in Belize and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, where began acting in 1981. He has been based in New York since 1989.

Kelly is a native of London. She crossed the pond to study at the University of North Carolina and remained in the United States to teach acting and to host a regional PBS show. She founded Pulse Ensemble Theatre in 1989 and has been its artistic director ever since. Kelly has directed 48 of Pulse’s main stage productions. m

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PHOTO BY AIDEN COLE

Kings of Harlem

Kings of Harlem Hanesbrands Theatre at the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts

Cast members (from left) Melvin Huffnagle, Delano Barbosa, Thaddeus Daniels, Lamar K. Cheston and Ade Otukoya.

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ings of Harlem” details the success of the “Harlem Rens” basketball team. Started in the late 1920s, the team would compile a more than 2,000-win record while playing games around the nation, including in the segregated South, where blacks, especially, were buoyed by their success.

PHOTO BY AIDEN COLE

IMAGES BY AIDEN COLE

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Layon Gray

The play is the latest from writer/director/producer extraordinaire Layon Gray and his NYC-based The Layon Gray American Theatre Company, which has as its motto, “History Deserves The Right To Live.”

Gray has a long track record of success when it comes to turning littleknown episodes of black history into engaging theater. His Tuskegee Airmen play “Black Angels Over Tuskegee,” a previous popular National Black Theatre Festival offering, is now in its fifth year of Off-Broadway success. “The Girls of Summer,” centered around the all black female baseball leagues that existed during segregation, has also been staged at the NBTF and has toured the country. At the most recent NBTF in 2013, Gray won rave reviews for “Searching for Willie Lynch,” which also has historical undertones.

The Harlem Rens (the team got its moniker because it played games at the Renaissance Casino Ballroom in Harlem) was founded A poster for the Off-Broadway hit five years before the better-known Harlem “Kings of Harlem.”

Globetrotters. The Rens truly blazed trails, playing games against white teams during a time when segregation wasn’t only the “I have been chosen to tell stories that erupt the soul and shed norm but the law. Despite the team’s success – a beacon of light on those people or things that have been forgotten,” the and world championships – players never won professional or social acceptance, Lousiana native said. “To be a conduit from the past to the present – I accept facts poignantly made in the play. The team did not receive formal recognition until that challenge.”

1963, when it was inducted into the Professional Basketball Hall of Fame. Now, 50 years later, the team is lifted up again through a play that critics say shows Layon Gray Like his past productions, the “Kings Of Harlem” has shined Off-Broadway. Actors at his very best. m Delano Barbosa, Lamar Cheston, Thaddeus Daniels, Melvin Huffnagle, Ade Otukoya and Jeantique Oriol bring it to life, as does Gray, who is also an accomplished actor.

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PHOTO BY CHRIS CHARLES

The Clothesline Muse Singer/actress Nnenna Freelon as Grandma Blu, “The Clothesline Muse.”

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he complex relationship between an old-school grandma and her “new-cool” granddaughter is told in “The Clothesline Muse,” an acclaimed and moving production that effortlessly blends original live music, emotive dance and visual art and projections.

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Nnenna Freelon imparts wisdom as “The Clothesline Muse.”

Grandma Blu is a Southern washerwoman longing to share her “clothesline legacy” with granddaughter Mary Mack, an emerging screenwriter who is more interested in being online than thinking about a clothesline.

Through their relationship, “The Clothesline Muse” celebrates AfricanAmerican culture, women’s history and the struggles of the Civil Rights and Labor movements.

Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon plays the role of Grandma Blu, bringing her unique and stirring vocals to the original music she created for the production. Freelon, who has called the Durham, N.C., area home for many years, was a working wife and mother when she began her professional singing career in 1992. Columbia Records released her self-titled debut to great acclaim. She has released close to a dozen discs since and has worked and/or toured with notables like Anita Baker, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles. Freelon co-wrote “The Clothesline Muse” with her daughter, Maya Freelon Asante, and Dr. Kariamu Welsh, Maya’s mother-in-law.

“This is my passion project. This is my baby,” Freelon recently told the publication TheaterJones. “I wanted to be on Broadway and perform in a play. The Lord spoke to me and said, ‘If you want to be in a play – be in a play. You have many plays in you.’”

Cloteal Horne plays the role of Mary Mack. Her long list of stage credits includes the Classic Repertory Company’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Romeo and Juliet” and the Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s “Othello.” Several talented dancers round out the cast.

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Dr. Welsh, a noted scholar who heads the Institute for African Dance Research and Performance at Temple University and the creator of the African dance technique Umfundalai (um-foon-duh-luh), conceived the theatrical production and choreographs the show’s poetic dances. Rebecca Holderness, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, directs.

“The Clothesline Muse” was made possible with funding by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. It began a national tour on Jan. 6, 2015, at the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, Fla. m

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The Old Settler PHOTO BY HENRY EDWARDS JR.

The Old Settle r Roc Living and Detria Ward in “The Old Settler.”

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ouston’s The Ensemble Theatre is bringing John Henry Redwood’s comedy “The Old Settler” to this year’s festival, and word is the Eileen J. Morrisdirected production is a must see.

Husband traveled North to find his girlfriend, Lou Bessie Preston, who escaped to New York from South Carolina to transform herself into a worldly social butterfly, but he soon finds himself falling for Bess, a development that creates tension between the sisters and exposes an old wound they must finally address.

Roc Living plays Husband; Detria Ward is Bess; Samantha West plays Lou Bessie Preston. The part of Quilly McGrath is played by Bebe Wilson.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ENSEMBLE THEATRE

Set in Harlem in the Spring of 1943, “Settler” is the tale of Elizabeth “Bess” Borny, a 55-year-old spinster (or an Old Settler, as unmarried women of a certain age were once known) who rents a room to a handsome young Southern gentleman, Husband Witherspoon. The charming Husband sweet talks Elizabeth, to her delight. Her sister, Quilly McGrath, though, doesn’t approve of this type of “carrying on.” Quilly, two years Bess’ junior, also lives in the apartment and constantly reminds her sister that Husband is young enough to be her son.

Detria Ward and Bebe Wilson (seated) as sisters Bess Borny and Quilly McGrath.

The Houston Chronicle’s Everett Evans gushed, “In The Ensemble Theatre’s engaging production, John Henry Redwood’s sure-footed comedy/drama does so many essential small things so well that it could easily outshine many a big-name work with inflated reputation.”

Broadway World’s David Clarke had this to say: “Direction by Eileen J. Morris guarantees that her cast creates believable characters … she excels in having her cast bring out the tender moments, playing on the hearts of the audiences.”

Morris is also an actress and educator. She worked closely with The Ensemble Theatre’s founder, the late George W. Hawkins. As The Ensemble Theatre’s artistic director, she has produced more than 78 productions, including four world premieres and 57 regional premieres.

Behind-the-scene players include scenic designer Janelle Flanagan, costume designer Macy Perrone and lighting designer Eric Marsh. m

“The Old Settler” made its stage debut in 1995. The following year, it was selected by the Russian Theatre Union to be performed in Sheleykovo, Russia and Moscow with both an American and Russian cast. In 2001, sisters Phylicia Rashad and Debbie Allen, who are Houston natives, produced, directed and appeared in a television version on PBS. The Ensemble Theatre staged the play last year. It was well-received by audiences and critics.

Eileen J. Morris

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Rachel P. Jackson is not an entertainer, but she is a superstar nevertheless.

The longtime Winston-Salem community advocate is considered one of the city’s matriarchs, and many cherish her wisdom, guidance and advice.

Jackson’s career ceased when she retired after many years from the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Library, but her work did not end. She is an elder and dedicated member of Lloyd Presbyterian Church, one of the South’s oldest black houses of worship. As an officer of the nonprofit Mothers for Justice, Jackson pushes for criminal justice reform and the end of the school-to-prison pipeline. Jackson is also a dedicated volunteer who has given her time to the N.C. Black Repertory Company, National Black Theatre Festival and many other organizations and causes.

Harlan Penn

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Rachel P. Jackson

Outstanding Achievement in Scenic Design

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Special Recognition Award

Harlan Penn has a connection to Winston-Salem: He earned an MFA in scenic design from UNC School of the Arts after receiving his undergraduate degree in theatrical design from Florida A&M. He quickly made a name for himself by designing sets for theater companies around the nation, including the St. Louis Black Repertory Company, the Birmingham Children’s Theatre and the Theater Alliance of Washington, D.C. “Jitney,” “Broke-ology,” “Chicago,” “Grease,” “Crowns,” “Seven Guitar” and “Blues for an Alabama Sky” are among his favorite credits. As a teacher at the Hillcrest High School Theatre Institute in Jamaica, Queens, Penn is inculcating a new generation of theater professionals. He is also the founder of the American-Caribbean Theatre Alliance (he is of Bahamian descent), which has a mission “to educate, promote, and produce live professional theatre with an emphasis on technical theatre for the people of Caribbean.”

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Warren Dell Leggettâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s long, successful career in finance at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (now Reynolds American) made him a well-known figure in Winston-Salem, but it was his big heart and selflessness that made him a community treasure.

Leggett (and his wife, Lois) are longtime NBTF and N.C. Black Rep volunteers and supporters. Their affiliation with the organizers goes back decades.

A member of the Alpha Pi Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Inc. and a longtime parishioner at United Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church, Leggett has also given his time (and money) to organizations like the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club, the N.C. Central University Alumni Association and Big Brothers Big Sisters.

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Millennium Fund

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CITY OF WINSTON-SALEM

Warren Dell Leggett

Marvtastic Philanthropy Award

PUBLICITY PHOTO

Theatre Arts & Humanitarian Award

Established in 2002, the Mayor Allen Joines poses with Millennium Fund has raised Annie Hamlin Johnson, the and invested more than mother of NBTF Founder Larry $50 million in projects and Leon Hamlin, at a 2011 marker efforts to stimulate economic dedication ceremony for her son. growth in Winston-Salem.

The Fund grew out of the Winston-Salem Alliance, a nonprofit started by local corporate bigwigs for job creation and economic development purposes.

Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines is president of the Winston-Salem Alliance and an enthusiastic NBTF supporter. The Millennium Fund is a longtime sponsor of the National Black Theatre Festival, which benefits the economic climate by pumping tens of millions into the local economy every two years.

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rom Orange, N.J.’s Diversity Youth Theater comes “The Movement,” an uplifting musical inspired by one of the most tumultuous chapters in American history.

PHOTO COURTESY OF DYT

The Movement The Movement Salem College’s Shirley Recital Hall Fri, Aug. 7

3 p.m.

Kathy D. Harrison is the writer/director and founder/ Fri, Aug. 7 8 p.m. managing artistic director of DYT. The Children’s Sat. Aug. 8 3 p.m.

Crusade against segregation in Birmingham, Ala. Sat. Aug. 8 inspired the production, in which a cast of contemporary 8 p.m. youths depict the courageous struggles of youngsters $27 of yesterday. Hundreds participated in the Children’s Crusade, some as young as 7, from May 2-5, 1963.

Many of them walked out of their classrooms to march to City Hall in downtown Birmingham to implore the A cast of young performers will present “The Movement.” mayor to end segregation. Their youth did not spare them from the tyrannical Bull Connor, Birmingham’s commissioner of public safety, who released the same State area and beyond. Young performers have made the Diversity Youth Theater dogs and water hoses he regularly used on adult civil rights protestors. More than their home away from home. Instruction and practice in acting, music, movement, 300 children were arrested. songwriting, playwriting and directing is offered for those from ages 7 to 23.

Connor’s heavy-handedness had a powerful effect. The treatment of the children, Harrison founded DYT in 2006 but has an artistic resume that stretches back much which was captured by television and still cameras, led many Americans, including, further. In addition to being a playwright, Harrison is a singer and songwriter who reportedly, President John F. Kennedy, to fully support the Civil Rights Movement. has served as a teaching artist and developed arts programs for schools, social

By May 10, 1963, Birmingham city officials had agreed to end segregation at lunch service agencies and nonprofits. In 2014, she started Performing Artists United, counters, drinking fountains, fitting rooms and other public facilities. in partnership with select DYT alumni, to develop original works for the purpose The powerful songs in “The Movement” are performed a cappella, making them of touring. In May, she was selected for a two-year Jubilation Foundation Artist especially soul-stirring. The production has been performed throughout the TriFellowship Grant. m

Theatre Longevity Award

The Carpetbag Theatre Inc. of Knoxville, Tenn. was founded in 1969 and has been dedicated to the production of new works ever since. It has a powerful mission – “to give artistic voice to the issues and dreams of people who have been silenced by racism, classism, sexism, ageism, homophobia and other forms of oppression” – and is celebrated by the community for presenting high-caliber productions that depict stories of dignity, strength and resilience.

Linda Parris-Bailey, who just won one of the very lucrative Doris Duke Artist Awards, serves as the theatre’s executive and artistic director. Her play “Speed Killed My Cousin,” which the CBT recently staged, won the 2014 New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theater Project Award. The production, the story of how a black female military vet copes with PTSD and MST (Military Sexual Trauma ), is now touring the nation, as is the CBT’s “Between a Ballad and a Blues,” which chronicles the life and work of black country music legend Howard “Louie Bluie” Armstrong.

Special Recognition Award

Karamu House of Cleveland, Ohio, the oldest AfricanAmerican theater company in the nation, is celebrating its 100th anniversary It was founded in August 1915 as the Dumas Drama Club. In 1923, it became the Gilpin Players, after actor Charles Gilpin paid a visit. It has been known as Karamu (a Swahili word meaning “a place of feasting and enjoyment in the center of the community”) since the 1940s.

Playwrighting legends like Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and Lorraine Hansberry have presented their works at Karamu House, and performers like Bill Cobbs and Robert Guillaume got their start there.

Today, there are three areas of focus: the Early Childhood Development Center, the Center of Arts and Education and the Karamu Performing Arts Theatre. Terrence Spivey is the longtime artistic director.

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Reynolds American is proud to be a sponsor of the 2015 National Black Theatre Festival, which brings creativity and innovation to the stage.

RAI and its companies are also proud to bring innovation to the tobacco industry as we transform tobacco.

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