Thought some might be interested in this play... --- Christiane D Leach <christiane.leach@gmail.com> wrote:
To: 40under40@yahoogroups.com From: "Christiane D Leach" <christiane.leach@gmail.com> Date: Mon, 09 Jan 2006 15:34:20 -0000 Subject: Saints & Poets Theater Presents World Premiere of Saffronia by Christiane D
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Press: http://newpittsburghcourier.com/?article=14104
SAINTS AND POETS THEATER Mark Whitehead, Executive & Artistic Director 3139 Dobson Street, 2nd Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15219 (412) 378-0331 mark@saintsandpoets.org
Saints & Poets Theater Presents World Premiere of Saffronia by Christiane D
Saints & Poets Theater will present the debut of Saffronia an original play by performance poet and Soma Mestizo vocalist Christiane D January 12-22, 2006 at The Kelly-Strayhhorn Theater, 5941 Penn Avenue, in Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood. Performances run Thursday s through Saturdays at 8:00 PM and Sunday s at 2:00 PM|. There will be two special matinee performances: on Martin Luther King Day, January 16 at 2:30 PM, and on Thursday, January 19 at 11:00 AM. Tickets are $17.00 general admission and $12.00 for students, seniors and starving artists. January 21st, there will be a silent auction of donated art. Tickets may be purchased by phone through ProArts Tickets at 412.394.3353, or online at http://www.proartstickets.org/.
This multi-media production began as a humble poem that Christiane D has performed with local jazz greats throughout Pittsburgh. At one particular performance at the Western Pennsylvania History Center, Stanley Denton (Executive Director of Multi-Cultural Education for Pittsburgh Public Schools), found her at her Soma Mestizo gig and urged her to turn the poem into a play; the world needed to know this black history, this American history.
This fictional story of Saffronia chronicles her life as a young child stolen from her slave mother, transformed in a New Orleans "House for Colored Girls", sold for high price at a Fancy Girl auction, bought by a young man, her master, as well as her lover. Before one shies away thinking they have heard everything about slavery, this story shines a new angle on the sexual aspect of slavery and excavates the somewhat hidden, often romanticized American history of the mulatto and quadroon population. There is an inherent sexual deviance that came with the system of slavery; that of not only breeding for profit but also relegating these women as sexual objects to be used by the master as he pleased, and satisfying his pleasure, sometimes meant death for these women.
The misunderstood history of the mulatto is a tainted history of America's political, legal and cultural struggle with miscegenation. For African-Americans, mulatto history is the white Great-Grandmother, no one talks about; the privileged house slave; the one who can pass, "light, bright, almost white". But it is also the history of the early pioneer white women, for many of these wives had to endure the hypocritical transgressions of their husbands, plantation owners, who led complete separate lives with slave women, in a society that secretly applauded their audacity to flirt with the boundaries of sociability. This freedom from convention was defended by a polite silence and magical denial by the society at large. In the words of Mary Chestnut, "The thing we can't name!"
Saffronia will feature the talents of Mark C. Thompson, Linda Haston, Jonathan Berry, Jeremy Rierson, Brian Barefoot, Megan Elk, Shanae Sharon, Theo Allyn, Jackson, and Shaun McCarthy in the title role. The multi-media production and design crew will feature Mark Whitehead as the director and sound designer, set design by Merissa Lombardo, lighting design by D. Scott Woods, costumes by Marissa Miskanin, choreography by Staycee Walters, original musical compositions by Richard Gartner (drummer for Soma Mestizo) and Jeremy Sment, and videography by Chris Ivey (of Hyperboymedia). Amy Watson will serve as stage manager.
Saffronia is supported by grants from The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust Fund of the Pittsburgh Foundation, The Multicultural Arts Initiative, Mount Ararat Baptist Church Community Tithe Ministries, The PA Partners in the Arts through ProArts, The Heinz Endowments Small Arts Initiative, and The Woodbury Fund.
Sponsors include The New Pittsburgh Courier, TheSoulPitt.com and WYEP-FM 91.3
For more information, please visit Saints & Poets Theater on line at http://www.saintsandpoets.org/ and www.christianed.us