Perseverance Announces PEOPLE POWER Virtual Concert

Perseverance Theatre is producing the second in a series of concerts featuring performers throughout the state of Alaska. Held entirely virtually, audiences can tune in to enjoy music and connect with each other from the comfort and safety of their own homes.

The lineup for the Perseverance People Power Concert includes Juneau-based singer songwriter Annie Bartholomew and Anchorage-based singer songwriter Witty Youngman who will both be sharing original music. Perseverance Theatre's Artistic Director Leslie Ishii will host the event. The concert is scheduled to take place on May 7 at 7 p.m. and is ticketed using pay-as-you-can pricing so that the performance is available to all.

"I am so proud that during the pandemic our artists have said, "Yes," and concertized to bring us all through the challenging times of this pandemic," said Ishii. "It continues to be our honor and pleasure to lift up the extraordinary talent of Alaska! I am so excited for us all to enjoy the original works and unique voices of artists-- Witty Youngman and Annie Bartholomew."

Annie Bartholomew is an Alaskan songwriter and audio storyteller from Juneau. She is the recipient of a 2020 Rasmuson Project Award to record her album of songs inspired by narratives of women during the Klondike Gold Rush. Annie plays traditional folk guitar and clawhammer banjo, and her collaborative music ensembles can be heard at the Alaska Folk Festival every April. She was the March 2019 Artist-in-Residence through the Yukon Arts Centre's Jenni House Residency in Whitehorse and was awarded the Alaska Historical Society's Emerging Professional/Student travel scholarship to present her work at their 2019 conference in Kodiak. Annie is working with Theater Alaska to develop her historical songwriting project, Sisters of White Chapel, into a stage show and bring this history to new audiences.

Born and raised in Arizona, Witty Youngman moved to Alaska in 2014 after graduating college in Kansas. She's been playing guitar since she was 14 and singing since she was a kid in her grandma's shadow. She is a guitarist and vocalist with a blues, jazz, reggae, and soul background.

"The music that I write and perform is music that moves the listener to another understanding-complex fingerpicking guitar and lyrics grounded in poetry are what I like listening to, so I explore it through different subjects," Witty described. "My originals tell a story of the person I have been working toward or against-I do not focus only on good or bad but growth through all I've experienced."

Annie commented, "I think virtual concerts are special because you get to see folks in their homes. There's no bar noise to distract in the background. They can be super intimate and show a side of artists rarely experienced in a live venue."

The Perseverance People Power Concert will live-stream on Friday, May 7 at 7 p.m. Tickets are available by visiting ptalaska.org/people-power-2/.

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