Amiri Baraka News

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, playwright, critic, activist, and one of the most prominent and controversial African American voices in the world of American letters, Amiri Baraka, has passed away after weeks of failing health. He was 79. BroadwayWorld remembers the playwright below.

The New York Times reports today, January 9, 2014, playwright, critic, activist, and one of the most prominent and controversial African American voices in the world of American letters, Amiri Baraka, has passed away after weeks of failing health. He was 79.

The Breath Courses Through Us (2013) is a new documentary film about the early 1960s avant-garde jazz group, the New York Art Quartet.

Woodie King Jr's New Federal Theatre kicks off its 44th season with 'The Ed Bullins Project' - two revivals from his 'Twentieth Century Cycle of Plays' - In The Wine Time and The Fabulous Miss Marie. Bullins, winner of the prestigious NY Drama Critics' Circle Award and OBIE Award for The Taking of Miss Janie, has greatly influenced American theatre, especially Black theatre. His work, characterized by disdain for ineffective political rhetoric as a substitute for action, most often examines the lives of Black people in the inner city. In 1968, Clive Barnes, writing in the New York Times called Bullins 'a welcome addition to the ranks of New York playwrights.' Four years later, Barnes added 'Bullins writes the way Charlie Parker played: It is all so easy and effortless. It sounds improvised, and yet it doesn't sound improvised, simply because it is the improvisation of formality.' Today, Bullins is regarded as a seminal force in the American theater.

Angelina Fiordellisi, Founding Artistic Director of Cherry Lane Theatre, announces the following productions for the company's 2013-14 season:

Zam Not Spam Productions, as part of the 17th annual New York International Fringe Festival, presents the NYC premiere production of Laura Zam's MARRIED SEX, directed by Shirley Serotsky. MARRIED SEX will play a special engagement at the Fringe Venue #9 Jimmy's No. 43 (43 East 7th Street, NYC). Performances begin today, Saturday, August 10 (3:45 pm) and continue through Thursday, August 22 (7:00 pm).

Two days before the beginning of summer, the Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District (LPCCD) announces the return of the highly reveredLincoln Park Music Festival. The 8th annual highly anticipated event consistently attracts a growing number of attendees and last year the numbers exceeded 40,000 people over what was then a three-day event.

Zam Not Spam Productions, as part of the 17th annual New York International Fringe Festival, is pleased to announce the NYC premiere production of Laura Zam's MARRIED SEX, directed by Shirley Serotsky. MARRIED SEX will play a special engagement at the Fringe Venue #9 Jimmy's No. 43 (43 East 7th Street, NYC). Performances begin Saturday, August 10 (3:45 pm) and continue through Thursday, August 22 (7:00 pm). Press are invited to all performances.

MSM [men seeking men] is a dance theatre piece inspired by transcripts of online conversations between men who seek other men. Set inside a world of electronic beats where music is the omnipotent power, lemonTree's Artistic Producer, Indrit Kasapi directs a piece inspired by his own online encounters. He invites DJ Scooter (of New York & Toronto Cub Camp party fame) to spin live at each performance. Through movement, the piece deconstructs online male personas and their personal exchanges with other men.

Two days before the beginning of summer, the Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District (LPCCD) announces the return of the highly reveredLincoln Park Music Festival. The 8th annual highly anticipated event consistently attracts a growing number of attendees and last year the numbers exceeded 40,000 people over what was then a three-day event.

A special message from Sonny Rollins, a presentation by poet Amiri Baraka, and performances by harpist Edmar Castañeda, singer/actress Paulette Dozier with pianist Danny Mixon, and the Zach Brock Trio will highlight the 2013 JJA Jazz Awards Party at the Blue Note Jazz Club today, June 19, 4 to 6PM, where the Jazz Journalists Association will celebrate its 25th birthday with Awards for excellence in jazz media. This event is open to the public; winners and nominees are especially invited. Make reservations at JJA Jazz Awards.

A special message from Sonny Rollins, a presentation by poet Amiri Baraka, and performances by harpist Edmar Castañeda, singer/actress Paulette Dozier with pianist Danny Mixon, and the Zach Brock Trio will highlight the 2013 JJA Jazz Awards Party at the Blue Note Jazz Club on Wednesday, June 19, 4 to 6PM, where the Jazz Journalists Association will celebrate its 25th birthday with Awards for excellence in jazz media.

MSM [men seeking men] is a dance theatre piece inspired by transcripts of online conversations between men who seek other men. Set inside a world of electronic beats where music is the omnipotent power, lemonTree's Artistic Producer, Indrit Kasapi directs a piece inspired by his own online encounters. He invites DJ Scooter (of New York & Toronto Cub Camp party fame) to spin live at each performance. Through movement, the piece deconstructs online male personas and their personal exchanges with other men.

I was introduced to American griot, educator, activist, and poet Sekou Sundiata (1948-2007) on Saturday April 27, 2013 at The Apollo Theater's TONGUES OF FIRE CHOIR performance, a part of the Blink Your Eyes: Sekou Sundiata Revisited series.

The Whitney Museum in New York has commissioned a new work by playwright Thomas Bradshaw for the Blues For Smoke Exhibition Live Performances to premiere today, April 26 through April 28, at the Whitney.

Emerson Theatre Collaborative (ETC) announces the production of The Protest of Pharaoh's Daughter running from May 3 - May 11 at First United Methodist Church, 23 Willow St, Mystic, CT. General Admission: $25, Seniors and Students $20. For more information and to purchase tickets please go to www.emersontheatercollaborative.org, Ticket Leap or call (860) 705-9711.

The Whitney Museum in New York has commissioned a new work by playwright Thomas Bradshaw for the Blues For Smoke Exhibition Live Performances to premiere April 26-28, at the Whitney. Blues for Smoke is an interdisciplinary exhibition that explores a wide range of contemporary art through the lens of the blues and blues aesthetics. Turning to the blues not simply as a musical category but as a field of artistic sensibilities and cultural idioms. Iconoclastic playwright Thomas Bradshaw has emerged as one of the most provocative and original voices in contemporary theater. His most recent play, Job, was produced by the Flea Theater in Fall 2012 and remounted this past January.

The Company Members of Labyrinth Theater Company, the award-winning, downtown ensemble, has announced its NEWYORKNEWYORK Festival, a week-long festival of free readings and discussions curated around different New York themes - iconic playwrights, vibrant cultures, urban ideals, and more - which will culminate in a marathon weekend of forty-eight straight hours of round-the-clock theater at the Bank Street Theatre (155 Bank Street).

The National Black Touring Circuit kicked off the Black History Month Play Festival 2013 with a special press reception in Harlem on Saturday, February 2 that featured a discussion by acclaimed poet and author Amiri Baraka on "The Meaning of Black History" and a performance by Timothy Simonson portraying Harlem legend Adam Clayton Powell from the play Adam.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Rocco Landesman announced today that Cygnet Theatre is one of 832 non-profit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. Cygnet Theatre is recommended for a $10,000 grant to support Gem of the Ocean, the first play of the August Wilson Cycle Plays. The grant also helps support outreach activities including post show forums and a presentation of Walking in the Shadows of August Wilson by Antonio T.J. Johnson. In total, nine San Diego non-profits received grants in this latest round of funding totaling $213,000.