Langston Hughes News

On the heels of his two recent sold out local concerts (Pocket Theater, Rendezvous) Do Peterson (pronounced 'dew') is going BIG. He hosts his 2015 summer concert and upcoming album release celebration at Seattle's historic Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute.

Dozens of artists, former colleagues, and community members came out to celebrate the work of former Mercer County Community College (MCCC) professors Mel Leipzig and the late Lou Draper during “Trenton Makes: Art and Artists in Trenton,” held on Father's Day, June 21, at MCCC's Trenton Campus. Scroll down for photos!

Twenty students will gather at the Alliance Theatre next week to begin the 14th annual Palefsky Collision Project. This diverse group of teenagers from around the metro Atlanta area will explore a classic text under the guidance of a professional playwright. The provocative 1955 play Inherit the Wind will serve as the source text that will inspire a new performance piece developed by the students. Under the guidance of the Alliance Theatre's Mellon Playwright in Residence, Pearl Cleage, and Director Patrick McColery, students will explore themes of intellectual freedom, tolerance, and the role of religion and science on education, and will examine how these themes are manifested in modern times.

The 15th anniversary season of The Classical Theatre of Harlem (CTH) (Ty Jones, Producing Artistic Director; David Roberts, Managing Director) continues with CTH's free, summer, uptown production of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, presented in partnership with City Parks Foundation's SummerStage festival. The Carl Cofield-directed production, which stars New York theater and Broadway veteran Ron Cephas Jones, will transform the Richard Rodgers Amphitheater in Marcus Garvey Park into an enchanted Caribbean island where the magic takes flight, with an elaborate aerial design elements planned. The third annual CTH Under the Stars presentation holds previews on Friday, July 3, and Saturday, July 4. Performances, which are free and open to the public, run from July 5 through 26.

Somewhere in my prodigious vinyl collection there is at least one album by the self-proclaimed 'High Priestess of Soul,' Nina Simone; and having just seen SIMPLY SIMONE: The Music of Nina Simone, at the Hattiloo Theatre, I am taking a deep breath and planning to thumb through my myriad of records in order to seek it out. Nina Simone never quite 'caught on' with mainstream audiences; the legendary Aretha Franklin, who, like Simone, emerged from a gospel background and was a gifted pianist, was much more successful in that respect. Simone was too idiosyncratic a performer to be pigeonholed or labeled. She scoffed at being called a blues singer or a jazz singer; her early classical training, encouraged by a white pianist and patron (who collected money from the people in the town and helped to enroll at Juilliard), always informed her music. Moreover, the songs she chose to interpret, in addition to her own, were an eclectic repertoire: Everything from Gershwin to the Beatles. Underappreciated in her own country, and disillusioned by the stagnation of the Civil Rights Movement after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., she found her audience abroad, particularly in France; she turned her back on disco (which she disdainfully dismissed) and was selective and intelligent in the music she chose to interpret, which left no room for her on the popularity bandwagon.

Mercer County Community College's (MCCC) will celebrate the work of two of its most renowned artists and instructors during “Trenton Makes: Art and Artists in Trenton.” The reception will be held Sunday, June 21, from 3 to 5 p.m. in James Kerney Hall on MCCC's Trenton Campus, 102 North Broad Street.

Tennessee Shakespeare Company (TSC), the Mid-South's professional classical theatre, in partnership with the University of Memphis' Department of Theatre & Dance presents a magical, family-friendly, Louisiana bayou-inspired production of A Midsummer Night's Dream on the U of M's Mainstage from tonight, June 4-21.

Tennessee Shakespeare Company (TSC), the Mid-South's professional classical theatre, in partnership with the University of Memphis' Department of Theatre & Dance presents a magical, family-friendly, Louisiana bayou-inspired production of A Midsummer Night's Dream on the U of M's Mainstage from June 4-21.

Parthenia, New York's premiere viol consort, will present The Art of Persuasion - The Power of Music and Poetry , a lecture/recital and concert today, May 2, including a 4:00 PM lecture/recital and 7:00 PM concert at The Church of Saint Luke in the Fields, 487 Hudson Street in Manhattan. This is the third event of The Art of Persuasion, their 2014-15 concert series. Between performances, Parthenia will offer a walking tour of Greenwich Village, including a stop for a neighborhood dinner. A list of dining establishments will be provided to concert goers.

Charged with momentum from the launch of BCMF Spring, the festival's first spring series of two concerts, the 32nd season of Long Island's longest-running classical music festival presents 11 concerts July 29 - August 23, 2015.

The American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theater School Institute for Advanced Theater Training, presents the last two productions of its season, William Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Anya Safir, and Paula Vogel's Desdemona: A Play About a Handkerchief, directed by Melia Bensussen.

Woodie King Jr's New Federal Theatre will continue its 46th season dedicated to Amira Baraka with the world premiere of his final play, The Most Dangerous Man In America (W. E. B. Du Bois).  Performances will begin May 28th, with opening night set for June 11th at the Castillo Theater (543 West 42nd Street). This limited Off-Broadway engagement, directed by Woodie King Jr., will continue through June 28th only.  

Parthenia, New York's premiere viol consort, will present The Art of Persuasion - The Power of Music and Poetry , a lecture/recital and concert on Saturday, May 2, including a 4:00 PM lecture/recital and 7:00 PM concert at The Church of Saint Luke in the Fields, 487 Hudson Street in Manhattan. This is the third event of The Art of Persuasion, their 2014-15 concert series. Between performances, Parthenia will offer a walking tour of Greenwich Village, including a stop for a neighborhood dinner. A list of dining establishments will be provided to concert goers.

The Harold Clurman Poetry Reading Series, a program of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, has announced that Sonia Sanchez and Darian Dauchan will read/perform their respective poetry tonight, April 21 at 5pm.

President Obama celebrated National Poetry Month in the State Dining Room at the White House, hailing the art for its contributions to the world.

The Harold Clurman Poetry Reading Series, a program of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, has announced that Sonia Sanchez and Darian Dauchan will read/perform their respective poetry on Tuesday, April 21 at 5pm.

Theater and Harlem luminaries converged on the Apollo Theater Soundstage on Monday to mark the 15th anniversary of The Classical Theatre of Harlem (CTH) (Ty Jones, Producing Artistic Director; David Roberts, Managing Director). Hosted by actor Leslie Odom, Jr. (Hamilton, Law & Order: SVU, Person of Interest andSmash), CTH's 15th Anniversary Celebration and Benefit Concert featured the New York premiere of songs from the eagerly anticipated off-Broadway musical Witness Ugandaby Matt Gould and Griffin Matthews. Scroll down for photos!

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust announces the Pittsburgh premiere of Raisin' Cane: A Harlem Renaissance Odyssey, starring Jasmine Guy and The Avery Sharpe Trio, which will be performed tonight, April 16, 2015, at 7:30 p.m., at the Byham Theater, 101 Sixth Street, Pittsburgh's Cultural District. This event is part of the Cohen & Grigsby Trust Presents series, presented by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. The creative concept for this production was inspired by the classic 1923 Jean Toomer novel 'Cane' and works by the musicians, composers, poets and actors of the Harlem Renaissance. The Arizona Daily Star said, 'Cane is a sweet salute to Harlem's glory days' and the Dayton Daily News wrote the performance was 'Lively, informative, motivating and entertaining...'

This season's mainstage production, John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's A Whore, directed by Red Bull Artistic Director Jesse Berger, will begin a limited Off-Broadway engagement tonight, Tuesday April 14th at The Duke on 42nd Street. Opening Night is set for Sunday April 26th. Performances continue through May 16th.