Word for Word's Off the Page Staged Reading Series Concludes With RAYMOND'S RUN and BLUES AIN'T NO MOCKIN BIRD Next Month

Word for Word's Off the Page Staged Reading Series 2022 concludes on January 23, 2023 (postponed from 2022) with two stories by Toni Cade Bambara Raymond's Run and Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird, directed by Edris Cooper- Anifowoshe. The two stories from Bambara's beloved 1972 collection, Gorilla My Love, feature the sassy and tough young Hazel - known to family and friends as Squeaky - as she defends her title as the fastest runner in her Harlem neighborhood, takes care of her big brother Raymond, and rails against the injustices of childhood. Toni Cade Bambara is known for her ability to laugh and imbue laughter into her stories which came from her strong conviction and belief in family and community. Her rage came from the wrongs she saw in the treatment of children, the elderly, and the oppressed black community.

Stories that Word for Word theatrically presents are selected from Off the Page staged readings. This series is the public's first look at pieces Word for Word is considering for upcoming productions.

Toni Cade Bambara (author) (March 25, 1939 - December 9, 1995), born Miltona Mirkin Cade, lived the first ten years of her life in Harlem. She was a writer, activist, feminist, and filmmaker. In 1982, in a taped interview with Kay Bonetti, Bambara reflected on her work: "When I look back at my work with any little distance the two characteristics that jump out at me are one, the tremendous capacity for laughter, but also a tremendous capacity for rage."

Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe (director) is an accomplished actor, director and writer working in the Bay Area for almost 40 years. The founding artistic director of the award-winning ensemble Black Artists Contemporary Cultural Experience (BACCE), she has directed and produced 10 critically acclaimed productions for the company. She has acted and directed with the San Francisco Mime Troupe. She has directed at Trinity Rep, Capitol Rep, Southern Rep, Carpetbag Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, WaterTower Theatre, Curious Theater, SF Playhouse, Magic Theatre, TheatreWorks, and Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, receiving accolades from Dallas' Rabin Awards and Backstage's Dean Goodman Award for Excellence. Edris has appeared as an actor in productions throughout California, nationally, and internationally in Ibadan, Nigeria. She was a core member of Rhodessa Jones' Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women for eleven years. Her plays Adventures of A Black Girl In Search of Academic Clarity and Inclusion and There are Women Waiting are published in the anthologies solo/black/woman and Black Medea, respectively. She is a member of the Goddard College faculty and a Core Company member of Word for Word.
This public staged reading of Bambara's short stories invites audiences to see the steps of the process of bringing a work from the page to the stage in the Word for Word style. After the reading, the audience is encouraged to engage in a conversation with the company, giving valuable feedback as they decide on the next steps of a work's development.