Sugi Dakks, Siaara Freeman, Royce Hall and More Featured in NOT A MOMENT, BUT A MOVEMENT Episode 2

Center Theatre Group, The Fire This Time Festival and Watts Village Theater Company have announced the second episode of Not a Moment, But a Movement, a series of events that amplify and center Black artists. Directed by Tyrone Davis and Bruce A. Lemon Jr and introduced by Ron Cephas Jones, the second episode, titled "Black Nourishment" features a local musician and the work of spoken word artists and muralists from throughout the United States in a program that premieres on demand beginning April 15 at 5 pm Pacific, and available through June 15, 2021. The video will be free to Center Theatre Group subscribers and supporters and $10 for all others - except April 15 through April 30, 2021, when the event will be offered free to the public in in honor of National Poetry Month. Not a Moment, But a Movement "Black Nourishment" will be available at www.CTGLA.org/NotAMoment.

Presented in conjunction with Watts Village Theater Company and The Fire This Time Festival, Not a Moment, But a Movement events feature the work of multiple artists from varied disciplines. Each of the artists offers their own distinct voice which blends with, builds upon and sometimes clashes up against the other voices to create a unique piece that centers conversations that have long been held to the periphery. Each event is paired with a panel discussion to create a uniquely comprehensive cultural experience. The panel for this second episode of Not a Moment, But a Movement titled "Sustaining the Movement: Elevating Black Artists," will be held on April 15 at 4 pm and available at www.YouTube.com/CTGLA. Panelists include Zhailon Levingston (Broadway Advocacy Coalition), Jamila Webb (First Fifteen), and Courtney Peck (Cast Black Talent) and moderator Bruce A. Lemon, Jr (Watts Village Theater).

"Drawing on spoken word artists from Atlanta, Cleveland, Oakland and Los Angeles, this second episode of Not a Moment, But a Movement titled, Black Nourishment explores what it means to be nourished as a Black person in America," said Center Theatre Group Associate Artistic Director Tyrone Davis. "

"There are so many stories to tell and even more ways to tell them," said Watts Village Theater Company Co-Artistic Director Bruce A. Lemon Jr. "together with the previous episode, this continues the conversation we are having as a community and connects the many ways we can do it in theatre."

Three Los Angeles-based spoken word artists, Tru Sound, Yazmin Monet Watkins and Alyesha Wise, perform on the stage of the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Other spoken word artists include Atlanta's Royce Hall and Jali Ajani Nafula; Cleveland's Siaara Freeman and Chris Webb; and Oakland's Prentice Powell and Shawn William - each performing in front of a mural from their own hometown including works by Donald Black Jr, Andre "Natty Rebel" Jones, Brandan "BMike" Odums, Sachi Rome and Keli Walker. The second episode of Not a Moment, But a Movement also features the jazz-tinged hip-hop music of LA-based Sugi Dakks performing with Jarren Heidelberg (drums), Josh Howard (bass), Aaron Mastin (keys) and Terall Whitehead (guitar).