NUBIAN KNIGHTS NETWORK: Thursday, October 22, 2009

QUOTATIONS OF "BLACK"

"Whenever I use BLACK it relates to some history of Africans in that particular place. It’s the idea of the color BLACK as a metaphor, or as a representation of African-Americans. It’s the notion of BLACK- BLACKNESS - and all its other meanings in relation to the history of race..."

- Fred Wilson

"Most of my fortitude to continue doing the work comes from the moral outrage I feel about the injustices that Black people endure disproportionately daily."

- N. Abdul-Wakil

"In the end, what matters is not skin shade but pan-African consciousness. Loving your complexion, your nose, lips, hair length and texture, no matter what the politics or trends decide, and simply be. That's the problem with us (African folks). We're still learning how to love ourselves. So used to glorifying others and putting others first..."

- Dredlocks Tree

Thursday, October 22, 2009

"Passing Ceremonies" at Nuyorican Poets Cafe
A Play About Black SGL Love
November 5th - 21st, 2009 ONLY! (NYC)

Juneteenth Legacy Theater
Lorna Littleway Co-Founder
and
Sugar Valley Theatricals
present

Passing Ceremonies

by Steve Willis
Directed by Sue Lawless**

Starring
Bryan Webster*
& James Edward Becton, III*
With Armand Valdes & Tom Martin

A story about same gender loving Black love, set in the hereafter, where poets Bruce Nugent and Essex Hemphill meet. Backstage.com calls it a "promising new play" with "sharp characterization." "Bryan Webster's glistening performance... mixes humor, intelligence, perception, and grace."

In a cafe somewhere between "earth life and paradise" poet, essayist and activist Essex Hemphill (1957-1995) meets Harlem Renaissance writer and visual artist Richard Bruce Nugent (1906-1987) and together they try to figure out if they really belong "on the other side". Essex is anxious to finish a project he was working on shortly before his death: a book on the lives of older black gay men. He wants to interview Bruce, but Br

uce insists that it is now impossible for Essex to complete the book. Throughout the play, the two spar, lament, Hemphill share stories about their passions, and challenge those left behind to "pick up [their] weapons." Juneteenth Legacy Theater & Sugar Valley Theatricals present Steve Willis' Passing Ceremonies, a poetic, fantastical tribute to these two icons of African American, Same Gender Loving literature.

9 Performances Only
November 5th-21st, 2009
Thursdays-Saturdays
7:00PM

TICKETS ON SALE NOW
for
Passing Ceremonies
At the Nuyorican Poets Cafe
236 East 3rd Street
(between Avenues B & C)

Reservations: 212-780-9386 or nuyorican.org

These performances of
Passing Ceremonies
are generously funded by
The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs
and
The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council

*members AEA **member SDC