Acclaimed actress Lynn Whitfield is headlining the Prince George’s Film Festival’s closing ceremony at MGM National Harbor.

In this article, she reflects on her career from her childhood influences to her college years at Howard University, her early experiences in the D.C. Black Repertory Company, and her breakthrough stage performance with Alfre Woodard in “for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf.”

Read it here.

Jeanine Tesori, a lecturer of musical theater composition at Yale’s Department of Music, has written four Tony-nominated Broadway scores — “Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center,” “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” “Caroline” and “Shrek the Musical” — in addition to two Tony-winning scores — “Fun Home” and, most recently, “Kimberly Akimbo,” a musical about a lonely teenage girl who suffers from a condition that gives her the appearance of an elderly woman.

As a teacher, Tesori encourages her students to embrace their inherited musical gifts, a lesson inspired by the oral music traditions of folk music. On the first day of classes, Tesori always poses a question to her students: “Who are you bringing into the room with you?”

“To Natalie Brown ’25 and many other students, Tesori is a “fairy godmother” of sorts. Brown, who is a singer-songwriter in addition to being a full-time student, first encountered Tesori while taking “Advanced Composition for Musical Theater.”

When Brown wrote an adaptation of Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide,” Tesori helped Brown contact the estate of Shange and put her in touch with WME, Brown’s current agency.”

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Tony-award winning “Passing Strange” is a rock musical that explores the journey of Youth, the main character, as he runs from his upbringing in a Black, middle-class family in Los Angeles to Europe in search of his true self, delving into the tension between conservative Black middle-class values and the desire for authenticity and self-expression, highlighting the ridicule and struggle faced by those who don’t conform.

In this article, the play’s director, Thomas W. Jones II, explains his thoughts on the play’s themes, and the role of music as a source of revelation and salvation, providing a connection to one’s truth.

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Jordan Ealey and Philip V. McHarris bring their scholarly expertise in Black creativity and Black geographies to Rochester.

More information here.

GAZETTE: Tell me about the book you just edited, which is due out in September.

PERRY: I was fortunate to be asked by Hachette and the Ntozake Shange estate to edit a collection of her unpublished writing. Even though Shange was so prolific, and published so much, there was still this beautiful body of material the world hadn’t seen yet.

In so many ways she followed [“A Raisin in the Sun” playwright] Lorraine Hansberry in opening doors for Black women in American theater. That felt like a wonderful connection. I also remember being in Cambridge as a kid, and my mother would always perform the Lady in Green character from [Shange’s 1976 play] “for colored girls [who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf]” at parties and the like.

More information here.

The Wisconsin Book Festival is soon approaching and Madison Public Library in partnership with Madison Public Library Foundation is getting ready for the Oct. 19-22 dates by hosting exciting events to lead into the literary celebration.

For poetry and Black literature fans alike, an upcoming online event centering Ntozake Shange’s new posthumous collection called “Sing A Black Girl’s Song” will be offered free to the public on Sept. 20, 7 p.m., on Crowdcast.

The collection included unpublished poems, essays, and plays that explore experiences both as a Black woman in America, and as a human in the grand scheme of existence. Shange uses her voice and writings as a way to share an often underrepresented perspective while providing space for fellow Black women to be seen and undertake the journey of healing.

For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy, by Ryan Calais Cameron
Nominated for best new play at the 2023 Olivier Awards. Father figures and fashion tips. Lost loves and jollof rice. African empires and illicit sex. Good days and bad days. Six young Black men meet for group therapy, and let their hearts—and imaginations—run wild. Inspired by Ntozake Shange’s essential work for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy is a profound and playful work of drama.

Full list here.