#BlackArtsMatter
The Terrebonne plantation is in upheaval - the Master has died. His naïve young nephew tries to hold things together, but the evil neighbor is out to buy the land. Meanwhile, the slaves chat and gossip, and the beautiful, young ward of the estate has a secret that will change everything. Based on a controversial classic, this Obie Award winning play is part period satire and part meta-theatrical middle finger - it’s a provocative and moving challenge to the racial climate of "the land of the free" in both the antebellum South and today.
At the Nile’s edge, the enslaved Nubian princess, Aida, becomes romantically entangled with the Egyptian captain, Radames, who is betrothed to the Pharaoh’s daughter, Amneris. As their forbidden love grows deeper, Aida is forced to find balance between her heart’s yearning for Radames, and her responsibility to lead her people. Based on the opera by Giuseppe Verdi, Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida is a timeless love story, featuring an award-winning pop/rock score from the seasoned pop duo who brought musical life to Disney’s The Lion King. Rousing rock numbers and heart-wrenching ballads bring the ill-fated lovers into a new era.
DBDT kicks off the season with the 13th Annual DanceAfrica series October 5-6, 2018, at the Moody Performance Hall. Friday and Saturday evening performances feature guest artist Step Afrika! The international touring company jubilantly links the historic tradition between South African dance and stepping, a ritual for African American fraternities and sororities across America. The day-long FREE DanceAfrica Marketplace will be held Saturday, October 6, 2018, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. at Annette Strauss Square with mainstage performances, fun, food, vendors, and games for the entire family.
In the midst of playing a boxer battling racism in The Royale for Kitchen Dog Theater, Jamal Gibran Sterling went to auditions for Othello and secured the lead in the Shakespeare Dallas production.
"Royale had been the biggest challenge I'd ever had," Sterling says on the phone of the role that won him best acting honors in the Dallas-Fort Worth Theater Critics Forum Awards announced on Sept. 11. "Now this is the biggest challenge I've ever had. It's a monster."
Shakespeare Dallas presents Othello, Shakespeare's tragedy about the general who is undone by jealousy, at Samuell-Grand Amphitheater Sept. 19-29 and at Addison Circle Park in Addison Oct. 10-14.
Darren Matthews, the conflicted hero of Bluebird, Bluebird, is a proud, black Texas Ranger, rarely seen without his Stetson, boots and badge. He left the state for a little while, up North for a stint at law school in Chicago. But East Texas called him back. He "knew what it meant to stand on the land where your forefathers had forged your future out of dirt."
Attica Locke can relate. After all, Darren is her creation. Bluebird, Bluebird(Little, Brown, $26), finds the Ranger digging into multiple crimes soaked in the blood of the South's brambled racial past. Locke, like Darren, knows all about that past. She also knows that East Texas, for all its sins and ghosts, will always be home.
DALLAS, September 7, 2018 – Jonnetta Patton, mom of music superstar, Usher, will receive the Motivated Mom of the Year Award at the national Motivated Moms Retreat, which will be held Friday, September 14, 2018 – Sunday, September 16, 2018 at the Hilton Dallas-Rockwall, on 2055 Summer Lee Drive, Rockwall, TX 75032. Patton will specifically be honored during the Cocktails and Converse Dress Soiree on Saturday night, September 15, 2018 beginning at 7 p.m. As the name suggests, the dress for the event is cocktail attire with converse tennis shoes. The Converse and Cocktail Dress event is sponsored by Prudential. Tickets for the retreat and/or the Converse and Cocktails Soiree may be purchased at www.themotivatedmomretreat.com.
