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The Oakland thespian: an interview wit’ Anita Woodley
August 22, 2012
Anita Woodley is one of the hidden treasures of Oakland’s drama community. Though she no longer lives in Oakland, Oakland very much lives in her. She has recently jumped onto the international scene with her two popular one woman plays, “Mama Juggs” and “The Men in Me.”
Cynthia McKinney: The ‘N’ word, from the Champs Elysée to Avenue of the Americas
June 13, 2012
The latest Hollywood brouhaha over Gwyneth Paltrow’s decision to tweet the caption “ni**as in Paris for real” to accompany a picture of her with friends Jay-Z and Beyoncé while in Paris doesn’t compare to the new evidence of “fraud upon the court” that has emerged in a largely unnoticed civil rights case that very well should be reopened after being unfairly dismissed six years ago.
The San Francisco Black Film Festival is back!
June 9, 2012
Summertime in the Bay Area is nothing without all of the music, food and film festivals. If you missed the Oakland International Film Festival, there is still time for you to catch the Bay’s biggest Black film festival, the San Francisco Black Film Festival, which runs June 15-17 at a number of theaters around San Francisco. This year Leo Sullivan will be in attendance. He is one of the cartoon visionaries who created Fat Albert and Looney Tunes. Digital Underground will also be a part of this year’s festivities, as well as Black Panther Party co-founder and chairman Bobby Seale.
Drama, drama, drama: an interview with thespian Rie Shontel
July 18, 2009
Drama has been a valuable art form to the Black experience in Amerikkka since before slavery. It was one of the ways that we maintained our history, although huge segments of the population couldn’t read or aren’t reading. I have only been to a few theatrical plays, but I love cinema, with some of the best dramatized movies to me being “dead presidents,” “Brown Sugar” and “Juice.”
Saturday matinee benefit for the Bay View: ‘for colored girls …’
February 24, 2009
Saturday, Feb. 28, the Black Repertory Theatre generously set aside the matinee performance of “for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf” as a benefit for the Bay View newspaper. Playwright Ntozake Shange was there in person. The performance sold out! Thanks, everybody!