Maya Angelou News

Whether you see this because of the scintillating score or because a night at the opera is now cheaper than heating your home, The Barber Of Seville is sure to warm the cockles of your heart.

Harlem Stage and Maysles Documentary Center have brought together a consortium of six Harlem-based arts organizations to produce a rich celebration of Ralph Ellison’s seminal novel Invisible Man — marking the 70th anniversary of the book’s publication.

Opera soprano Angela Brown is the first musician to be named a Delta Visiting Chair for Global Understanding at the University of Georgia.

Amas Musical Theatre will celebrate its 54th Anniversary at its annual Gala Benefit Concert, presenting the 2023 “Rosie” Award to Honoree Award-winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph. See how to purchase tickets!

Harlem Stage is continuing its season-long series Black Arts Movement: Examined with an evening convening playwright, journalist, librettist, novelist, poet, and screenwriter Thulani Davis; Pulitzer Prize-nominated trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith; and Smith’s Kikuyu Ensemble.

What did our critic think of CHRISTMAS AT THE LOCAL at Theatre Latte Da?

This past year was filled with exceptional theatrical productions in the St. Louis Arts Community. Nearly every performance in 2022 at STAGES St. Louis, The Muny, The Black Rep and Midnight Company were entertaining with only a few misfires. As a long-time season ticket holder to The Fabulous Fox Theatre and a first-time attendee to New Line Theatre, I had the opportunity to see nearly every theatrical production that was staged in these venues. Instead of compiling a top ten list of best shows, I decided this would be the opportunity to recognize the best work, both performing and technical theater, that I observed in 2022. Without further ado, here are the ten best works on the stages of St. Louis throughout the past year. 

The Endgame, a new play written by Joanna Pickering, is on the roster for The Big Funk Company (American Theatre in Paris) for their American Friday play reading evening on December 2nd, at Le Pave D’Orsay in Paris. 

Cloud 21 International and Kultura PR International will present the fifth Annual Production Without Borders Showcase, a special event to be held on November 6, 2022 at Threshold Entertainment Studios in Santa Monica. The announcement was made today by Gotham Chandna and Nicole Goesseringer Muj.

Hanrahan’s script provides a nostalgic look at St. Louis through the 1900s and the compelling lives of incredibly talented woman. His script is more than just a historic look at some famous St. Louis Women. It is an important lesson in St. Louis Black history, examining the lives of strong African American women who helped shape and improve this world for all women, especially women of color. Laka’s effective portrayal of more than a half-dozen real live artists is due to her ability to disappear into these women, allowing their spirit to inhabit her body. Her versatility allows her to span a century of music performing gospel, jazz, blues, R&B, and rock-and-roll. When she rips into the Music of Tina Turner, Fontella Bass and Ann Peebles at the beginning of the second act, her vocals blow the roof off the theater.

Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) — Baltimore's premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists — presents the Baltimore debuts of bass-baritone Davóne Tines and pianist Adam Nielsen in Tines' original program Recital #1: Mass on Sunday, November 6, 2022 at 5:30pm. A pre-concert talk takes place at 4:30pm and is open to all ticket holders.

Harold Sanditen, international jazz and cabaret favourite, and charismatic host of the Crazy Coqs's longest-running show, his smash hit Open Mic Party, is finally back with a new solo show. I GOT RHYTHMS was originally slated for April 2020, and is finally hitting the Crazy Coqs stage on 8 & 15 October, 2022.

The Textile Museum of Canada (the Museum) will present Simone Elizabeth Saunders: u.n.i.t.y., an exhibition of works by Simone Elizabeth Saunders, evoking personal history, Afro diaspora, and Black sisterhood through portraits created with bold, colourful textiles.

Americans for the Arts announced that acclaimed novelist and playwright Ayad Akhtar will deliver the 34th Annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts & Public Policy. Akhtar will be introduced by Rockefeller Brothers Fund President and CEO Stephen Heintz, and the evening will feature a performance by artists Rez Abbassi and Kiran Ahluwalia.

Where to begin to explain Alric Davis' semi-autobiographical play Bashful, and the Noize. Equal parts Michael R. Jackson's A Strange Loop, Pasek and Paul's Dear Evan Hansen, and Simon Stephens A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Davis' play is an amalgamation of storylines that are equal parts celebratory of black American life, but also is a play that needs some improvement. While I know this has been a 9 year journey for young Davis, this play has the guts to one day truly be outstanding. There is some polishing that can be done to have the play truly excel and eventually become as iconic and discussed as James Ijames Fat Ham, or Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Gloria.

Harlem Stage has announced highlights of its 2022-2023 season, whose centerpiece is a seven-event series devoted to deepening and unpacking understandings of the Black Arts Movement, its intersections with the larger Black Power Movement, and its historic and cultural relevance in today’s America.

ST. LOUIS WOMAN honors the enduring legacy of some amazing female artists who put St. Louis on the map with their timeless music, dance and poetry. LAKA will portray legendary artists Josephine Baker, Tina Turner and Katherine Dunham. In her roles she will also present the poetry of Maya Angelou, the song stylings of chart-toppers Fontella Bass and Ann Peebles, and the Gospel classics of the legendary Willie Mae Ford Smith. Most of these women were either born in St. Louis or came here when they were young, with the exception of Katherine Dunham’s who moved here during the height of their career to continue her momentous work. 

New Music USA's Amplifying Voices program, which launched in 2020 to foster collaboration and collective action between U.S. orchestras and composers through a network of co-commissions, has expanded rapidly to soon include over forty-five orchestras across the U.S. and beyond.

Bashful, and the Noize is a One Act Slam/Hip-Hop Play centered around a sixteen-year-old Black boy named Bash who enacts a vow of silence after reckoning with sexual assault and grief.