Growing Up Daddy at Nuyorican Poets Cafe

Kraal ‘Kayo’ Charles’ Growing Up Daddy makes a much anticipated return to New York for a special weekend engagement on November 29th, 30th and December 1st at the legendary Nuyorican Poets Cafe. In this comedic, semi-autobiographical piece, Kayo uses poetry and hip hop to explore what happens when a rising artist-entrepreneur is suddenly faced with impending fatherhood. With humor and honesty, Kayo conveys the complexities of a man caught between embracing and rejecting his newest and greatest role.

Kayo tackles one of the most universal and prevalent social issues in America. He walks you through his rites of passage as he attempts to figure out the equations that balances his passions with his sense of responsibility. He captures the essence of memoir by recounting tales of whimsical women, fair-weather friends and his frugal Caribbean father; all while keeping the faith with his devout Christian grandmother. “As a first generation Afro-Caribbean born in America, the concept of manhood was defined by the amount of children that we could ‘breed’ and not in the quality of time spent with them”

Kayo said “Your lessons of manhood are learnt later on in life by trial and error and not by the triumphs and failures of the male figures that came before you. This play should be a guide for all males climbing up the steps of manhood, looking at the swinging doors of fatherhood, wondering if they have learnt all the lessons guaranteeing them rites of passage.” Growing Up Daddy is an honest depiction of what every man endures when their passion is challenged by their sense of responsibility.

Kraal Kayo Charles is an award winning slam champion and one of the original poets of the HBO Peabody Award winning series Def Poetry. He has traveled extensively around the globe to be featured on stage, television, radio, and film. The Nuyorican Poets Café is located at 236 East 3rd Street, New York, NY 10009. All tickets are $15. To purchase tickets, visit www.nuyorican.org. Tickets are also available at the door. www.Facebook.com/GrowingUpDaddy

?“Everyone who is a father, has a father, or knows a father should see this play!” - Cathy Brown, Director of Diversity, University of Florida

?“Ladies will depart from this...with a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction” - Pastor Beverley A. Caesar, Bethel Gospel Tabernacle

?“Growing Up Daddy is a marvelous investment into the future of human citizenship...raising the bar and profound, Growing Up Daddy is for us all” -Jamele Adams, Associate Dean of Students, Brandeis University