Bernice Johnson Reagon Leads SHE SAID: WOMEN'S WORDS 3/15

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's Education and Community Engagement Department presents another highly-anticipated performance of She Said: Women's Words at 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 15, 2009, at the Byham Theater (101 Sixth St). This year's special Guest, Bernice Johnson Reagon will lead the celebration of music and poetry to honor Women's History Month. She Said: Women's Words, will also feature local artists Jan Beatty, CM Burroughs, Vanessa German, Kellee Maize and Stacey Waite. Tickets are $10 -$20 and available at pgharts.org, (412) 456-6666 or the Box Office at Theater Square (655 Penn Avenue, Cultural District). To Purchase 10 or more tickets call, (412) 471-6930.

BERNICE JOHNSON REAGON
For over four decades Bernice Johnson Reagon has been a powerful voice for freedom and justice. A student leader in the Albany Movement during the struggle of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, she began her singing career as a freedom singer. A composer, singer, scholar and producer, perhaps no one better illustrates the transformative power and instruction of traditional African American music and cultural history than Bernice Johnson Reagon. Now retired after 30 years leading Sweet Honey In the Rock, the venerated African American women a cappella ensemble, she founded in 1973, Reagon continues to offer powerful oral presentations in talk and song. Reagon not only sings but also speaks about American race, political and cultural freedoms and justice. Celebrate Women's History Month with a very special offering created by Bernice Johnson Reagon and other special guests. Visit her online at: www.bernicejohnsonreagon.com.

"Dr .Bernice Johnson Reagon has brought passion, intelligence, and eloquence to her every
endeavor, and our nation has been ennobled by her groundbreaking contributions."
-Teresa Heinz (2003 Heinz Award for Arts and Humanities)

JAN BEATTY
Jan Beatty's new collection of poems, Red Sugar, was published in 2008 by the University
of Pittsburgh Press. Other books are Boneshaker (2002) and Mad River(winner of the 1994 Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize), both from the University of Pittsburgh Press. Other awards include the 1995 State Street Prize, the 1990 Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, two fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the 2000 Emerging Artist Award from The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and the Howard Heinz Foundation. For the past fifteen years, she has hosted and produced Prosody; a public radio show on NPR affiliate WYEP-FM. Beatty directs the creative writing program at Carlow University, where she teaches the Madwomen in the Attic writing workshops. Visit her online at: www.janbeatty.com.

CM BURROUGHS
CM Burroughs is a poet and teacher based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her poetry has appeared in journals including Runes, jubilat, PLUCK!, Bat City Review, and Tuesday; An Art Project. She has received commissions from the Studio Museum of Harlem and the Warhol Museum to create poetry in response to art installations. She received her M.F.A. from the University of Pittsburgh, where she currently teaches poetry and creative writing. Visit her online at www.myspace.com/cmburroughs.

VANESSA GERMAN
Vanessa German is a diverse artist who has been living and working in Pittsburgh for eight years. Currently the artist in residence at The New Hazlett Theater on the north side, Vanessa has produced, managed and performed in three collaborative performance works, "loud!", "fire", and "rise" and one solo multi-media performance work entitled "testify". She has performed her dynamic spoken word work around the world, most recently at "Good Jobs, Green Jobs" in Washington, DC. Look for German's first book of poetry which will be published this year.

KELLEE MAIZE
Kellee Maize is a poet/emcee/singer/songwriter and dancer. She founded and works full time with the female owned and operated agency called Näkturnal (www.nakturnal.net). Kellee received a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication from the University of Pittsburgh with minors in African Dance and Theater. The ladies of Näkturnal have recently moved their offices to the East side of Pittsburgh where they strive to make consistent, positive contributions to the community. Kellee is driven by an undying need to create positive meaningful change in the world and to unite women in the hopes of creating a spiritual revolution. You can hear her music at www.myspace.com/kmaizemusic or www.kelleemaize.com.

STACEY WAITE
Stacey Waite is originally from Long Island, NY. She received her B.A. in English and Religious Studies in 1999 from Bucknell University and received an M.F.A. in poetry from the University of Pittsburgh in 2003. Stacey has published two collections of poems: Choke (winner of the 2004 Frank O'Hara Prize in Poetry) and Love Poem to Androgyny (winner of the 2006 Main Street Rag Chapbook Competition). Stacey will have a new collection of poems entitled The Lake Has No Saint forthcoming from Tupelo Press in 2010.

SOY SOS (Music)
Herman Pearl has been obsessed with music and sound since he received his first tape recorder at a very young age. His broad range of experience included sound for music, theater, dance, film and television. Soy Sos is a co-founding member of Soma Mestizo and 3 Generations Walking. www.tuffsoundrecording.com.

To post a comment, you must register and login.