DEF POETRY JAM
So the phone call comes today that I have been accepted to take part in Russle Simmon’s Def Poetry Jam. DPJ films at the Supper Club in NYC and airs on HBO. When I got the phone call it was filled with joy and some hesitation. First my history with Def Poetry.
1) I was picked to film Def Poetry during the second season. About two years ago. It was an incredible experience. I was treated with the utmost respect, and I had a wonderful time in New York. After performing for a packed audience and feeling like I rocked it. I went home feeling really good about the whole experience. I didn’t tell anyone because I wasn’t sure if the spot would air or not. See, you film with them but there is no guarantee that they will air your spot. Weeks later I got the call that I had made the taping. There were pictures on the internet of my performance. BET was running clips of me, I began to tell all my friends everything was going good. And then my air date came and went and there was no sign of Al Letson. Somehow despite the assurances that I made the cut, my footage found it’s way to the cutting room floor, and I never aired.
This was my first lesson in TV. It hurt like hell, I wanted to be on the show so bad, then not making it made me want to weep. I was so mad at the people of DPJ. It took me a while to except the experience for what it was. I had such a great time. I got to meet several of my favorite artist, and most importantly, I got paid. The staff of the show are great people. I have a lot of respect for all of them, and now with some distance between that pain, and the present, I know my getting cut was not an intentional malicious thing. It’s TV, it’s showbiz, and if you take that kind of stuff personal it will kill you. On a whole it was a great thing career-wise for me, I’ve been hesitant to talk about it, or even put in on my resume, In my bio it says I took part in DPJ, which is true. But not airing has always been somewhat of a sore spot.
2) My problems with DPJ. I think the show is okay. I’m watching my artform being used in ways that I’m not all that comfortable with ie: McDonald’s commercials, and other aspects of “using” poetry to sell products. I’m just as guilty. So this whole argument is very duplicitous. I don’t like the commercialization of the artform, but at the same time, I take part in that commercialization, because I am a working artist with a family and when the offers come, at times I don’t have the luxury to say no. DPJ has without a doubt made spoken word more popular and that’s for the favor and determent of the art. I know it’s TV so I understand they have certain demographs they are trying to hit, but sometimes, I don’t get the poets they choose. At this point I must admit I am an elitist. I know what kind of poetry I like. Well thought out, complex pieces, that speak to a universal truth. I don’t like performance poems that cater to the lowest common denominator in the human existence. I don’t like poems with a lot of rhyme scheme. I don’t like pieces that should be rap instead of performance poetry. I don’t like pieces that are all performance and no writing. I see all of this on DPJ a lot, and it bothers me. On the other side, I’ve seen several great performances. Watched poets own the stage, the audience, and reached out and grabbed the Television viewer and made them apart of the poem.
3) I want this. I want this for the validation that I shouldn’t need. I know I’ve done things that most of my contemporaries, haven’t even thought of. I’m creating, moving out of the box. I’ve been on International TV, I’ve got three plays in production in any given year, and yet, until I air a two minute HBO spot, I will feel like there is something left undone. I’ve had counseling sessions with myself on it, and no matter what I still come back to the same thing. With that in mind, I sent off a package a couple weeks ago, and the result is the opportunity to come back to DPJ and finish what I started two years ago.
New Rules this time out. I’m not hiding the fact I taped. I don’t care. If I get cut again, then so be it, but I’m going to have a good time, and let people know what I’m doing. I’m not going to get crazy about it. If it airs cool, if not cool. Many poets who film DPJ for the first time, have a hard time understanding that this 15 minutes of fame will not change your life. It’s a great thing, and good for exposure, plus they pay you, but ultimately, your life will not change from airing on HBO. So it’s important to keep it in perspective. I will remember it TV which means it’s not real. My family is real. My faith is real. My words are real. But this venue is not. It’s a good thing, and I thank God for the opportunity, but it is not the only thing.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Bright Lights Big City
So we rolled into NY on a cold Sunday morning and set up in our matchbox of a hotel room with dreams of having a successful NY run of Griot. As I sit in my hotel in Baltimore I realize that we did everything we set out to do. What good it will do us, as far as getting the show into other venues in NYC is anyone’s guess, but right now, I’m just happy to have put together a great show. The staff at the BPAC were incredible. They took care of everything in a professional manner, but that makes their treatment of us sound very steril. They were full of love and encouragement and did everything in their power to make the show a success.
One of the aspects of a show like “Griot” is the heavy educational aspect of the piece, we knew this was an asset when coming to the college so we set it up with several professors at the school, and I went to several classes and discussed the play. It’s so ironic to me, that I have never taken a college course, but I seem to find myself teaching college classes often. Most of the professors who assigned the play came to see it themselves, and they loved the work. We were able to have real discussions in the class on the play. It made me realize all the work I’ve done researching the historical information that made up the play. When I was in the middle of doing all the work, I didn’t really have the opportunity to reflect. I just read everything I could get my hands on, and continued to push the concept of the piece along.
Now that most of the work (as far as the writing is concerned) is done, I can look back and be somewhat proud that things have worked out the way they have. I’ve been blessed. I feel like the play is a ministry in a sense. I also think it’s a little vein to talk like that. I’m uncomfortable with the concept that God has personally said to me, “This is my will.” Weird coming from the son of a Baptist preacher, but I’m just not comfortable speaking in those terms. Still, if the play reaches people, and moves them into a realization, or grounds them in the past with an eye towards the future, I think God’s okay with that. I know I could not have written it without some divine intervention.
Several of my New York peoples came to the show, Bassey, Sabrina, Syreeta, Alexa, Katie, Paul Devlin, Evert Eden, Will Cantler. It meant a lot for me to look out and see there faces. New York is one of those places that forget you, if your not there every second. The fact that these and many more people came out, made me feel like I was loved.
This is just the beginning. We have so much farther to go with this piece I’m anxious to see what road it puts us on.
One of the aspects of a show like “Griot” is the heavy educational aspect of the piece, we knew this was an asset when coming to the college so we set it up with several professors at the school, and I went to several classes and discussed the play. It’s so ironic to me, that I have never taken a college course, but I seem to find myself teaching college classes often. Most of the professors who assigned the play came to see it themselves, and they loved the work. We were able to have real discussions in the class on the play. It made me realize all the work I’ve done researching the historical information that made up the play. When I was in the middle of doing all the work, I didn’t really have the opportunity to reflect. I just read everything I could get my hands on, and continued to push the concept of the piece along.
Now that most of the work (as far as the writing is concerned) is done, I can look back and be somewhat proud that things have worked out the way they have. I’ve been blessed. I feel like the play is a ministry in a sense. I also think it’s a little vein to talk like that. I’m uncomfortable with the concept that God has personally said to me, “This is my will.” Weird coming from the son of a Baptist preacher, but I’m just not comfortable speaking in those terms. Still, if the play reaches people, and moves them into a realization, or grounds them in the past with an eye towards the future, I think God’s okay with that. I know I could not have written it without some divine intervention.
Several of my New York peoples came to the show, Bassey, Sabrina, Syreeta, Alexa, Katie, Paul Devlin, Evert Eden, Will Cantler. It meant a lot for me to look out and see there faces. New York is one of those places that forget you, if your not there every second. The fact that these and many more people came out, made me feel like I was loved.
This is just the beginning. We have so much farther to go with this piece I’m anxious to see what road it puts us on.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Honoring Ozzie
February 4, 2005
By Deardra Shuler
http://www.afrocentricnews.com/html/ossie_davis.html
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death
what dreams may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil… (Hamlet)
The final curtain fell on one of the great legends of our time, Friday,
February 4th. Ossie Davis retired from life ironically while in the process of
filming a movie entitled “Retirement.” He succumbed to death at age 87, still
working at the craft he loved so well. Davis was a giant in the entertainment
business having devoted five decades as an actor, director, producer and writer.
There was no entertainment genre that he did not master. His talents were
featured in print, on stage, screen and radio. Many remember him from his role in
the 1978 television series "Roots: The Next Generation." He is also remembered
for his appearances in several Spike Lee films: “School Daze,” “Do The Right
Thing,” and “Jungle Fever.” His best known film was “A Raisin In The Sun.”
More recently, Davis appeared in “Dr. Dolittle” and “Get on the Bus.”
Born in Cogdell, Georgia, in 1917, Davis developed a love for theatre at an
early age. He pursued his interest at Howard University after winning a
National Youth Administration scholarship in 1935. In 1946, Davis made his Broadway
debut in Jeb. He later performed in the Broadway productions of “A Raisin in
the Sun,” “I’m Not Rappaport,” “Purlie Victorious,” a play Davis both starred
in and wrote. He also appeared in “Anna Lucasta” “Green Pastures,” “No Time
for Sergeants” and “The Zulu and the Zayda” to name a few of his Broadway
performances. As a result of his large volume of work on Broadway, Davis was
inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 1994.
Married to his wife, Ruby Dee, for close to 56 years, the couple met in 1946
and married in 1948, thus beginning a lengthy acting partnership that lasted
until Ossie’s death. The two came to epitomize theatre royalty as its
distinguished couple. The pair first appeared together in the plays "Jeb," in 1946, and "Anna Lucasta," in 1946-47. Davis' first film, "No Way Out" in 1950, was
Dee's fifth. They also appeared together in "Roots: The Next Generation” in 1978;
"Martin Luther King: The Dream and the Drum" in1986; "The Stand" in 1994; "Do
the Right Thing" and "Jungle Fever."
Ruby Dee once said she would marry Davis if he kept her working and work they
did. The two have produced an impressive cache of work between them, both
separately and as a couple. They also produced the book “With Ossie and Ruby: In
This Life Together,” which featured their dual autobiography. Although, I am
sure, the couples would say their greatest accomplishment are their three
children, Nora, Guy and Hasna as well as their many grandchildren.
Once asked how the dynamic team managed to work and live together in harmony.
Dee remarked: “Couples must remember that they are two separate individuals
who may see things quite differently. We have to respect those differences in
each other.”
Davis received Emmy nominations for Teacher, Teacher, King and Miss Evers'
Boys. He was highly respected by audiences and peers alike thus won numerous
kudos and honors including the Hall of Fame Award for Outstanding Artistic
Achievement; the Screen Actor's Guild Lifetime Achievement Award; the U.S. National
Medal for the Arts; NAACP Image Award and the New York Urban League Frederick
Douglass Award. Recently Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee were among the artists who
received the Kennedy Center Honors.
Davis was a leading activist in the civil rights era of the 1960s. He joined
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the crusade for jobs and freedom and helped to
raise money for the Freedom Riders. He eulogized both King and Malcolm X at
their funerals. Famous theatrical producer Woodie King (and friend to Ossie),
once credited Davis with opening doors for many artists who followed in Davis’
stead; performers, who received work as the direct result of Ossie Davis’
having looked out for his fellow thespians.
Davis was found dead in his hotel room in Miami Beach, Fla. Police spokesman,
Bobby Hernandez, said Davis' grandson called the police shortly before 7
a.m., after having become concerned that his grandfather did not respond to
efforts to access his room at the Shore Club Hotel.
Davis’s death leaves a huge hole in the artistic community and his presence
will be surely missed.
Alas, the curtain has come down and the theatre is dark. In the great play of
life, each plays out their season in their moment in time. We who continue
the play have much to thank Ossie Davis for. For in his parting, he left for us
a grand season and many treasured moments that will surpass all time.
All rights reserved.
-back to top-
..Theodore Myles Publishing
Copyright 1997 - 2004 Afrocentricnews
By Deardra Shuler
http://www.afrocentricnews.com/html/ossie_davis.html
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death
what dreams may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil… (Hamlet)
The final curtain fell on one of the great legends of our time, Friday,
February 4th. Ossie Davis retired from life ironically while in the process of
filming a movie entitled “Retirement.” He succumbed to death at age 87, still
working at the craft he loved so well. Davis was a giant in the entertainment
business having devoted five decades as an actor, director, producer and writer.
There was no entertainment genre that he did not master. His talents were
featured in print, on stage, screen and radio. Many remember him from his role in
the 1978 television series "Roots: The Next Generation." He is also remembered
for his appearances in several Spike Lee films: “School Daze,” “Do The Right
Thing,” and “Jungle Fever.” His best known film was “A Raisin In The Sun.”
More recently, Davis appeared in “Dr. Dolittle” and “Get on the Bus.”
Born in Cogdell, Georgia, in 1917, Davis developed a love for theatre at an
early age. He pursued his interest at Howard University after winning a
National Youth Administration scholarship in 1935. In 1946, Davis made his Broadway
debut in Jeb. He later performed in the Broadway productions of “A Raisin in
the Sun,” “I’m Not Rappaport,” “Purlie Victorious,” a play Davis both starred
in and wrote. He also appeared in “Anna Lucasta” “Green Pastures,” “No Time
for Sergeants” and “The Zulu and the Zayda” to name a few of his Broadway
performances. As a result of his large volume of work on Broadway, Davis was
inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 1994.
Married to his wife, Ruby Dee, for close to 56 years, the couple met in 1946
and married in 1948, thus beginning a lengthy acting partnership that lasted
until Ossie’s death. The two came to epitomize theatre royalty as its
distinguished couple. The pair first appeared together in the plays "Jeb," in 1946, and "Anna Lucasta," in 1946-47. Davis' first film, "No Way Out" in 1950, was
Dee's fifth. They also appeared together in "Roots: The Next Generation” in 1978;
"Martin Luther King: The Dream and the Drum" in1986; "The Stand" in 1994; "Do
the Right Thing" and "Jungle Fever."
Ruby Dee once said she would marry Davis if he kept her working and work they
did. The two have produced an impressive cache of work between them, both
separately and as a couple. They also produced the book “With Ossie and Ruby: In
This Life Together,” which featured their dual autobiography. Although, I am
sure, the couples would say their greatest accomplishment are their three
children, Nora, Guy and Hasna as well as their many grandchildren.
Once asked how the dynamic team managed to work and live together in harmony.
Dee remarked: “Couples must remember that they are two separate individuals
who may see things quite differently. We have to respect those differences in
each other.”
Davis received Emmy nominations for Teacher, Teacher, King and Miss Evers'
Boys. He was highly respected by audiences and peers alike thus won numerous
kudos and honors including the Hall of Fame Award for Outstanding Artistic
Achievement; the Screen Actor's Guild Lifetime Achievement Award; the U.S. National
Medal for the Arts; NAACP Image Award and the New York Urban League Frederick
Douglass Award. Recently Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee were among the artists who
received the Kennedy Center Honors.
Davis was a leading activist in the civil rights era of the 1960s. He joined
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the crusade for jobs and freedom and helped to
raise money for the Freedom Riders. He eulogized both King and Malcolm X at
their funerals. Famous theatrical producer Woodie King (and friend to Ossie),
once credited Davis with opening doors for many artists who followed in Davis’
stead; performers, who received work as the direct result of Ossie Davis’
having looked out for his fellow thespians.
Davis was found dead in his hotel room in Miami Beach, Fla. Police spokesman,
Bobby Hernandez, said Davis' grandson called the police shortly before 7
a.m., after having become concerned that his grandfather did not respond to
efforts to access his room at the Shore Club Hotel.
Davis’s death leaves a huge hole in the artistic community and his presence
will be surely missed.
Alas, the curtain has come down and the theatre is dark. In the great play of
life, each plays out their season in their moment in time. We who continue
the play have much to thank Ossie Davis for. For in his parting, he left for us
a grand season and many treasured moments that will surpass all time.
All rights reserved.
-back to top-
..Theodore Myles Publishing
Copyright 1997 - 2004 Afrocentricnews
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Notes from the Bottletree
Last night I was invited to take part in a table-reading of Addae Moon's “Notes from the Bottletree”. About a year ago a good friend of mine, Ayodele, told me one of his friends had written this new piece that was premeiring at the Horizon Theatre in Atlanta, and that he loved it. That play was “Notes…” The author, Addae, and I had met via internet (we're on the same listserv) spoken on several occasions about different things, but we'd never really talked about his play, so last night was the first time I had the opportunity to read it. It was a beautiful piece of work. The play deals with the struggles of being an artist, familial history, and how some parts of your past you can't escape, it's mixed in with the genetic material in your blood. All of these issues come to surface in a play with language that has a heightened scene of poetics and at the same time is authentic in it's voice, steeped in dirty-south phonetics.
Ian Mairs a playwright that lives in Jacksonville put together the read, with an eye to do a staged reading. Ian is just what this community needs. I hoping he and I could forge an alliance to help bring theatre to Jacksonville, and he has been very open to it. Ian and I are as opposite in some ways, he went to school for playwriting, he teaches it, he's had several plays produced and published, and is very much connected in the local theatre scene. Where as I am somewhat an outsider. Most of the local theatre people have no idea who I am, which is cool with me. From the beginning I wanted my art to be about reach out to those who have not seen a lot of theatrical work. But that idea has matured into wanting everyone, theatre people and non traditional audiences to be drawn back to the theater. In that I think Ian and I have the same vision, so for him to ask me to read it was an honor. It's like the other side of the theater aisle is reaching out.
Initally I was scared to death to do the table read. Primarily because I am dyslexic. If you've been reading this blog, you probably already noticed. I hate reading in public. But Addae's work was so fluid, and the words felt like they were the same I would use in the given situation, after the first five pages, I was able to relax, and try to work. The other actors and I had great chemistry, and the director is someone I've known about but never had the chance to work with, and then there's Valerie the stage manager. Val's great and probably the only reason I got through MacBeth two years ago, it's a pleasure to work with her. So if you can, look up Addae Moon's “Notes from the Bottletree” this is a playwright to keep your eye on.
Ian Mairs a playwright that lives in Jacksonville put together the read, with an eye to do a staged reading. Ian is just what this community needs. I hoping he and I could forge an alliance to help bring theatre to Jacksonville, and he has been very open to it. Ian and I are as opposite in some ways, he went to school for playwriting, he teaches it, he's had several plays produced and published, and is very much connected in the local theatre scene. Where as I am somewhat an outsider. Most of the local theatre people have no idea who I am, which is cool with me. From the beginning I wanted my art to be about reach out to those who have not seen a lot of theatrical work. But that idea has matured into wanting everyone, theatre people and non traditional audiences to be drawn back to the theater. In that I think Ian and I have the same vision, so for him to ask me to read it was an honor. It's like the other side of the theater aisle is reaching out.
Initally I was scared to death to do the table read. Primarily because I am dyslexic. If you've been reading this blog, you probably already noticed. I hate reading in public. But Addae's work was so fluid, and the words felt like they were the same I would use in the given situation, after the first five pages, I was able to relax, and try to work. The other actors and I had great chemistry, and the director is someone I've known about but never had the chance to work with, and then there's Valerie the stage manager. Val's great and probably the only reason I got through MacBeth two years ago, it's a pleasure to work with her. So if you can, look up Addae Moon's “Notes from the Bottletree” this is a playwright to keep your eye on.
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
New York, New York
It's 4 in the morning and Griot won't let me sleep. We'll be in NY in a couple of weeks and I still have some script stuff I need to work out. I'm not nervous about New York, but I want to put my best foot forward. I feel like we have the opportunity to have decent audiences if the weather agrees. If the show can move folks in NY, then it can move people anywhere.
The piece of the show that I have never had peace with is the music era of the 50's and 60's. In the show's first incarnation it was a little too pedestrian. We didn't move with the music the way the music moved people in that era, but I think we've solved the problem, just a little later then I would have liked. We are on the rehearse everyday schedule, and I hate it. I love the show, love working on it, but hate, rehearsing everyday. I just want to do it. Foolish but true.
The other aspect of trying to work a date like the NY gig is packages. I hate this part to, because you spend so much time putting together something you hope people will look at, but for the most part, people tend to throw packages on the slush pile. A lot of work goes into it, The DVD, the press clippings, letters blah blah blah. But that's a part of the game. I'm feeling really good about it all, I wish we were in NY now, doing it. The stage at the Baruch Performing Arts Center is beautiful. When I saw it for the first time last year, I felt like the stage was singing to me, begging me to touch it.
There were a few obstacles in getting BPAC, but the staff, guided us through those waters effortlessly. As an artist, I seem to be blessed in working with incredible people in the theatres I work in. The Theatre Project has been my home for the last three years, and many of the other venues I've been at have treated me well. I'm whining about packages and rehearsals, but honestly I wouldn't have it any other way.
The piece of the show that I have never had peace with is the music era of the 50's and 60's. In the show's first incarnation it was a little too pedestrian. We didn't move with the music the way the music moved people in that era, but I think we've solved the problem, just a little later then I would have liked. We are on the rehearse everyday schedule, and I hate it. I love the show, love working on it, but hate, rehearsing everyday. I just want to do it. Foolish but true.
The other aspect of trying to work a date like the NY gig is packages. I hate this part to, because you spend so much time putting together something you hope people will look at, but for the most part, people tend to throw packages on the slush pile. A lot of work goes into it, The DVD, the press clippings, letters blah blah blah. But that's a part of the game. I'm feeling really good about it all, I wish we were in NY now, doing it. The stage at the Baruch Performing Arts Center is beautiful. When I saw it for the first time last year, I felt like the stage was singing to me, begging me to touch it.
There were a few obstacles in getting BPAC, but the staff, guided us through those waters effortlessly. As an artist, I seem to be blessed in working with incredible people in the theatres I work in. The Theatre Project has been my home for the last three years, and many of the other venues I've been at have treated me well. I'm whining about packages and rehearsals, but honestly I wouldn't have it any other way.
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