Since I last wrote about Mr. Wilson, and his contribution to my foundation, some time has passed. Of course a great deal has happened. I have read the entire Pittsburgh Cycle and have dedicated myself to the production of as many of the plays as I can manage.

I have wed Wilson. I proposed. He did not resist, he drew me closer and here we are. He is most generous in his attention to my growth, despite his own death, which of course makes the continuance of his work imperative.   I strive to be worthy of the pairing and the mission to lift up the bard least his great works be hungry for the overstanding they deserve and Wilson intended.

We have the rights to Gem, again. This year we will also do Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. Another great pairing I think. We need to revisit Gem. We flew though it last year. It only lasted long enough for me to fall in love. This year we will get to dance with it longer. We have been prepping for it since the music of the last production died. We are seated at a better table this time. Be prepared for a better meal.

‘Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,’ continues Wilson’s exploration of place, time, and lost for North American Africans. Like ‘Gem’, if you listen carefully, you hear the communal present being explained by the telling of the communal past. With ‘Joe Turner’, we add the dimension of continued captivity to the conversation of the North American African experience in North America.

‘Gem’ opens August 27th at the Sister Thea Bowman Memorial Theater in West Oakland CA.

You can preview the show for free by attending the August 7th, San Francisco Theater Festival, held at Fort Mason. ‘Gem,’ will be one of three pieces offered by the Lower Bottom Playaz, under my direction. The work offered will  include two new pieces of work, Big Brother/Little Brother; A one act for two players, and INK: A MultiMedia-Cross Disciplinary Poetic concert.

Stay tuned we are about to blast off on a Full Metal Theater Season!