Category Archives: non fiction essay

Sedi Bo: A West Oakland Tale of Art and Transformation

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

Sedi Bo’s image is memorialized in a mural on the corner of 14th and Campbell. Sedi’s name was Cedric, people also called him Country. He was a musical artist. He grew up in West Oakland. His sister’s runs a hair … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Arts, I'm Just Saying!, non fiction essay, North American African Perspective | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Two Trains Running: Lower Bottom Playaz Next Stop

Posted on March 14, 2014 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

Season 14 for the Lower Bottom Playaz starts with Two Trains Running by August Wilson. Wilson is one of America’s finest playwrights, his work The American Century Cycle is his signature writ large on the American theaterscape. His unduplicated accomplishment … Continue reading →

Posted in August Wilson, Black Arts, Craft, non fiction essay, North American African Perspective, Performing Arts, Tales of Iron and Water, Theater, work in progress | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Last Laureate of Newark

Posted on February 22, 2014 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

The Last Laureate of Newark: Oakland Local Article- Remembering Amiri Baraka.  The Last Laureate of Newark (A Love Supreme) There is no laureate poet in Newark as he ascended to jam with the out and gone went to where the lore … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Arts, non fiction essay, North American African Perspective, Performing Arts, Poetry, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Gentrification: No Resting Place, Pt. 3

Posted on December 26, 2013 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

West Oakland: Gentrified “West Oakland is situated on the Bay side of Highway 980 and is easily accessible by public transportation including BART and buses. If you are an urban pioneer who is looking to buy somewhere before it really booms, look … Continue reading →

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FENCES: Art Without Borders–Wilson the Universalist

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

FENCES: Art Without Borders–Wilson the Universalist The Lower Bottom Playaz, the oldest North American African theater troupe in Oakland CA is presenting FENCES as a part of its commitment to August Wilson’s Century Cycle.  FENCES is perhaps the most familiar … Continue reading →

Posted in August Wilson, Black Arts, non fiction essay, North American African Perspective, Performing Arts, Tales of Iron and Water, Theater | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Importance of August Wilson to American Theater

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

August Wilson is a playwright. In my opinion he is the most important American playwright of the 20th century.  His work the Century Cycle is the most expansive chronicle of American life in  the history of American theater. His tale of America … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Arts, Craft, I'm Just Saying!, Life., non fiction essay, North American African Perspective, Performing Arts, Tales of Iron and Water, Theater | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Unlikely Magicians

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

Theater offers you a chance to solve a character’s problem, enjoy his destiny, fight along side him against his fate. Theater gives a performer a place to spend the emotional currency stored in an their well of lived experiences, it gives you a place to go when it is necessary to vacate your own reality temporarily for the sake of being able to carry it when you are forced to return to it. Continue reading →

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Seven Guitars, A Glorious Gaze at the Mundane

Posted on June 22, 2013 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Wilson meets us where we live in all our drama and turmoil amidst the mundane backdrop of one day following another despite the brutality of the previous one. Continue reading →

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Seven of One, Five of the Other: Half way through August Wilson’s Century Cycle

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

Wilson is a bluesologist and we are blues people. Avotcja Jiltonilro explained to me once that the blues as we know it actually evolved from praise music not from the angst of the American experience as we have been taught. It is our song. Our ever overstanding of the beauty and majesty inherent in life and our heart’s determination to continue beating. Continue reading →

Posted in Black Arts, Craft, non fiction essay, North American African Perspective, Performing Arts, Tales of Iron and Water, Theater, work in progress | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

I do not believe the presidency  of the United States of America is a sole proprietorship. I have  entertained a different idea every since I read Taylor Caldwell’s Captain’s and the Kings. Like most of the American public; I have often been instructed by fiction. … Continue reading →

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD | Leave a comment