Category Archives: Performing Arts

Flowers for the Trashman, Director’s Notes

Posted on February 7, 2015 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

“The average child can tell you more about his favorite artist than he can his own family. The everyday adult knows how to talk at children but spends little time talking to them as equal humans with viable information about themselves and their environment to offer. We are alone, traveling together on a blue ball spinning in space, more connected than ever before, and yet we are alone, isolated in our individual stories of self…” Continue reading →

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Eight of Ten: Jitney, a Director’s Note

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

I am mid way through the production of Jitney. Only 3 shows left. It’s the second show of the cycle we have done at the Flight Deck in newly dubbed “Uptown”, (used to be plain old downtown), Oakland.  This is … Continue reading →

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

August Wilson and Ferguson

Posted on November 30, 2014 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

Wilson noted: “I think my plays offer (white Americans) a different way to look at black Americans,” he told The Paris Review. “For instance, in ‘Fences’ they see a garbageman, a person they don’t really look at, although they see … Continue reading →

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Lower Bottom Playaz present August Wilson’s ‘Two Trains Running’

Posted on July 3, 2014 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

Lower Bottom Playaz present August Wilson’s ‘Two Trains Running’.

Posted in August Wilson, Black Arts, Performing Arts, Tales of Iron and Water, Theater, work in progress | 1 Comment

suicide note to frantz fanon

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

& when i did become this pale non-reflection of myself when did i slip into the suit you brought with you discarding myself to fit inside not be left on the margin bleeding and dying like the naked savages you … Continue reading →

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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 →

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Rainmaker

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

In order to make art artist need access to space, materials, marketing, points of exchange and more. Each item mentioned comes with a price tag. The bottom line gets bigger when you actually employ other artists. Star making needs Rainmakers. 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 →

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Fences

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

Fences starring The Lower Bottom Playaz. Oakland CA. October 2013. http://www.lowerbottomplayaz.com http://www.TalesofIronandWater.com

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