Tag Archives: lower bottom playaz

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

In Search of A Song

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

Advertisements Every Wilson play I have directed is about Africans finding their song.  The search for our lost song is a part of a conversation about movement literal and figurative both voluntary and involuntary. We have indeed lost our song and we … Continue reading →

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Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

In the sorrowful funk and divine fury of the music there is a delicately etched study of humanity for us to consider if we want more than entertainment from our theater. Continue reading →

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A Song of August Wilson or The Lion’s Roar, Parts 1, 2 and 3.

Posted on October 15, 2011 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

There is no return from this baptism by Wilson. Nothing will ever be the same again. I have been caught by the piper. I follow the roar of the lion.
Continue reading →

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A writer writes. 2

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

I thank the ancestors, my parents, my children, the spirits that walk with me for the gifts given. I remember. I am here. I am not done. I remain a willing vessel. I plan to run on until my day is done and when I get to my maker may she say, ‘Well done.” Continue reading →

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The Lower Bottom Playaz; Full Metal

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

Advertisements Bullets are usually made of lead. If you cover a lead bullet with copper you get a Full Metal Jacket; an armor piercing projectile. It is our intention to wound you with art. You will leave feeling something. You  will be moved … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Arts, Craft, INK, journal, Life., North American African Perspective, Performing Arts, Poetry, spokenword, Theater, work in progress | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Gem; Again

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

Advertisements 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 … Continue reading →

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Diary of a Mad Creative # 19: Precious and the State of the Arts (pt. 2 of The Ground on which I stand.)

Posted on December 11, 2010 by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD

“If you do not know, I will tell you that black theatre in America is alive … it is vibrant … it is vital … it just isn’t funded. Black theatre doesn’t share in the economics that would allow it to support its artists and supply them with meaningful avenues to develop their talent and broadcast and disseminate ideas crucial to its growth. The economics are reserved as privilege to the overwhelming abundance of institutions that preserve, promote and perpetuate white culture.

That is not a complaint. That is an advertisement. Since the funding sources, both public and private, do not publicly carry avowed missions of exclusion and segregated support, this is obviously either a glaring case of oversight, or we the proponents of black theatre have not made our presence or needs known.” August Wilson Continue reading →

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