This is just a space where I will share some of my thoughts and post some announcements. If you stumble upon here and find something interesting and enlightening please feel free to comment...
“When you are in the company of lunatics, behave like a lunatic. When you are in the company of intelligentsias, speak with brilliance...that is how a chameleon behaves, the territory changes it, and it adapts to the changes.” -― Michael Bassey Johnson
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
“Everything has a way of coming full circle. It takes patience and perseverance to see a dream through...to close that circle. Because some dreams, like some circles, can be much bigger than others.” -― Karen Dale Trask
“When pain brings you down, don't be silly, don't close your eyes and cry, you just might be in the best position to see the sun shine.” -― Alanis Morissette
February 17 - March 13, 2016
Wednesdays 7pm / Thursday, Friday & Saturday 8pm / Sunday 2pm & 7pm
Tickets $35 - 100
Opening Night Party, Feb 20 w/ DJ Lamont (Fingersnaps, KPOO
& Hosted by Juanita MORE!
Buy Tickets Now!
"Performed with electric exuberance" -The New York Times
Nominated in 5 categories for NY's prestigious Audelco Award for Excellence in Black Theater!
The smash hit of last season, Mighty Real: A Fabulous Sylvester Musical returns for another LIMITED ENGAGEMENT in 2016, with new songs and design!
Don't miss the critically acclaimed musical hit that celebrates the life of the original 1970's Disco Queen, Sylvester. Broadway star Anthony Wayne sings, lives, and breathes life as iconic singer and songwriter.
Also featuring Anastacia McCleskey (of Broadway's Book of Mormon, Priscilla, and Hair) and Jacqueline B. Arnold as Two Tons of Fun/The Weather Girls, DeAnne Stewart, Rahmel McDade, and a rocking 5-piece band that will have you dancing in the aisles!
With songs like "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)," "Can't Stop Dancing," and "You Are My Friend," this show tells the life story of Sylvester. Beyond all the trials, tribulations, glitz, and glamour of his lifestyle, he was iconic for being unapologetically FABULOUS.
Special performances benefiting Bay Area organizations:
Thursday, February 18: SF AIDS Emergency Fund
Sunday, February 28: Black Theatre Night - Black Artists Contemporary Cultural Experience
Sunday, March 6: Queer Cultural Center
Thursday, March 10: Museum of the African Diaspora
Sunday, March 13: KPOO Radio
Mighty Real creative team includes Kendrell Bowman (director), Wayne Bowman (book), Stephanie P. Freed (lighting), and Rafe Carlotto (sound).
The New York Times raves it's "A Mighty Real Time" and BroadwayWorld boasts it's "FIERCE! What the biographical jukebox musical should be."
View the trailer here:
Anthony Wayne & Kendrell Bowman Visited Us At City Of Refuge This Past Sunday. Go To 1:15;24 To See Them Share & Hear Anthony's Amazing Voice....
I Got To See Anthony As, "Richie" In The National Tour Of, "A Chorus Line". He Brought The House Down....
“The law of centrifugal force seems to be as true for the human condition as it is for the Newtonian mechanics. The faster our lives spin, the more things tend to fly apart.” -― Richard Paul Evans
When my brother fell
I picked up his weapons.
I didn't question
whether I could aim
or be as precise as he.
A needle and thread
were not among
his things
I found.
Essex Hemphill, When My Brother Fell, Ceremonies (1992)
The final verses of poet and activist Essex Hemphill's powerful work invokes both a stark criticism of the AIDS movement and a call to family, connectedness, brotherhood in a battle that he himself would ultimately lose against HIV/AIDS.
This National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, invoking Essex's poem represents a larger battle against HIV/AIDS that has expanded on many fronts facing Black gay men across the United States, ranging from stigma, criminalization, racism and homophobia. Now more than ever, addressing structural violence and investing in the lives of Black gay men must be strategies to win this battle against HIV/AIDS.
Essex's poem and his own story sheds a spotlight on where the epidemic is most pronounced. Research has demonstrated consistently that the epidemic continues to rage among Black gay men.
This National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day we must commit to achieving justice for Black gay men and all vulnerable communities impacted by the epidemic. In doing so, when our brothers fall, such as Michael L. Johnson currently serving 30.5 years for criminalized transmission of HIV, we must be brave in ending systems of mass incarceration that target and maim Black bodies through movement-building with powerful racial justice movements. When our brothers fall to an inaccessible system of health care, we must push for the expansion of Medicaid particularly in the South and target resources that invest in the lives of Black gay men. When our brothers fall to depression and loneliness, we must build social capital, celebrate the sexual liberation, value and culture of Black gay men as part of the larger Black social fabric.
Threading these strategies together requires a brave and new vision to how we reallocate resources and address the epidemic beyond testing, treatment and biomedical prevention. We can no longer ignore mounting research that continues to reinforce and acknowledge that social and structural factors as a root cause for the rising epidemic among Black gay men. Inaction and indifference only reinforces the truths that research resonate. To take aim, to be precise in this era of epidemic, to honor our brothers that have fallen, we must end stigma, criminalization, racism and homophobia.
