From The Wooster Group: The B-Side: "Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons"

 Three years ago, at St. Ann's Warehouse, Jim and I caught the Wooster Group's extraordinary show The-B Side, directed by Kate Valk--a rendition of the 1965 album Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons: blues, work songs, spirituals, and other music and talk from the state's segregated agricultural prisons, recorded by folklorist Bruce Jackson. While the LP was played, performers Eric Berryman, Jasper McGruder, and Philip Moore sang along, and Berryman added commentary from Jackson's book Wake Up Dead Man: Hard Labor and Southern Blues.  Through Monday, September 14, the Wooster Group is making The B-Side available on their website:

http://thewoostergroup.org/blog/

It was like nothing else I've seen.  Catch it if you can!

 

 

THE GUEST AT CENTRAL PARK WEST

 

 

I don't know how I missed this terrific play by Levy Lee Simon when it was first produced in New York City in 2008.  Maybe it had a short run, and I was out of town.  But in any case, I'm so glad to have caught the recent reading or The Guest at Central Park West--presented by its original producer, the Workshop Theater Company, and featuring the original cast.

It seems that back at the time of its first production, The Guest at Central Park West was widely turned down by regional theaters, largely because of an ending then seemed outrageous--and now seems prescient.  It's play that now feels timelier than ever, and I hope it will go on to find the audience it deserves, in many more readings and productions.

You can catch this reunion reading online through Monday, August 10, at 7 pm:

 

https://www.workshoptheater.org/

 

 Your donation will benefit the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.