Music and poetry of Harlem Renaissance celebrated on stage March 3
George Fox will serve as the venue for a special musical theatre presentation, Of Ebony Embers: Vignettes of the Harlem Renaissance, presented by guest Core Ensemble at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 3, in Wood-Mar Auditorium. The show is free and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Celebrating the music and poetry of the Harlem Renaissance era in New York City, Of Ebony Embers examines the lives of three outstanding but very different African American poets – Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen and Claude McKay – as seen through the eyes of the great painter and muralist Aaron Douglas.
Chamber music theatre is a unique performance format created by the Core Ensemble, featuring a marriage of theatrical narrative to chamber music performance. Dracyn Blount portrays multiple characters while interacting with Mikael Darmanie on piano. The script was written by Akin Babatunde, who also serves as the show’s director.
The Core Ensemble performs music by African American composers ranging from jazz greats Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus to concert music composers Jeffrey Mumford and George Walker. Since 1993, the Core Ensemble has toured nationally to every region of the United States and internationally to England, Russia, the Ukraine, Australia and the British Virgin Islands.
The production is being hosted by George Fox’s music and theatre departments, in partnership with the offices of diversity and intercultural life.
Contact Jenny Elsey (jelsey@georgefox.edu) for more information.