Former food ambassador calls for a full harvest from government

(Originally published Oct. 12, 2011)

by C. Denise Johnson

For New Pittsburgh Courier

The theme of last week’s Just Harvest annual fundraiser was “Overcoming Hunger: A Renewed Commitment” That theme was underscored with Sunday’s introduction of Lilly, a hungry Muppet; hunger has moved from Main Street to Sesame Street.

Just Harvest is a local nonprofit that seeks to promote economic justice and end hunger.

At least two to three nights a month, 50 million Americans go to bed hungry. Many of these are the working poor or the elderly. In some families, adults go without in order to feed their children.

"Nobody should ever go to bed hungry in our country," said former U.S. Rep. Tony P. Hall during his keynote remarks at Just Harvest's annual fundraiser dinner at the Omni William Penn Hotel.

Hall, who served as U.N. Food and Agriculture ambassador, was nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Despite work by soup kitchens, food banks and advocacy organizations like Just Harvest, the U.S. hasn't been able to eradicate hunger, said Hall.

"There's been progress, but there hasn't been the kind of progress to end it," he said. "We haven't really developed the political will."

Hall visited over 100 hunger-stricken countries over his tenure as chairman of the House Select Committee on Hunger, and even fasted in protest for 22 days when the committee was dissolved in 1993. He wrote about his experiences in his 2007 book, “Changing the Face of Hunger: One Man's Story of How Liberals, Conservatives, Democrats, Republicans, and People of Faith Are Joining Forces to Help the Hungry, the Poor, and the Oppressed.” 

The United States' first priority should be ending hunger domestically; its second should be ending hunger abroad, he said.

"Everybody thinks that we spend this tremendous amount of money on international hunger and development overseas, but the fact is that it really comes to one half of 1 percent of our federal budget," he said.

Hall concluded his remarks by urging the audience to get involved.

“Its important to engage your elected officials. Don’t let them get away with voting for budget cuts that aid the needy. You must represent the voices of those not heard in Congress.”

During the evening, Just Harvest gave its George Becker Memorial Award to Hall and the Seeds of Justice award to Joyce Rothermel, former CEO of the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

A founding member of Just Harvest's board of directors, a co-founder of the Food Bank, and a board president of the Hunger Action Coalition, Rothermel has been involved in area anti-hunger advocacy over 30 years.

Legacy lives in local collective

(Originally published Oct. 19, 2011)

 

by C. Denise Johnson

For New Pittsburgh Courier

When Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, was a gleam in her parent’s eye, Madame C. J. Walker had already made her fortune. A child of freed slaves, Walker is role model extraordinaire, not just for women and blacks, but for anyone who desires to rise above their circumstances to achieve their dream.

That was the message Walker’s great-great granddaughter, A’Lelia Bundles brought to Pittsburgh at the invitation of the Ujamaa Collective Oct. 11 at the August Wilson Center of African American Culture. Redefining Business and Beauty: Lessons from the Life and Legacy of Madame C.J. Walker,” co-hosted by Women for a Healthy Environment, Center for Victims of Violence and Crime’s EVE (Enlightened Voices for the Environment), and New Voices Pittsburgh drew parallels with the self-made Walker and contemporary, grassroots women entrepreneurs.

Though much is known about Walker, little is known about the local connection to Walker’s history and her legacy. Bundles is a former producer with CBS & ABC new operations. While studying at Columbia University her professor and mentor Phyllis Garland (a former Pittsburgh Courier reporter and editor) encouraged Bundles to base her dissertation on her heritage and specifically, Walker.

An additional Pittsburgh connection dates back over a century. During her brief Pittsburgh, Walker operated the Lelia College of Beauty Culturists at 2518 Wylie Avenue (Bundles found the school listed in a 1909 Black business directory), and Courier publisher Robert Vann was an advisor. Walker later moved to Indianapolis to the closer to the then-center of population of a turn of the century America.

Because she reached her business apex began before women got the vote, Walker had to fight strategically to be seen, heard and taken seriously in what was truly a man’s world. Booker T. Washington reluctantly acknowledged despite her accomplishments as an entrepreneur, manufacturer and wealth creator.

Walker’s example and legacy continues through the women of Hill District-based Ujamaa Collective, a non-profit that educates, empowers and supports women entrepreneurs of African descent, shared during a panel following Bundles presentation.

Founder Celeta Hickman shared that Ujamaa was based on tradition of community empowerment she learned of when working on a local history project. “During segregation business often served as banks, making loans that white-owned financial institutions would not. A dollar would circulate at least seven times before it left the community.”

LaKeisha Wolf, owner Enjoy Yourself and Ujaama member, shared a journey of self-discovery that led her business. She specializes in holistic and organic products that are made with natural botanicals and fair trade ingredients.

Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis of WHE overviewed an assortment of popular hair care products containing toxins. She shared information on pending legislation, the Safe Chemicals Act which would require chemicals to be proven safe before they are allowed for use in products.

Last of the Line leads to overlooked roots

(Originally published Oct. 5, 2011)

Samm Art William, CDJ, Montae Russell on set of Last of the Line

 

by C. Denise Johnson

For New Pittsburgh Courier

When Samm-Art Williams tells a story, he likes to delve into obscure “tidbits” of history deliberately omitted. Like Blacks who fought in the Civil War for the Confederacy or those who were slave-owners – that part of history African Americans, in particular, seem to have amnesia about.

Williams is willing to share that history and choose Pittsburgh as the place to drop this particular piece of knowledge, which is why his play, “Last of the Line,” makes its world premiere run on the stage of the August Wilson Center for African American Culture.

Williams met staff from the AWC attending at the National Black Theater Festival in North Carolina last summer. He hit it off with president/CEO Andre Kimo Stone Guess and Artistic Director of Theater Initiatives Mark Clayton Southers; the trio established a quick and easy rapport built on reputation and similar ideas about the future of Black theatre. That led to the opportunity for the “Last of the Line” to make is debut to the world in Pittsburgh.

“A play is very much like a new baby, you must have trust in the people in whose care you place it,” explained Williams. “In order to be open to changes and feedback for a premiere, a playwright must have trust in those factors. I get that with these guys.”

The subject matter is another need for the tender loving care. “You don’t get to choose your family,” says Williams in reference to his own family’s history. “Whatever your family background is you shouldn’t be ashamed of it; trying to be something other than what we are is why our lives go astray.”

“Very few of us are willing to discuss the family history of Blacks owning slaves,” says Williams, “and hundreds of Blacks were slave-owners and some of them fought for the South. We (as Blacks) rarely discuss that. There’s a lot of fallout from slavery that we’re still dealing with. We weren’t ‘re-programmed’.”

The historical complexity of Williams’ “dramedy” is not lost on the actors cast. For the most part, they’ve been forced to wrap their minds around the prevailing paradigm of Blacks and slavery in America in a different scheme that is the exact opposite of what they (we) were taught in classroom.

Kevin Brown, Brenda Marks and Montae Russell

The play recounts the reality of those contradictions within one family as they come face to face with its past and its future (or lack) thereof. Gabriel (Montae Russell), the youngest male heir of the Jameson legacy, is ashamed of his family’s slaveholding past and is determined to distance himself from it while his brother and sister have wholeheartedly embraced it.

Neither Alfonso Jameson (Kevin Brown) nor Clora Jameson Hudson (Brenda Marks) have sons, so the pressure on the hapless Gabriel to carry on the name. Both Al and Clora underscore of the urgency by retelling the family history (revealed to the audience through “flashbacks”) full of cunning, determination, honor and above all, preservation of family. It’s also a tale of divided loyalties and interpretation of that history ranging from 2005 to 1845-75.

Kevin Brown, Montae Russell, Bria Walker and Brenda Marks

Another interested party is a neighbor of the Jamesons who serves as the family’s confidante and legal advisor.

The interplay of storylines through flashbacks affords the play an additional “ancestor” ensemble to realize the antebellum and Civil War timelines. Vanessa German and Les Howard portray the goodhearted Cornelia and Zebediah Jameson, who plied his trades as a carpenter and blacksmith to purchase his freedom and that of his bride. Zeb also secured his brother Isaac’s manumission only to have the war draw battle lines that pit brother and brother.

The set filled with luscious antique furnishings and period portraits and pictures bring an authentic feel to the Jameson plantation family homestead.

The supporting cast of ancestors (Leo L. Beatty, Myneesha Miller-King, Tracy D. Turner) along with Jason A. Shavers as Isaac provide the historical context for the present day dilemma, while Bria Walker as attorney Sylvia Bradley brought more than enough fortitude to stand up to Russell’s indignant Gabriel. Brown and Marks were on point as the ever-loving and ever-critical siblings who attempt to connive and cajole their baby brother to save the family.

As with most new plays, Last of the Line could benefit from fine-tuning to tighten the script but director Mark Clayton Southers drew together a rich cast to help smooth over the rough patches.

Overall, Last of the Line is entertaining, illuminating and like all good works of theatre, is a catalyst for additional tracing of one’s roots. Come to think of it, Alex Haley would be proud.

“Last of the Line” continues through October at the August Wilson Center for African American Culture, 980 Liberty Avenue in the Cultural District, Downtown. For show times and ticket information call 412-258-2700 or log on to: augustwilsoncenter.org

Mamet’s “Race” passes plot to judgment

(Originally published Sept, 21, 2011)

by C. Denise Johnson

For New Pittsburgh Courier

The season opener of Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theater will certain generate conversation. Such is usually the case with plays written by David Mamet, he has made a name for himself as a provocateur and has clearly earned his stripes with a play titled “Race” in these days of an alleged post-racial America. Mamet consistently goes for the jugular with his over-the-top style of confrontation, shocking and overlapping dialogue. So it should be no surprise that “Race,” making its Pittsburgh premiere after its 2009-10 season run on Broadway, has captured the attention of local critics and theatergoers alike.

Beyond the warning of the play’s title, there are additional signs to proceed with caution; due to Mamet’s contractual stipulations, there are no talkbacks following performances (perhaps to circumvent any overly spirited dialogues among the audience). But by the play’s end, you may be convinced it is to limit any discussion of the numerous holes in the plot.

It seems that Mamet is an adherent to the adage that art should serve to provoke thought, discussion and change; and he has done so successfully. He hits nearly every hot button topic that we avoid in polite conversation in mixed company: sex, gender roles, class, position, greed, privilege and race.

The intimate confines of the lower level Henry Heymann Theatre lends itself to the set consisting of a well-appointed conference room of a prominent top-shelf law firm.

Three members of a law firm, one White, two African American, must decide whether or not they should represent and rich White male who has been charged with the rape of a Black woman.

Like fat cats toying with a desperate mouse in an initial interview, they send him out of the conference room to discuss whether to take him on. At this point the play takes on the arrogance of every big-time law firm situational seen on television (think “Boston Law”) as well as transcripts of more annoying “trials of the century” i.e. Caylee Anthony or O.J. Simpson; high stakes, high profile and excessive doses of smug posturing and righteous indignation.

This could easily be titled “People Behaving Badly” because nearly every stereotype and crass, base assumption is thrown in the discussion in the guise of trial strategy. In fact, it can be rather difficult to find any redeemable quality in any of four characters to make them likeable.

The salvation of “Race” is in the performances of the actors. The signature rapid-fire dialogue of Mamet’s pompous script could easily be a death trap for lesser actors; such complexity of manipulation is deliciously delivered by John DeMita (Jack Lawson) and Alan Bomar Jones (Henry Brown) as principals of the law firm. As rich defendant Charles Strickland, Michael Fuller hits all the right notes as a victim of his social circumstance. And Casiha Felt is every inch the aspiring young associate of the firm who could be an asset or a liability in the case.

Recent real events make “Race” difficult to pass up, and director Andrew S. Paul (also PICT co-founder and artistic director) uses the pace of the dialogue to guide and aide his actors in overcoming the inconsistencies in the script. “Race” is also an adherent to the “by any needs necessary” school so if the premise is wide enough to overrun gapping holes in the plot, it’s okay because if it triggers the dialogue; and that it does.

Just don’t look for any tidy resolutions.

Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre’s production of “Race” continues through Oct. 1 at the Henry Heymann Theatre in the Stephen Foster Memorial, 4301 Forbes in Oakland. For ticket information and performance times, call 412-394-3353 or visit www.picttheatre.org.

‘August in August’ serves up tasty morsels of theater

(This originally ran in the August 24, 2011 edition of the  New Pittsburgh Courier)
by C. Denise Johnson
For New Pittsburgh Courier
    Generally speaking in theater circles, revivals refer to new productions of long –
remembered and highly regarded works returning to the Great White Way. Liberty
Avenue may not be Broadway, but last weekend saw the much-anticipated return of
the “August in…” theater sampler to Pittsburgh’s Cultural District in the August Wilson
Center for African American Culture.
    Begun as a collaboration between the Cultural Trust’s Janice Burley Wilson and
Pittsburgh Playwrights Theater Company founder Mark Clayton Southers, it experienced
growing pain and hiatuses while attracting Broadway luminaries James Earl Jones and
Charles Dutton in tribute to Pittsburgh’s Hill District griot.
    A near-capacity house was treated to performances from nationally respected
actors, Broadway veterans and some of the best talent from southwest Pa. in scenes from
ten plays comprising August Wilson’s “Century Cycle” that portray African American
life in each decade of the 1900s.
    To present “August in August” in the AWC in Wilson’s hometown was a full
circle moment reminiscent of the African sankofa bird that returns to where it began.
Metaphors aside, the symbolism was not lost on the audience as they were treated to soul
food in the words and wisdom dispensed through Wilson’s pen.
    The evening began with a taste of things to come in a very brief scene from “Gem
of the Ocean” of an uninvited visitor intent on conferring with Aunt Ester. The ensuing
scuffle disturbs Aunt Ester who queries the insistent intruder with “Didn’t he tell you to
come back Tuesday?”
    We do return, but this time we’re in recording studio awaiting the arrival of Ma
Rainey (Vanessa German). This scene from “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” features
Antonio Fargas (best known as “Huggy Bear” from the 1970 Starsky & Hutch cop
series); film, TV actor and Swissvale native David Conrad; and members of the August
Wilson Center Theatre Ensemble.
    In “Radio Golf,” Harmon Wilks receives a brilliant object lesson in
gamesmanship, race and reality from urban philosopher Sterling; followed by an excerpt
from “Jitney” where Youngblood comes clean to the mother of his child about his
suspicious behavior.
     “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” features Tony Award-winner Stephen McKinley
Henderson as Bynum sharing his perspective on women and “Two Trains Running”
highlights dialogue on current events (funerals, finance and real estate) steeped in
authenticity as served up by Anthony Chisholm, Sala Udin and Fargas to close out the
first half.
     The second act opened with a scene from “King Hedley” where Tonya and King
argue over whether or not she should keep the child she’s carrying. Powerful
performances from AWCTE member Joshua Elijah Reese and August Wilson
Monologue winner Emily Kolb (an incoming college freshman) captivated the audience,
as did its follow up, a scene between Chrystal Bates and Kevin Brown from “The Piano
Lesson.” Both excerpts highlight the struggle of the sexes for balance with their world
and each other.
    The “dance” between Hedley (Fargas) and Bernice (Andrea Frye) in “Seven
Guitars” sheds a different light on the male-female battle of wills (call this one a draw).
    Family conflict is the centerpiece of the “Fences” excerpt that has McKinley reprising his
Broadway role of Bono and Udin as Troy (the Broadway role played by Denzel
Washington). It’s hard to imagine Washington measuring up to the emotional stakes
ratcheted up by Udin in the confrontation with son Corey (played by Carter Redwood) in
the climatic scene.
    A collective exhale of the built of tension is released with the evening’s closing
scene from “Ma Rainey” with a hilarious, scene-stealing turn by Michaelangelo Turner.
    It truly took a village to put on “August in August” and, as attested by Wilson’s
widow Constanza who was in attendance closing night, would have met his approval
with it’s multigenerational participation onstage and backstage with crew, costumers
(Cheryl El-Walker, Kennedy Guess, Grace Hines, Deryck Tines) and actors. Three high
school monologue winners (Kolb, Devaughn Robinson and Heaven Bobo) held their own
along side theatre and Broadway vets.
     The ensemble spirit was shared among the directors (including JaSonte Roberts
Dean, Tami Dixon, Kim El, Frye, Henderson, Joseph Martinez, Redwood and Southers)
and cast (Jeffrey Carpenter, Jason Shavers, Mark Conway Thompson and Bria Walker).
    Special kudos go to composer Kathryn Bostic who brought her Broadway Wilson
sensibilities to bear on providing the music to providing the comfortable and familiar
soundtrack to underscore the product.
    'August in August' is a fitting conclusion to a season of transition at the AWC and
an appropriate first finale for Southers’ tenure as Artist Director of Theater Initiatives of
the namesake facility of his mentor.