M.G. Recap: The Bag Lady Manifesta

Based on Taja Lindley’s solo healing performance ritual that debuted at La Mama’s SQUIRTS in 2015, “This Ain’t A Eulogy” is drawing parallels between discarded materials and the violent treatment of Black people in the United States. People in the African Diaspora have a long history of repurposing, remixing, and transforming oppressive systems into valuable cultural […]

“Space:Queens”: Timeless at The Black Spectrum Theatre

Last Friday, I was privileged with a ticket to attend Black Spectrum Theatre’s play Timeless: The Mystery of Dark Water, written by the theater’s founder, Carl Clay. This was my first time seeing a play at the theater in recent memory and if I had to sum up the play with four M’s, it would […]

Modern Griots Interviews: Aisha Cousins and Brer Rabbit The Opera

On Thursday and Friday, Brooklyn-based artist Aisha Cousins will present her work-in-progress, Brer Rabbit The Opera: A Funky Meditation On Gentrification, at BRIC House Ballroom as part of their Fireworks residency program. Directed by Letitia Guillory, and in collaboration with Greg Tate and Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber, the production follows “…a black middle aged cool […]

Modern Griots Reviews: Mahogany Browne and the Mythic Poetics of Redbone

“Children born in this desert are always thirsty.” This is a line from poet Mahogany L. Browne’s Poetic Theater Productions and The Wild Project presented production, Redbone: A Biomythography. The Eboni Hogan-directed, hour-long show descends into the depths of the relationship between Browne’s parents for Browne to better understand them and herself, and to highlight […]

Obeah Playlist

To end my Caribbean focus for the past few weeks and to show support for the re-premiere of the Canada show Obeah Opera (hopefully one day it will go international), here is an Obeah playlist. Enjoy! Exuma – “Obeah Man” Nina Simone – “Obeah Woman” “Scratch” Lee Perry – “Obeah Room” Mighty Shadow – “Obeah” […]

Modern Griots Reviews: Futurology the Musical

“What these women become is what we will be,” Captain Larnyce Gaines gives the purpose of not only the three travelers from the future, but the underlying message of Futurology the Musical. The women finding power in themselves theme throughout this musical is its driving force and compelling feature. The Paper to Pen production, which […]

Otherworldly Videos: Root Shock

What is the opposite of future shock? Is it root shock? This is the latest performance from artist and dancer Ni’ Ja Whitson. Whitson puts contemporary and postmodern dance and art performance within an African diasporic context. Her work, Root Shock, re-imagines Yoruba diasporic and Orisa storytelling traditions, and explores the relationship between trauma and […]

Otherworldly Videos: Village

“VILLAGE: An Afrofuturistic Fable” “VILLAGE: An Afrofutiuristic Fable”- “The Children in 2059” From Jos Duncan: This production was conceived as a result of listening to concerns in the African and African American cultural community. In a time when digital technology is dominating our world and political, financial and justice systems are continually failing, it was […]

Afrofuturism’s Stranger Blues (via Nuñez Daughter)

Here is another post from Nuñez Daughter connecting the song “Stranger Blues” from “Sweet Honey in the Rock” to the feeling of being an “alien” in Afrofuturism and science fiction, and the alienation that oppressed people of the world feel everyday. Also, please help support these ladies in their efforts to go to Detroit for […]