Amber Iman Photo by Drew Shade

Black Theatre Coalition, in partnership with Playbill, bring Broadway Black stars Brandon Victor Dixon (Motown the Musical and Hamilton: An American Musical), Amber Iman (Shuffle Along), Daniel J. Watts (Tony-nominated for Tina: The Tina Turner Musical), Bebe Winans (writer and creator of the Broadway-bound musical Born for This) together to lend their talents for a virtual concert honoring Black creatives’ contributions throughout the generations and beyond.

Upon These Shoulders will be live-streamed with various interviews, performances, and testimonials by Black artists, paying tribute to Black artistry. It will be a time to highlight and emphasize Broadway’s past, but also the importance of the future of Broadway and what the community can do to accelerate a safe and diverse opening. 

Additional casting and information will be announced in further days

The concert will debut on February 27 at 8:00 pm by visiting On the Stage.

To donate to Broadway Theatre Coalition, please visit HERE.

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This JAM is a look-back at my experiences growing up in the South, encounters with friends, family, and police, and recognizing positive role models in television programming, all while navigating through predominantly white environments. These memories propel me to continue the conversation that began with the flash mob. This JAM ain’t sweet!

A play-on-words, THE JAM pays homage to his great-grandmother, who after making jam from scratch would share with others what she was unable to consume herself.  THE JAM is Watts’continuation of that legacy, featuring his original spoken word sometimes set to music and/or dance.

https://youtu.be/bf9L5PiKWBQ

Watts is not alone in this production that features Gilbert L. Bailey, II (Book of Mormon) as music director and keyboardist, Derrick Baskin (Whorl Inside A Loop, Hulu’s Difficult People) as featured vocalist, Preston Dugger, III aka DJ Duggz (Motown, Memphis), Ephraim Sykes (Hamilton, HBO’s “Vinyl”) on drums, Taharqa Patterson (Lights Out On Broadway) on guitar, and Voltaire Wade-Greene (Hamilton) on bass.

Check out video of a previous performance of The Jam at the Clark Studio Theatre at Lincoln Center.

One of the most fascinating aspects of Broadway Black stars is their capacity to use their gifts not only as expressions of their craft, but to shape the narrative around issues that impact the community at large. Beautiful things often come from adversity. We are grateful that artists are using their platforms to make beautiful things out of the adversity we face. Daniel J. Watts’ THE JAM: Spoken Word Preserves will take place Monday, November 16 at 8pm at The Studio at Webster Hall. For more information click here.

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We are artists and activists who promote peace by feeding, housing, educating and providing healthcare to the most vulnerable, lifting communities to a place of hope.

Through an impassioned idea to create a traveling Peace Belt, founder Wendy Black-Nasta created the organization. The Belt is comprised of 144 pieces of currency and gemstones from around the world.

Since 2003, the Peace Belt has traveled to over twenty-five countries on five continents. It has been worn during hundreds of artistic performances, sacred ceremonies, and at peace and spiritual gatherings in New York (Ground Zero), South Korea, Haiti, Spain, Brazil, Tanzania, Canada, Egypt, Tonga, Scotland-the list goes on. Wherever the Peace Belt travels, dancers, artists, musicians, peace activists, and spiritual leaders meditate on and lend their voices to support peace. In this way, the belt becomes a living link between cultures and a symbol of peace and unity of all nations, of all people as one.

This year, Artists for World Peace will present its fifth annual Broadway fundraiser on October 11th at Joes’s Pub. Audience members will be treated to outstanding Broadway performers who will sing, dance, and tell stories to help children all over the world. This year’s performers include  Dionne Figgins (Trip of Love, Motown, Memphis, Leap of Faith) and Daniel J. Watts (Whorl Inside A Loop, After Midnight, Motown, Memphis, Ghost, In the Heights).

Each performance will incorporate the traveling Peace Belt. Figgins and Watts will become a part of a fundraising performance and a special tradition with a foundation that has helped build schools, created safe houses for battered women and children, and sponsored the living and educational expenses of dozens of children. To whom much is given, much is required. It is inspiring to see such prestigious performers participate in giving back to the world. For more information on how to support this worthy cause, click here.

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Photos by Joan Marcus.

Ryan Quinn, Nicholas Christopher, Derrick Baskin, Donald Webber Jr., Daniel J. Watts, Sherie Rene Scott

Ryan Quinn, Nicholas Christopher, Donald Webber Jr.,Chris Myers, Derrick Baskin

Daniel J. Watts and Chris Myers

Daniel J. Watts, Derrick Baskin, and Ryan Quinn.

Donald Webber Jr., Chris Myers, Derrick Baskin, Daniel J. Watts, Nicholas Christopher, and Ryan Quinn.

Whorl Inside a Loop is a new play by Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott and co-directed by Michael Mayer and Scanlan. After Scott and Scanlan went to Woodbourne Correctional Facility in New York to lead a one-day workshop on personal narratives, some of the inmates asked if they would come back and transform these monologues into a show. That’s exactly what they did. The play offers credit for additional material and a percentage of the profits to five of the men from the prison. Their monologues were woven into the script, and their names and nicknames were assigned to many of the characters.

A well-regarded actress agrees to teach six inmates how to tell their stories behind the bars of a men’s maximum security prison. Sharing intimate and sometimes hilarious details of their former lives, this unlikely group forms a bond — even as the actress’ life outside spins out of control. And when what happens in prison doesn’t stay there, no one is sure who to trust. From the team that brought you Everyday Rapture, this new play features Sherie Rene Scott and six men playing two dozen characters in a constant shifting of scenes, ages, genders and races. Whorl Inside a Loop explores the fine line between convicted felons and the criminal inside each of us, the viability of forgiveness and the unreliability of redemption.

Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased here.

Dont have your tckts to #WhorlInsideALoop yet? @donaldwebber & @DWattsWords tell you how! @2STNYC #WeAreBroadwayBlack pic.twitter.com/386JXQbL6g

— Broadway Black (@BroadwayBlack) August 6, 2015

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Whorl Inside a Loop is an Off Broadway production that tells the story of an actress who volunteers at a maximum security prison and agrees to teach six inmates how to tell their stories. Sharing intimate and sometimes hilarious details of their former lives, this unlikely group forms a bond – even as the actress’ life spins out of control. And when what happens in prison doesn’t stay there, no one is sure who to trust.

(l-r top row: Sherie Renee Scott, Derrick Baskin, Nicholas Christopher bottom row: Chris Myers, Ryan Quinn, Daniel J. Watts, Donald Webber, Jr.

The play, co-authored by Scott and writer Dick Scanlan, features Scott and six men playing two dozen characters in a constant shifting of scenes, ages, genders, and races. Other cast members include Derrick Baskin, who received a 2005 Drama Desk award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance for his role as “Mitch Mahoney” in the Off-Broadway production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; Nicholas Christopher, who recently appeared as “Smokey Robinson” in Broadway’s blockbuster hit Motown: The Musical’s 1st National tour; Obie Award winner Chris Myers, who appeared in Soho Rep’s An Octoroon; Ryan Quinn, who’s appeared in several Off Broadway productions; Daniel J. Watts, who has been in After Midnight, In The Heights, Memphis, Motown, and others; and Donald Webber, Jr., who was in the original Broadway cast of Motown: The Musical and appeared in Holler If Ya Hear Me.

Whorl Inside A Loop is running at Second Stage Theatre from August 4-30. For tickets and show times, visit www.2st.com.

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Perhaps most prominently, Ruby Dee and Ozzie Davis were civil rights activists.  Known for her work with the American Negro Theatre and roles in “Do the Right Thing” and “American Gangster,” Dee was a member of CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), the NAACP, SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee),  and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Notably, she emceed the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.  Her husband, Davis, was nominated for two Tony Awards; in 1958 as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Musical) for Jamaica, and in 1970 as co-author of the book for Best Musical nominee, Purlie.  Davis delivered Malcolm X’s eulogy, which can be heard at the end of the film “Malcolm X,” and also gave a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. the day after his assassination, at a memorial in New York’s Central Park.

Current Broadway stars have continued this dedication to activism. In July 2014, over 100 members of the Broadway community came together to send a message about police violence and the killing of Eric Garner.  Nik Walker (Motown, Peter and the Starcatcher) participated in the Times Square performance and said, “As artists, it’s very easy to blind ourselves to the issues plaguing our world today. This meeting won’t be to take a side in the Ferguson case. We just want to promote a respectful and productive conversation, so that events like this are never forgotten…and always learned from.”

Daniel J. Watts (After Midnight, Motown, Memphis, In The Heights) also used his talent to spotlight the Ferguson community, Michael Brown, and other African Americans who have been affected by police brutality.  In November 2014, Watts gave spoken word performances in Times Square in order to open a dialogue using his platform to talk about a variety of social issues.  More recently, this past May, Watts along with Wilkie Ferguson (Motown, Porgy n’ Bess and Post Modern Jukebox), and Nicholas Christopher (Motown and Whorl Inside A Loop), released their song, “Another One,” which riffs off of Queen’s 1980 hit, “Another One Bites The Dust.”  Watts recites poetry for the track, Christopher provides backing guitar, and Ferguson produced the tracks and added vocals.

These actors, along with countless others who have used their celebrity to provide awareness about social issues, are to be applauded for their work.  Without this spotlight, many issues would just be a brief flash on the evening news. Each time a person with name recognition attaches themselves to an issue, the more attention that cause receives.  Often, the Arts can be the bridge to open someone’s eyes.  As Watts eloquently said, “Art is the way for us to connect.  Art has the power to overcome obstacles.”

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