Wanda's Picks

We open with the Dreams, as in Dream Girls opening at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, AUG 24, 2010 through SEPT 26: SYESHA MERCADO (Deena Jones), ADRIENNE WARREN (Lorrell Robinson), MARGARET HOFFMAN (Michelle Morris; u/s Deena). Visit www.shnsf.com; Guests honored this year at the free event: "Celebrating the Seventh Annual Negro Spirituals Heritage Day, Sunday, AUG 22, 2 PM at the SF Main Library, Koret Auditorium in San Francisco include radio guests: Deeann D. Mathews, a gifted composer, author & entrepreneur, Bryant B. Bolling, an exceptionally talented vocalist and lecturer; Wanda J. Ravernell, an extraordinary writer and the founder and Creative Director of The Omnira Projects; and Rev. Ann Jefferson, a Pastor of Worship and Liturgy and a Negro Spirituals expert. Co-founder of Friends of Negro Spirituals, Lyvonne Chrisman also joins us. Guests: Cephus "Uncle Bobby" Johnson; Jack Bryson, father of two young men on the BART platform with Oscar Grant; two of his best friends, Citizen Marty Payne, a founding member of the Caribbean All-stars band, speak about the Grant case and the CARIBBEAN ALL-STARS BENEFIT CONCERT: JUSTICE for OSCAR GRANT: Kill Killer Cops, Friday, AUG 20, 2010, 6 PM, music 7:30 PM, $10.00 donation at the door. Visit www.newyearsmovement.org JOHN SANTOS, educator/composer, will speak about his current project: Filosofía Caribeña, a composing/performing/spoken word project about Afro-Latino presence, identity and issues. Santos is doing most of the composing with musical arrangements in collaboration with Dr. John Calloway and Saul Sierra. It will be a work-in-progress for about a year and a half to two years from its inception this Spring, 2010. The first compositions debut this weekend at Eastside Cultural Center, 2277 International Blvd., in East Oakland, 8 PM, August 21 & 22. Filosofía Caribeña is a cross-disciplinary project that will illuminate the marvelous and undeniable historical connections between Black and Latino communities.

Host out of the country for the next two weeks. Prerecorded broadcasts will be at 7 AM beginning August 4-17, both Wednesdays and Fridays.

Host out of the country for the next two weeks. Prerecorded broadcasts will be at 7 AM beginning August 4-17, both Wednesdays and Fridays.

Host out of the country for the next two weeks. Prerecorded broadcasts will be at 7 AM beginning August 4-17, both Wednesdays and Fridays.

Host out of the country for the next two weeks. Prerecorded broadcasts will be at 7 AM beginning August 4-17, both Wednesdays and Fridays.

Mr. Theodore Synder, father of Teddy Synder, a youth who is up for 80 years for a first offense in California; his sentencing hearing is Aug. 25, 2010, 8:30 AM downtown LA at 200 West Street; juvenile justice advocate Flozelle Woodmore, joins us as well. Flozelle is also a Soros Fellow 2010 and a member of "All of Us or None." She is a caseworker with "A New Way of Life Reentry Project"; Kim McGill, Youth Justice & Youth Together has been working as an advocate with Mr. Synder on his son's case: www.Youth4Justice.org email: [email protected]. Currently there is a SB 399 that passed the CA State Senate that now needs to pass the Assembly looking at lesser sentences for children accused of a capital crime. Contact your assembly person to support it. For information aboout Teddy and SB 399 call (323) 563-3575. LISA GOSSELA, dir. "My So-Called Enemy," joins us next to talk about her film which is a part of the SF Jewish Film Festival and screens Sun., Aug.1 in Palo Alto at CineArts and in Berkeley at the Roda theatre, Sat. Aug. 7. Visit www.sfjff.org My So-Called Enemy fits neatly into the theme this season for the SFJFF which is "People of the Book." In July 2002, 22 Israeli and Palestinian teenage girls spent 10 days in the United States attending a women’s leadership program called “Building Bridges for Peace.” They were Jewish, Christian and Muslim. This fil looks at building bridges of communication which the youth are then challenged to sustain once they were home away from the comfort zone established in the unique New Jersey Program. Community Work's West "Rising Voices: A Collaborative Theatre Ensemble featuring the work of formerly incarcerated women" concludes the program. Company members, Angie & Keisha, & director, Michelle talk about their latest work "Found," up Aug. 11, 7 PM, Aug. 14, 8 PM, at The Traveling Jewish Theatre, 470 Florida St. in San Francisco, and Aug. 13 in San Rafael. Visit http://www.communityworkswest.org/

Carol Metellus, Artist, Activist; & project Co-Director & Campaign Coordinator Patrice Mallard: "The Partnership for a Sustainable Haiti" formed immediately after the devastating earthquake that hit Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010. PFSH efforts resemble the fable of stone soup- even when no one has enough to eat, if everyone contributes what little they can, it feeds a village. Organizers felt compelled to act- to volunteer whatever skills they have and the resources they can mobilize and hope others will help too.Visit http://www.partnershipforasustainablehaiti.org/Taneshia Campbell’s Sankofa Mizizi (A Love healing herstory) is a theater movement piece exploring the experience of mental health and spirituality in my family; grounded in a love story. This piece is a work in progress and doubles as a grad school fundraiser towards the artist's Masters in Divinity education beginning in the fall. Directed by Tia Jennings the play is going up Sat., Aug. 14, 2010, 6:45 doors/7:15 PM show, at City of Refuge United Church, 1025 Howard Street (betw. 6th & 7th) in SF, CA, 415-861-6130, $20 (no one turned away). Bay Area Bandits: Women's Tackle Football team: The Bay Area Bandits, Women’s Tackle Football Team with Jenae Beverly, Sarah Henry and team owners: Neda Mohammadi and Danielle Golay. Visit http://bayareabandits.com/ We close with the playwright, Wendy E. Taylor, director & head of the CSUEB Musical Program, Darryl V. Jones, and actress & star, Jeannine Anderson. "Halie! A Celebration: The Life and Legacy of Mahalia Jackson," is up Thurs.-Sat. July 29-31(8pm),Sunday August 1 (4pm)

University Theatre at CSUEB, Coproduced with CSUEB Associated Students, Inc. Musical Arrangements and Musical Direction by Mary D. Watkins, Original Arrangements by Andrzej Danek and Wendy E. Taylor, Associate Musical Director, Marcus McCauley, 510-885-3118, [email protected] http://class.csueastbay.edu/theatre and in the college bookstore.

Aurora Theatre Company opens its 19th season with Alice Childress’s vibrant, humorous, and heartbreaking look at racism through the lens of the theater, TROUBLE IN MIND. Set during the early years of the Civil Rights movement, this disconcerting yet disarmingly funny look at the inequalities of American life in the 1950’s highlights the half-truths we tell ourselves about race relations and societal progress in America.

First produced in 1955, TROUBLE IN MIND follows a cast of black and white actors attempting to mount a production of a “progressive” new play. The play-within-the-play, entitled Chaos in Belleville, an anti-lynching drama set in the South, written by a white writer and directed by a white director, marks the first opportunity for Wiletta Mayer, a gifted African American actress, to play a leading lady on Broadway. But what compromises must she make to succeed? Robin Stanton (Speech & Debate, Betrayed, Permanent Collection) directs this play about race, identity, and opportunity, featuring Bay Area favorite Margo Hall in her Aurora Theatre Company debut.

Host out of town. Rebroadcast at 7 AM of Wednesday, July 19, 2010, show featuring Jo Kreiter and her collaborators have nationally recognized expertise in creating site-specific and apparatus-based performance work. Their current production, the result of Flyaway Productions’ 2010 Arts and Activism Apprenticeship premieres: July 21-22, 7 at CounterPulse in San Francisco. I went to the tech rehearsal and the young choreographers were stellar. You can catch the adult company, Flyaway Productions next month at the 100 Anniversary of the Women's Building in San Francisco. We close with a special interview with Angela Bofill, whose musical theatre piece opened Thursday, July 22, and continues through Sunday, July 25, at the RRazz Room at Hotel Nikko in San Francisco. Bofill narrates and Maysa sings her role. There is a stellar lineup with friends and other special guests on the bill. Note the earlier broadcast.

Jo Kreiter and her collaborators have nationally recognized expertise in creating site-specific and apparatus-based performance work. Their current production, the result of Flyaway Productions’ 2010 Arts and Activism Apprenticeship premieres: July 21-22, 7at CounterPulse in San Francisco. This summer program for girls is inspired by the company’s mission to make dances that live at the intersection of acrobatic spectacle and social justice. 15 young artists received a paid summer apprenticeship, facilitating both dance-making and community–based activism. The young artists come to Flyaway from the Mission, Bayview Hunter’s Point, the Avenues, South of Market and Oakland. Shows are: Wednesday-Thursday, July 21-22, 2010, 7 PM, at CounterPulse,1310 Mission Street @ 9th, San Francisco. Visit www.flyawayproductions.com Tickets:$6-12 sliding-scale, Youth (14 & under) free. Visit counterpulse.org or call 1-800-838-3006 We close with a special interview with Angela Bofill who is bringing "The Angela Bofill Experience," narrated and written by her to the RRazz Room at Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason Street (between Ellis and O'Farrell)San Francisco, July 22-24, 2010. For tickets visit:www.therrazzroom.com or call: 415.394.1189. Continuing her miraculous recovery from two devastating strokes (2006 and 2007), legendary Classic Soul/R&B/Jazz singer Angela Bofill will be appearing in a mini-tour with friends. The show will mark Angela's first public appearance since her stroke. Singing the songs of Angela's career will be award winning vocalist Maysa (Stevie Wonder's female backup group Wonderlove and British jazz/funk/R&B band Incognito), and Grammy-winning jazz flutist Dave Valentin, who played an important part in Angela's early career, will provide his own stories as well as perform. Special friends Phil Perry and Norman Connors will also perform. Sounds like a happy reunion.