By Sherman Yellen

MUSIC BY: Wally Harper

April 18 – May 13, 2012

This funny, sexy, exuberant world premiere, written by an award-winning playwright, traces the life of Josephine Baker from Jim Crow America to Paris, where she became a stage sensation. Hold on to your seats as the Bronze Venus takes our theater by storm with her barely-there dresses and no-holds-barred dance routines. Baker is the ultimate rags-to-riches story despite the difficult times in which she lived.

The play opens in 1919 with Josephine as a young girl determined to escape the grinding poverty and racial violence of her world through nerve, talent, wit, and an unbreakable will. She grows from unschooled ghetto teenager from East St. Louis to a sophisticated, self-educated entertainer right before your eyes.

Articles

Official Josephine Baker site

Wikipedia

Women in History

Red Hot Jazz: Josephine Baker's biography

Internet Movie Database (MD)

Interesting facts about Josephine Baker

• Dropped out of school at 12 and lived on the streets of East St. Louis
• Toured U.S. with vaudeville show, dancing and performing comical skits
• Opened in Paris in 1925, where she became an instant success for her exotic dancing
• Rose to celebrity status in France but not in the US until 1973
• Said to have received 1,500 marriage proposals

WBTT celebrates Stevie Wonder, one of the most creative musical icons of the late 20th Century. He recorded more than 30 U.S. top 10 hits and received 22 Grammy Awards, the most ever awarded to a male solo artist. Nate Jacobs presents a creative musical revue featuring all your favorite Stevie tunes spanning over 40 years of his musical career, such as: “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” “Living for the City,” “Ribbon in the Sky,” “Higher Ground” and many more.

Cast

Nate Jacobs – Creator, Director

James (Jay) E. Dodge, II - Music Director/Production Manager

Ariel Blue

Naarai Jacobs

Michael Mendez

Kenessa “Nisi” Pierre

Tsadok Porter

Sheldon Roden

Henry Washington

Written and performed by Apphia Campbell

Black Is The Color Of My Voice, written and performed by founding troupe member, Apphia Campbell, is an intimate cabaret-type musical revue loosely inspired by the story of Nina Simone.

The play’s story follows the life of the fictional Mena Bordeaux, a successful jazz singer seeking redemption after the untimely death of her father. During a three-day period of isolation without cigarettes, alcohol, or access to the outside world, Mena reflects on the journey that took her from a young piano prodigy destined for a life in the service of the church to a renowned jazz vocalist at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement.

Black Is The Color Of My Voice was first performed at Play the Spotlight Theatre in Shanghai where Apphia is one of their most in-demand singers and dramatic actresses. There have been three successful runs in Shanghai and one last summer in New York. In addition, Play the Spotlight Theatre is currently working to take Black Is the Color of My Voice to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival after its summer run in Sarasota.

Critics say:

"Black is the Color of My Voice shines, bringing a little bit of American soul to Shanghai theatre." -TimeOut Shanghai

"Want to see Nina Simone depicted the way you think she should be? Go to China." -IndieWire

"Campbell transfixed, she charmed, she entertained and ultimately moved a packed theater with her touching portrayal of a jazz musician reeling and reminiscing in the aftermath of her father's death." -SmartShanghai.com

"Memories of her life's most decisive moments and choices are evoked, flashbacks solely carried by Apphia's expressional performance and powerful singing voice, which do justice to her source of inspiration." -Shanghaiist

Media and Reviews

Black Is The Color Of My Voice "TRAILER"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mql_Zaxd9oU

Created and performed by Nate Jacobs

May 16 – May 19, 2013

Hilarious one-man show written and staring Nate Jacobs as Aunt Rudele, the relative who knows no boundaries, but always knows best. Attending the Stevens Family reunion, Aunt Rudele introduces her kinfolks through songs, dances, prayers, sermons, and verbal duels. Her observations are searing and laugh-out loud funny. In the Southern tradition, this show serves up a main dish of laughter with a side order of down-home wisdom.