Mrs. Verini: djassi daCosta johnson, 2 months pregnant. djassi daCosta johnson adores her “ridiculously amazing family.” It is in the haven of their embrace and the freedom of their trust that she’s been able to move fearlessly through her life. Her educator parents Awolowo and Orundun, of whom she speaks reverentially, anointed their eldest daughter [...]
Archive for the ‘Theater’ Category
The Trove: Craig Wallace
May 11, 2011
Craig Wallace before his performance in Jennifer L. Nelson’s “24,7, 365″ at The Atlas Performing Arts Center. Though I met Craig Stephen Wallace, he of the resounding voice and commanding presence, about twenty years ago, I’ve seen him more in the past year than in all the years before, owing to seeing the respected thespian [...]
The Gentry Lands in Brooklyn
October 23, 2009
Years ago before marriage added motherhood and the Adams to her name, I met Nichole R. Thompson Adams on an indie film project. In recent years I’ve come to live in the same nabe as the Clinton Hill homeowner/real estate broker/performer. Just the other day as she walked her palm-sized pup we bumped into one [...]
Lynn Nottage’s “Ruined”
March 30, 2009
I am hugely enamored of the work of playwright and 2007 MacArthur Fellow, Lynn Nottage. From laughing heartily and feeling the first flush of love with a date at her Fabulation, or the Education of Undine, to obsessing over costuming her beautiful, Pulitzer-nominated, turn-of-the-century play, Intimate Apparel, many wonderful moments of the past few years [...]
The Incomparable Helga Davis
March 10, 2009
It was many years ago and the venue is now a blur, but the memory of first hearing Helga Davis perform her Feet of Clay is seared into my very soul. I’d known Helga from her day gig at a showroom I frequented in the 1990′s. In her intense gaze was a depth that revealed [...]
West Side Story
February 2, 2009
I looove the Academy-Award winning film, West Side Story. It’s been a favorite since I was a child. From the brilliant opening sequence to the wall-graffiti end titles, I was glued to the television set every time it was re-broadcast. I would compare and contrast the original Broadway cast recording with the film’s soundtrack album, [...]
Thorough ‘Good
July 25, 2008
I recently saw, within days of the late Thurgood Marshall’s 100th birthday, Laurence Fishburne become the civil rights legend in a 90-minute inspired “lecture” which understandably has won the actor both the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for Outstanding Solo Performance in Thurgood and garnered him a Tony nomination. I’m always impressed with [...]
