Ujima Co Inc's Season 48
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Ujima Co Inc's Season 48 ~
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Season 48 Productions
Season 48 Events
Season 48 Productions
The play that inspired the movie Beasts of the Southern Wild.
Hushpuppy lives with her wild, invincible father on the edge of the world. Then Daddy gets sick, and the universe starts to fall apart. Daddy and the brilliant, fearless teacher, Miss Bathsheba must work to prepare Hushpuppy and her schoolmates for life at the end of the known world.
The grownups teach the children that the only way to survive is to take care of each other.
In a town running low on compassion, an exile seeks forgiveness, forcing the community to decide between mercy or justice.
A storyteller spins a tale of a lonely soul tempted by the devil’s kindness on a fateful trip to the crossroads. Where We Stand is an epic fable of penance filled with humor, heart and music.
Originally commissioned by The Public Theater's Mobile Unit, Where We Stand received a workshop through the Public Theater's Brooklyn College Research Residency August 7-17, 2018.
The play continued development at SPACE on Ryder Farm. In spring 2020, Where We Stand made its world premiere off-Broadway and in Baltimore, through a co-production between WP Theater in New York and Baltimore Center Stage, under Tamilla Woodard's direction.
On March 12, 1955, the same day that virtuoso jazz saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker is dying in the plush boudoir of his wealthy European patroness, the spirited teenagers in the Hide-a-Wee Home for Unwed Mothers (the “unfinished women”) must decide whether to keep their babies or put them up for adoption.
The Bird is trapped in lost dreams of the past, while the young women look to the possibilities of the future. Mixing poetry and live music into a rich tapestry of longing and love, Unfinished Women possesses a rare and haunting lyricism not soon forgotten.
"(Charles Parker Jr. or,) 'Bird' was a genius at improvisation, and harmonically he would superimpose on certain fundamental notes which created polytones. Rhythmically, he would create an opposition of on-and off-beat accentuations and obtain the effect of two streams of rhythms called polyrhythms. Likewise, two streams of consciousness is what I'm aiming for here.” -Playwright Aishah Rahman
Three men chew the fat under an old, wide tree. In this exploration of intergenerational bonds, we peek into the interiority – the great loves and bitter blues – of Black men in America.
HANG TIME is a deeply moving and subversive work by Pulitzer Prize Finalist Zora Howard.
“The stage direction in Howard’s script seems to make the matter of her setting even blunter: the play takes place “underneath an old, wide tree.” But in this production—directed by Howard, with scenic design by Neal Wilkinson—the actors are held up from behind by a metal contraption. No tree or other entity, living or dead, is visible above their heads. No ropes. Sometimes the men’s legs are free to sway, but a black platform periodically rises to meet their feet, enabling them to stand.” -Vinson Cunningham of The New Yorker
Season 48 Events
In honor of the late Jimmy “Rook” Hawkins, an accomplished dancer and videographer, his sister Yanava Hawkins continues this all styles dance competition to celebrate his legacy and uplift the creative community he loved.
This event is 18+
Part burlesque, part ritual, part living memory. Chimera: The Body as Archive is an exploration of the stories carried in flesh and transformation. Through sensual performance, theatrical spectacle, and embodied storytelling, artists unravel themes of identity, desire, inheritance, and reinvention. Intimate and provocative,Chimera invites audiences into a world where the body becomes both artifact and rebellion.
In honor of the late Jimmy “Rook” Hawkins, an accomplished dancer and videographer, his sister Yanava Hawkins continues this all styles dance competition to celebrate his legacy and uplift the creative community he loved.
Tune is an immersive evening of poetry and music inspired by the many ways sound shapes memory, emotion, and imagination. Featuring musicians and spoken word artists, the night explores the relationship between rhythm and language. Where lyrics become literature and poems become songs. Tune invites audiences to experience storytelling through both voice and vibration.
Constructed by the acclaimed high flyer and educator Kathleen Golde and inspired by the writings of Lorna C Hill, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Oscar Brown Jr., this high-energy circus variety show brings together aerialists and physical theater artists for a night that balances elegance with absurdity. Every act offers something different. A celebration of risk and spectacle!