Juneteenth: Pasadena and Pomona

You can celebrate Juneteenth and African American women and their style by seeing Regina Taylor’s “Crowns” which is currently playing in Los Angeles at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center and will later open up in Pasadena at the Pasadena Playhouse. Pasadena will also be having a free Juneteenth celebration at the Jackie Robinson Center and a free lecture at the Pasadena Playhouse. For jazz fans, there’s a free festival in Pomona.

CROWNS
By Regina Taylor
Directed by Israel Hicks
Adapted from the book by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry

A co-production with Ebony Repertory Theatre in Association with Regina Taylor.

Winner of four Washington D.C. Helen Hayes awards including Best Regional Musical, Crowns explores the lives of the “hat queens,” six women in the South whose stories of love, loss, identity and sisterhood are woven into the hats that crown their heads and the songs that speak their truth. Based on the acclaimed coffee table book, Crowns captures the thrill of self expression with a series of intimate musical portraits.

This production has been extended and run until July 5 at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center and then opens at the Pasadena Playhouse on July 10 and ends its run there on August 16.

For more information on “Crowns” go to the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center Web site or call 323.964.9766. For information about its run at the Pasadena Playhouse, go to their official Web site or call (626) 356-7529.

As part of this special co-production, playwright Regina Taylor will be giving a talk at the Pasadena Playhouse’s Carrie Hamilton Theatre at 6 p.m. on Saturday, 20 June 2009. The talk is free, but RSVP is required. RSVP to mktgintern@pasadenaplayhouse.org.

Latin music owes a great debt to Africa, the rhythms deeply influenced salsa, tango and fados. The sensual moving of the hips in Latin dance is also part of the debt. So why not celebrate the day that brought African Americans in the U.S. freedom: Juneteenth. Free community activities in Pasadena and Pomona celebrate this event on Saturday. A play in the downtown area celebrates African American women and hats.

Although President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, not all slaves were freed. Texas was under the Confederacy and it wasn’t until Union General Gordon Granger and his troops entered Galveston on June 19, 1865 that the slaves were freed. Juneteenth is a portmanteau derived from combining June and 19.

Jackie Robinson Center, a community center celebrating 35 years of service at 1020 N. Fair Oaks Ave. in Pasadena, will host a traditional African American Juneteenth festival Saturday, June 20.

This year’s focus is on health. From noon to 3 p.m. the public can enjoy barbecue, refreshments from the Lemonade Brigade teenagers, games, performances and children’s activities in the center that provides assistance to a culturally, economically and socially diverse population.

Dedicated in 1974, the center was named for one of the nation’s great African American leaders.

“Given the name of this community center, we strive to address every problem, concern and situation with knowledge, compassion, dignity and respect,” said Jarvis Emerson, center director.

Health seminars on cancer, nutrition, cooking, diabetes and heart disease will run from 10 a.m. to noon. Blood pressure screenings, exercise routines and information will be available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more info: call (626) 744-7300 on the Pasadena event.

Go to Ganesha Park on Saturday for the 20th annual Pomona Valley Juneteenth Family Jazz Festival.

The free event will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m at the park on White and McKinley avenues.

It will include a car show, plenty of food, information booths and other activities. The event is organized by the Ontario-based Juneteenth America

Juneteenth, or June 19, 1865, is considered the date when the last slaves in the U.S. were freed, two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

“Crowns” runs until July 5 at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center, 4718 West Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90016. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Saturday 2 p.m., Sundays 3 p.m. $40. “Crowns” opens at the Pasadena Playhouse on July 10 and ends August 16.

For more info: call (626) 744-7300 on the Pasadena event.
For the Pomona event, go to the Web site for Juneteenth America.

For more information on “Crowns” go to the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center Web site or call 323.964.9766. For information about its run at the Pasadena Playhouse, go to their official Web site or call (626) 356-7529.

“The Rehearsal” Is Lovely, But Not Lovely Love Story

A Noise Within’s “The Rehearsal” is a beautiful production, without a false note. The sets are gorgeous and each performance well cast and well-acted. This is a love story, but it doesn’t have a happy ending.

Jean Anouihl’s 1950 “The Rehearsal” is entitled in French: “La répétition ou l’amour puni,” meaning “The Rehearsal or Love Punished.” Obviously, things will not go well for the lovers. Yet instead of being an indictment against love, this play is about the traps of convention and idleness amongst the aristocracy.

This production is well worth seeing, but might not make the best date. More later on the Examiner.com.

Armelia McQueen: Comes Back to “Ain’t MisBehavin’”

How special is the Ahmanson’s 30 anniversary production of “Ain’t Misbehavin’”? We have local resident, Armelia McQueen, on board. She was a member of the original cast, on the cast of the 1988 revival and still standing to do it again. Read my interview with her at Examiner.com. I, on the other hand, am often misbehaving.

Lydia: Tale of a Dysfunctional Family Lyrically Told

Lydia is not the main character of the play, “Lydia” (now at the Mark Taper Forum), but is the name of the character who acts as a catalyst toward freeing the dark secrets of one Texas family. Of course, dysfunctional families are more interesting than the Cleavers. This tale is lyrically told and although some of the reasons for the sexual encounters are tenuous, the story is told with lyrical language and as the tragic Ceci, Onahoua Rodriguez fills the stage with innocent enthusiasm of a wasted youth. For a longer review, go to Examiner.com.

Synthia Saint James Gives Free Talk

When you talk to Synthia Saint James, you want to do better–in your life. Without formal training, Saint James has become an artist and a highly successful one. You’ve all seen her work; she designed the first Kwanzaa postage stamp. Saint James will be giving a free talk on Saturday, 11 April, as part of the Pasadena Playhouse’s “Stamp Collectors Day” event.

What kind of advice does she have for artists, male or female? “Two simple words: Do it. Don’t be so concerned with what other people say about your work. Don’t be so concerned about what critics say about your work. Honestly, it’s tough. As successful as people see me today, every day I walk the beach at dawn and I do my affirmations and prayer and I release all the tension and fear so I can come back home and work.”

Yet when Saint James says work, she doesn’t just mean painting. She works hard to get her work out there, commenting, “I don’t expect things to happen out of the clear blue. Every day, I make an effort. I do research. I submit my work. You can’t just lay back. You’ve got to pursue it. That’s the real reason, I’ve been successful. Research is real important. You have to be looking, finding different avenues.

“On a spiritual level, listen to your inner hear, your inner voice and what it’s saying to you. It can be so discouraging if you don’t. You’re inner heart and voice will be your strength.”

Saint James has followed her inner heart and the path has included solo shows in New York, Salt Lake City, and Los Angeles, group shows in Canada, Paris and South Korea and she won award, including the Prix de Paris in 1980, the Gentlemen Concerned Service Award in 1995, the UNICEF Greeting Card Artist Award in 1995, the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor in 1996 for “Neeny Coming, Neeny Going” and the YWCA Silver Achievement.

One of the local projects she’s working on now is for Regina Taylor’s play, “Crowns.” This musical about the lives of six “hat queens” in the South will run for six weeks at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center (NHPAC) with previews beginning on May 5, and opening May 8, 2009 through June 14, 2009. The Pasadena Playhouse engagement will run from July 10 through August 23, 2009, with the opening date on July 12, 2009.

The Saturday talk is one of the Pasadena Playhouse’s free events around its current production, “Mauritius.”

For the full article, go to Examiner.com.

Free Advice on Stamps and Even Free Stamps!

If you have even the slightest interest in stamps, you will want to meet Don Schilling when he gives his talk about stamp collecting at the Pasadena Playhouse’s “Stamp Collectors Day.” This retired U.S. Army officer (lieutenant colonel) traveled to Europe while stationed at the NATO headquarters and has been collecting stamps for over half a century and currently writes a popular blog about stamps.

In a recent telephone interview, the 63-year-old Glendale resident said, “I’ve been collecting stamps over 50 years. I got started when I was 10….Most people get started when they are eight or nine or ten years old, then they get into school, discover girls and sports and the stamps get put away, if not tossed out by mom or dad. A lot of times ,they come back to the hobby at about 40, after they’ve raised a family, got a job or a career underway and are looking for a hobby. That never happened to me; I always was interested.”

On Saturday, Schilling will be talking about stamps and women as part of the Pasadena Playhouse’s season theme of “Women: The Heart and Soul of Theater.” He explained that the very first stamp issued in 1840 had a woman on it–a very young Queen Victoria on the Penny Black. “That is a fairly expensive stamp, not rare, but worth several hundred dollars a piece. The design is very similar to the blue Mauritius stamp issued seven years later.”

For a newer generation that emails, texts and tweets, a stamp on a letter might be a novelty item. Will stamps become a thing of the past? Schilling, who currently works as a public relations consultant for non-profits, is optimistic, saying, “the post office is in trouble because of email, but the hobby will always be around and there will always be stamp collectors.”

In Pasadena, you can jump start your collection. Schilling points out that there is a monthly stamp collectors show in Glendale and the Pasadena Coin Company has stamps and collecting supplies. And on Saturday, Schilling will be giving out free stamps from Australia donated by the American Philatelic Society.

For the full article, go to: Examiner.com.

For more info: Call (626) 356-7529 or go to www.PasadenaPlayhouse.org. To learn more about stamps, go to Don Schilling’s Stamp Collecting Round-Up.

Paralegals and Probate Lawyers: How Does “Mauritius” Stand?

I had a rather heated discussion about “Mauritius” and the legal aspects, but how much do I really know? I only had one class in probate law at PCC. So I put out the question and wondered what exactly do lawyers and paralegals think? So I’ve put up an article, hoping to raise a discussion.

Free Philatelic Event at the Pasadena Playhouse

Yes….Free!. But you’ll need to buy a first-class stamp and stand in line for the postmark. This Saturday, 12 noon until 3 p.m. at the Pasadena Playhouse. Live music (free!) by Instrumental Women Project.

Free talk by Don Schilling and Synthia Saint James.

Mauritius: Flawed Logic, But Entertaining

The Pasadena Playhouse production of Theresa Rebeck’s “Mauritius,” has an appealing cast. If you don’t let the flawed logic slow you down and have a little taste for lawlessness, then you’ll be able to sympathize easily with the protagonist who battles with her half-sister over who really owns the crown jewel of stamp collectors and who gets the money when it’s sold. The production values are top-rate. More on my Examiner.com column.

Does Nudity in the Theater Serve a Purpose?

Roger Ebert wrote about nudity and the portrayal of sex in movies. Los Angeles is the place where “Naked Boys Singing” originated before going to Chicago and NYC. So naturally, I thought about how much nudity there is on stage. See my article at: and let me know what you think.