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- Afrofuturism – Collaboration, Adaptation...
Friday
September 30
12:00-2:00 PM
Moniker Brewery
432 W Fountain St,
Providence, RI 02903
ADA Accessible: Yes
Fee: Pay what you wish
Afrofuturism – Collaboration, Adaptation and the Creative Process in Theatre Making
African diasporic people who re-imagine time and consciousness, vis-a-vi technology, have been deemed as “Afro-futurist.” To receive black art through a lens of futurism is to engage with eclectic and historically intertwined media. This framing has been the through-line of our production, Soul Tapes.
Our theatrical performance, opening this November, will be the cohesive of our adaptation. Soul Tapes voyages into the year 2105 buoyed by the swirling song stylings of 1970’s soul music; our protagonists rely on their love for analogue technologies to help them sort through a life altering decision.
The play is inspired by Will Johnson’s multimedia lecture performance, The Soul Tapes of Black Folk. Remarking on his piece he states:
Throughout the work, disparate fragments of sound and image are sequenced into a mix. Here “tape” is discussed as an adhesive that coheres the sonic traditions of black folk with the black radical tradition.
Join us at Moniker Brewery where we will dive into our collaborative process developing Soul Tapes into the world theatrical premiere opening in Providence this November. With the support of audio, visual and literary samples, we’ll discuss our multidisciplinary approach to creating Soul Tapes.
Will Johnson
WILL JOHNSON is an audio artist from the Bronx, New York. His work centers on blackness – the material and immaterial conditions of space that shape sound into movement(s).
He is the recipient of the Jerome Foundation Fellowship for Sound Art/Composition, the McKnight Foundation Fellowship for Musicians and is currently a PhD candidate at Brown University.
JaMario
JaMario Stills is a multidisciplinary artist and producer from Jacksonville, FL. He received his B.F.A from The Juilliard School. The Rhode Island School of Design is where JaMario has gone on to study Screenwriting and Scenography. He is currently a M.F.A directing candidate at Brown University/Trinity Rep. As a professional actor he has performed at The McCarter Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. JaMario has directed at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville as year-long resident artist, and performance curator for Art Republic. His work as a creative entrepreneur has been featured in Arbus Magazine and Innovate Jax.
Sara Ossana
Sara Ossana is a designer, educator and artist. Originally from Arizona she is a founding partner and
former co-owner of O&G Studio. She is a multi-disciplinary creative, designing furniture, product, interiors, identities and
narrative environments in theatre and film She is committed to a personal legacy as an advocate for American design,
craft and manufacturing. The term ‘American’ is not limited by country or borders, and instead is a more dynamic
use of the term.