The Kent County Arts Council presents:
MIGRATION: An Exploration in Art, Words and Music, Inspired by Jacob Lawrence
In 2016 The Phillips Collection in Washington DC commissioned Playwright and Producing Artistic Director Jacqueline E. Lawton, Assistant Professor of Theater, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, to create an evening of short plays based on the Great Migration series painted by famed African American painter, Jacob Lawrence. These plays will be presented together as Act one of a Two-Act evening that also includes Kent County’s own RED DEVIL MOON, Thursday – Sunday, November 1 – 4, 2018 at the Garfield Center for the Arts. Tickets are just $10 each, and free for all 18 years old or younger.
In 1941, the 26 year old Jacob Lawrence completed the 60 panels that make up The Migration Series. This fall, the Kent County Arts Council offers a unique glimpse into these works and the Great Migration with a multifaceted, multimedia presentation with arts, words and music.
ART
We will host 40 Kent County High School Art students on a trip to The Philips Collection in Washington DC for a tour of the museum, an intensive on Lawrence’s work, and to inspire the students’ own work on the subject, which will hang in the Chestertown RiverArts Gallery from October 31 through November 11 as part of the project. All five KCPS visual arts teachers will participate in this trip.
RiverArts will be open regular hours, plus one hour before curtain at the Garfield an all four performance days.
WORDS
On November 1-4, 2018 we will present a two-act evening of theater at the Garfield Center for the Arts. For Act 1, five excellent playwrights have created five powerful short plays which originally premiered at The Phillips Collection in the fall of 2016. It is our pleasure to showcase these works, and to welcome all five playwrights for a Sunday, November 4, 2018 talk-back and reception following the 3 p.m. performance. Thursday – Saturday, Nov 1-3, at 7 pm and Sunday, Nov 4, at 3 pm. The five plays are:
IN CONSTANT PURSUIT by Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm
#51 by Laura Shamas
A LEGACY OF CHAINS by Annalisa Dias
A LONG ARDUOUS JOURNEY by Jacqueline E. Lawton
BAGHDAD CARPET by Norman Allen
The plays will be produced by Guest Artistic Director Jacqueline E. Lawton, and will be directed by Michele Volansky, Chair, Department of Theater and Dance, Washington College.
MUSIC
Act Two will be a revival of Kent County’s own RED DEVIL MOON written by Robert Earl Price and Pam Ortiz and featuring Sombarkin and The Pam Ortiz Band. RED DEVIL MOON is a Migration story, based on Harlem Renaissance writer, Jean Toomer’s novel CANE.
Finally, as part of this project, we will present just RED DEVIL MOON on Thursday, October 25 at 11 a.m. with The Garfield Center for the Arts as part of their ongoing educational outreach series. The theater will be reserved for students from schools across our region that day.
Watch a preview of this great new musical and visit www.reddevilmoon.com for more information about the show.
For more info or tickets call 410-778-3700.
