Dominique Morisseau Receives Playwrights Of New York Fellowship

According to Shadow & Act, playwright Dominique Morisseau has been awarded the Playwrights of New York (PONY) Fellowship. Make no mistake, this is no small feat; in fact, my fellow Memphian, and writer of The Mountaintop, Katori Hall is a past recipient of this award.

Spread Love, It’s The Brooklyn Way

My beautiful borough’s motto, coined by The Notorious One himself, emblazoned on the side of Habana Works‘s Brooklyn headquarters.

Photo: Street Art On A Fort Greene Stoop

Saw this piece on the side of a stoop on Lafayette Avenue earlier today. Don’t know why but it made me stop and really study it for a while. It’s pretty dope if you ask me.

News: Fleeting Pages Pop-Up Bookstore To Open in Shuttered Pittsburgh Borders

Okay, now this is cool.

Beginning April 30th, a shuttered Pittsburgh area Borders bookstore will become a Fleeting Pages pop-up book emporium. According to the official Fleeting Pages blog:

Fleeting Pages consists of taking over (taking back??) one of the spaces, left empty by a failed big box bookstore in Pittsburgh, for one month, starting April 30th, and filling it with independent & self-published work of all kinds, book arts, workshops, events […] All revolving around various forms of written self-expression.

Theater: August Wilson’s Jitney at The Gallery Players Until April 3

Just an FYI, there’s precious little time remaining if you want to catch August Wilson‘s Jitney at Brooklyn’s The Gallery Players theater. The Gregory Simmons-directed production stars Lawrence James, Terrence Charles Rodgers, Lawrence Winslow, Gil Charleston, Kwaku Driskell, Franck Juste, Iman Richardson, Barry L. Johnson, and Ivan Moore.

Set in 1977 in the Hill District of Pittsburgh that is served by a makeshift taxi company, August Wilson’s Jitney is a beautiful addition to the author’s decade-by-decade cycle of plays about the black American experience in the twentieth century. The men who drive gypsy cabs, or “jitneys,” strive to find honor and accomplishment in a harsh world. When the station owner’s estranged son returns from prison, their reunion unleashes two decades of brutal, raw emotion.

Film: Liz Sanchez’s Short Film Boxes Seeks Funding

Help build Boxes.

Boxes is an experimental film project spearheaded by renaissance woman and artist Liz Sanchez. Although the project is under way, they are still raising money to help fund the film to its the ultimate goal of getting theatrical distribution.

Here’s what the project is all about:

Boxes is an avant-garde live show that lifts the lid off society’s stereotypes. Far from a traditional play or musical, this project showcases [Liz's] original music as a vocalist/singer-songwriter, along with dance and bold visuals. It’s an abstract show about E (played by [Liz]), her struggle to escape the boxes, and her need to master them. Through E’s four alter egos, Song, Mute, Riddle, and Word, [the film will] explore the ways we deal with different boxes and the consequences.

Event: The Art of Layla J. Merritt at Bamboo Lounge (Feb. 3)

Tomorrow, Thursday, February 3, super talented artist Layla J. Merritt will be showcasing new work at Brooklyn’s Bamboo Lounge. The Detroit native is the winner of last month’s Mobrit Society Art Competition.

Come out and enjoy a full evening of art, plus stay afterward for the beautiful sounds of live music and indulge in some delicious Latin American eats.