Apollo Live Wire: Letters to Langston - Snapshots of an LGBT Life

A Conversation with John Reddick Performances by Genovis Albright & Lacresha Berry

Thursday, June 14, 2018 6:30 p.m.

Apollo Theater 253 West 125 Street, New York, NY

LETTERS TO LANGSTON: SNAPSHOTS OF AN LGBT LIFE The Negro Speaks of Rivers

I’ve known rivers: I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.

I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I’ve known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

Langston Hughes June 1921

LIVE WIRE: LETTERS TO LANGSTON - BIOGRAPHIES John Reddick is active in architectural preservation

and

has

written

on

the

architecture and cultural history of Harlem.

He is currently researching Harlem’s Black and Jewish music culture between the years 1890 and 1930, a topic upon which he’s lectured at the Harlem Stage, the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum for the City of New

York, the Cooper Hewitt Museum, as well as for educators at the Apollo.

His knowledgeable focus on Harlem's history also enlivens his walking tours, which have been sold out offerings for Open House New York and the Annual Mt. Morris Park House Tour.

He has been involved in several Harlem public space initiatives where he’s spearheaded community outreach, and coordinated artist selection and construction for design enhancement projects in area parks and public plazas. To date his projects have included Elizabeth Catlett’s

sculptural tribute to Ralph Ellison in Riverside Park, Alison Saar’s commemoration of Harriet Tubman at 122nd & St Nicholas Avenue and the recently completed Frederick Douglass Memorial by artists Al Miller and Gabriel Koren located at Frederick Douglass Circle and Central Park. As a board member of Harlem Pride, he has worked to promote Harlem's LGBT culture and produce it's annual HARLEM PRIDE Celebration now in its 9th year!

He’s a graduate of the Yale School of Architecture. His love of architecture and African American culture and history have been conveyed on numerous occasions through tours and articles he’s provided for GUCCI, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the UJAFederation of NY, and other institutions.

LIVE WIRE: LETTERS TO LANGSTON - BIOGRAPHIES Genovis

Albright

recording

artist,

is a singer, pianist,

and

actor.

He

is

the

composer of Bones, Ups and Downs, Children of the Enterprise, and most recently, the composer of three songs in the Off-Broadway musical Good Time Blues, in which he starred.

Mr. Albright

was

featured

Off-

Broadway in his first one man show Serenade

The World: The Music and Words of Oscar Brown Jr., a musical work that he created in collaboration with the Legendary Oscar Brown Jr. He created Simone in George Faison’s new play Harlem Hot and Sassy and wrote the theme song for Miramax Films’ Just Another Girl On The I.R.T. entitled “Not Just Another Girl.”

Lacresha Berry, better known as Berry, is a singer/songwriter, actress, poet, educator, and writer from Queens by way of Lexington,

Kentucky. She received her BA in Theatre from the University of Kentucky. She honed her playwriting skills there and went on to produce three one-woman shows since 2002.

Her

last

one-woman

show,

Browngirl.

Bluegrass. documented her life as a brown girl coming of age in the bluegrass state of Kentucky. She's performed all over the country with the show, in addition to singing and hosting all over NYC. Her latest one woman show, TUBMAN, a reimagining of Harriet Tubman’s life as a young girl in Harlem, debuted to packed audiences in her hometown of Lexington, KY and in NYC, with additional performances in San Diego, Rikers Island, New Bedford (Massachusetts), Sacramento, and Tubman's birthplace in Cambridge, MD. When she's not performing, she's teaching spoken word to middle and high school students in the Bronx, conducting educational workshops, and writing curricula. She is currently writing her debut YA novel, Seeing Janelle.

LIVE WIRE: LETTERS TO LANGSTON - BIOGRAPHIES James Mercer Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. He was raised by his grandmother until he was thirteen, then he moved to Lincoln, Illinois to live with his mother and her husband. It was in Lincoln that Hughes began writing poetry.

Hughes’ first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, was published by Alfred A.

Knopf

in

1926.

In

1930,

his

first

novel,

Not

Without

Laughter, (Knopf, 1930) won the Harmon gold medal for literature.

Hughes, who claimed Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg, and Walt Whitman as his primary influences, is particularly known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the twenties through the sixties. He wrote novels, short stories and plays, as well as poetry. He is also known for his engagement with the world of jazz and the influence it had on his writing, as in his book-length poem Montage of a Dream Deferred (Holt, 1951). His life and work were enormously important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Unlike other notable black poets of the

period—Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, and Countee Cullen—Hughes refused to differentiate between his personal experience and the common experience of black America. He wanted to tell the stories of his people in ways that reflected their actual culture, including both their suffering and their love of music, laughter, and language itself.

Langston Hughes died of complications from prostate cancer on May 22, 1967, in New York City. In his memory, his residence at 20 East 127th Street in Harlem has been given landmark status by the New York City Preservation Commission.

(Source: poets.org)

LIVE WIRE: LETTERS TO LANGSTON

Tonight's Apollo presentation of Letters to Langston: Snapshots of an LGBT Life, evolved from of an earlier talk, “The LGBT Life & Langston� given by John Reddick at the Langston Hughes House on March 2, 2018, produced in partnership with Harlem Pride and I, Too Arts Collective.

Visit itooarts.com to learn more about I, Too Arts Collective, a Harlem based organization that is continuing the legacy of Langston Hughes.

ABOUT THE APOLLO THEATER The Apollo is a national treasure that has had significant impact on the development of American culture and its popularity around the world. Since introducing the first Amateur Night contests in 1934, the Apollo Theater has played a major role in cultivating artists and in the emergence of innovative musical genres including jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, soul, and hiphop. Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Sammy Davis, Jr., James Brown, Michael Jackson, Bill Cosby, Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross, D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, and countless others began their road to stardom on the Apollo’s stage. Based on its cultural significance and architecture, the Apollo Theater received state and city landmark designation in 1983 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. apollotheater.org

APOLLO EDUCATION PROGRAM The Apollo Theater Education Program extends the Apollo’s commitment to enhancing the life of the community. The Education Program focuses on four distinct areas of learning and engagement: residencies, workshops and tours for schools; curriculum materials aligned to state and national learning standards and study guides derived from the Theater’s history; career development for teens and adults through the Apollo Theater Academy; and discussions and lectures for the public that highlight the history of the Apollo and its impact on American art, culture and entertainment.

LIVE WIRE Produced by the Apollo Theater Education Program, Apollo Live Wire is a discussion series that focuses on the arts, culture, entertainment and other topics pertinent to the legacy of the Apollo Theater. @ApolloEd

@ApolloEdHarlem

Education at the Apollo Theater

Podcasts of Career Panels and Live Wire: mixcloud.com/ApolloEd/

Leadership support for Apollo Education Programs provided by RONALD O. PERELMAN FAMILY FOUNDATION

Generous support from Apollo EmpowerHer, Conscious Kids Inc., Con Edison, Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation, Insperity, The Reginald F. Lewis Foundation, Ellis L. Phillips Foundation, Pinkerton Foundation, and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.