NEWS

Theatre:

Grant aids theatrical vision

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For NCBR Artistic Director Jackie Alexander, “holy ground” manifests through the empathy and connection that the arts can create.

“Art is a great connector,” Alexander said. “It’s easy to hate what you don’t know, and I think the arts allow people to be introduced to people, cultures and places they have never experienced in their own life.”

He continued: “You can go to a play and fall in love with a character that represents a part of society with which you may have no contact. Once you put a name to a face — even a fictional name — you start connecting emotionally with that person.”

The work of this grant will be showcased at the National Black Theatre Festival which began in 1989 and has occurred biannually in Winston-Salem ever since, aside from a 2021 cancellation due to COVID-19.

Showcasing 130 shows and welcoming 60,000 visitors to the city, it is the largest event for Black theatre in the world.

NCBR provided the platform for this project, as they host the National Black Theatre Festival. The Festival has long been described as the “holy ground of Black theatre”, and with Winston-Salem being the “City of Arts and Innovation”, Alexander believes there is no better home for the festival.

“Every two years in the world of Black theatre, all eyes are on Winston-Salem,” Alexander said. “That’s where you need to be. I don’t think it could be done anywhere else.”

For Soriano, the timing of this project could not be more perfect. She has observed firsthand how the arts have been a crucial support system for people during the pandemic. Additionally, for her, the arts could not only foster unity, but they also catalyze change.

“The arts remind us that we can make the world the place we want it to be,” Soriano said. “It’s time for this work.”

For Alexander and the other collaborators, the ultimate hope for this project is that it will create dialogue and present new stories that represent underserved communities.

“Problems are solved when people talk to each other with the purpose of learning and not preaching,” Alexander said. “This project is about listening to each other and finding common ground — finding holy ground.”

Founded more than 80 years ago by Henry R. Luce, creator of Time magazine, the Luce Foundation is an organization that, according to their website, “invests in knowledge makers and ensures that their work informs public discussion.”

It supports projects at universities, media organizations, museums and policy institutes that are committed to dispersing knowledge to the public.

For more information regarding the National Black Theatre Festival and instructions on how to submit a play, please visit the organization’s website: ncblackrep.org.

U.S. Poet Laureate visits Wake Forest

Joy Harjo, the 23rd U.S. Poet Laureate, performed at Wait Chapel on Jan. 26

CHRISTA DUTTON News Editor

U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo visited Wake Forest University on Jan. 25-27. She led students in a threeday interdisciplinary writing workshop and gave a public poetry performance in Wait Chapel at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 26.

Harjo was appointed as the 23rd U.S. Poet Laureate in 2019. She is a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and is the first Native American to hold the position of U.S. Poet Laureate. Additionally, she is only the second person to ever serve three terms in the role.

Harjo has written nine books of poetry and two memoirs, and she has edited several anthologies of Native American writing.

She is a highly decorated and accomplished writer as she has received several awards including the Ruth Lilly Prize from the Poetry Foundation, the 2015 Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets and two awards from the Poetry Society of America. She is also a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and holds a Tulsa Artist Fellowship.

Several campus partners from a wide variety of disciplines collaborated to host Harjo, including the Environment and Sustainability Program and the Department for the Study of Religions.

Dr. Lucas Johnston, Associate Professor of Religion and Environment, believes Harjo’s visit to campus will provide a learning experience that is quintessential to Wake Forest’s educational goals.

“If at Wake Forest what we are doing is educating the whole person for the greater good of society, as our motto, Pro Humanitate, suggests, then this is the confluence of all the things that we think about when it comes to that,” Johnston said.

He continued: “Being able to learn from her, whether in the context of the writing workshop or the public lecture, offers a unique educational perspective. She’s a person from a marginalized and traditionally disenfranchised community that has become a leader in both feminist circles and Native American advocacy circles.”

Johnston believes that, from Harjo, students will be able to hear a perspective that has traditionally been overlooked or purposefully silenced.

“She provides a different perspective on our preconceived notions of the American dream,” Johnston said. “Hearing from her is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Contact Christa Dutton at duttcd20@wfu.edu

“She provides a different perspective on our preconceived notions of the American dream”