Showing posts with label aaron jafferis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label aaron jafferis. Show all posts
Monday, March 30, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
ReVision Theatre Reacts to Gang Violence
Hopes to draw large audience to new Hip Hop rock musical, KINGDOM
Asbury Park, New Jersey – ReVision Theatre is hitting the streets with a new show that exposes the impact of gang violence on the local community. The East Coast Premiere of Kingdom, a new Hip Hop Rock musical about the gang, the Latin Kings, will open in April, but the theatre company is already working hard to educate Asbury Park and surrounding communities about the growing number of gang members in Monmouth County. Events include a Kingdom Kick Off Party on March 7th, a Kingdom Exploration Symposium on March 19th, a Ticket Fund Campaign, and a cutting-edge interactive forum after every performance.
Kingdom will run Thursdays through Sunday, April 16th through May 3rd, at the VFW Theatre, 701 Lake Avenue in Asbury Park. A musical that speaks directly to today's youth through rap and hip hop music, the show is inspired by the true stories of current and former gang members of the Latin Kings. The show chronicles the journey of two kids from the barrio in a quest to belong and the power struggle that tears the two friends apart. Music by Ian Williams and book and lyrics by Aaron Jafferis, Kingdom will be directed by Carlos Armesto.
The public is invited to a Kingdom Kick-Off Party at 6:00 pm on Saturday, March 7th at the VFW Theatre, 701 Lake Avenue in Asbury Park. RVT staff, audiences, and sponsors will come together to generate support and enthusiasm for Kingdom and create a united stand against gang violence. This free event is open to the public and will include food, drink, and a live preview performance of Kingdom. Guests are encouraged to RSVP by calling 732-455-3059.
On Thursday, March 19th, ReVision Theatre will sponsor a Kingdom Exploration Symposium at the VFW Theatre, 701 Lake Avenue, in Asbury Park that is open to the public. Teachers, community leaders, and parents are encouraged to attend. This symposium will feature gang experts as moderators that will discuss the affect of gangs in Monmouth County and how parents and leaders can take action to prevent gang violence.
ReVision Theatre is adding an interactive After-Show Forum to each performance that will add context to the themes presented in the show. Each Forum will generate a dialogue between a moderator, audience members, and actors in the show. This will include a general survey of audience members, an exploration with cast members in character, and a reflection of final thoughts and collective commentary.
Kingdom was developed and will be first produced by the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California, just prior to the ReVision Theatre's East Coast Premiere production. Kingdom was the winner of the 2008 Richard Rodgers Award for stage readings, administered by the American Academy of Arts and Letters and presented at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's Festival of New Musicals in 2007, the 2006 New York Musical Theatre Festival, developed by Eric Louie, The Public Theater, Queens Theatre in the Park, Weston Playhouse, John Jay College, Bregamos Community Theater, and at NYU's Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program.
Tickets are available online at www.ReVisionTheatre.org or by calling the box office at 732-455-3059. Ticket prices are $25 and $35. Special $15 tickets are available for Students and Teachers at each performance. ReVision Theatre has started a Ticket Fund Campaign where ticket buyers have the opportunity to sponsor additional tickets for teenagers who cannot afford admission.
A special Open Captioning performance for the hearing impaired will be available on Thursday, April 23rd at 8 pm.
ReVision Theatre is a non-profit 501(c)3 professional regional theatre company dedicated to producing invigorating theatre with a fresh new perspective reaching the diverse community of Asbury Park and Monmouth County. ReVision Theatre's Producing Artistic Directors, Thomas Morrissey, David E. Leidholdt, and Stephen Bishop Seely, produce reinventions of previously produced classics, overlooked or forgotten work in a new way, and new work with a fresh voice. The company serves as a home for local artists and writers. ReVision Theatre also believes in the importance of theatre education and teaches children and adult theatre classes. ReVision Theatre produces readings, workshops, cabarets, concerts, and mainstage productions. ReVision Theatre's 2008-2009 Season includes a one night only benefit performance of Steven Brinberg as Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl (July 11) at The Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park, and the blockbuster musical, The Full Monty (August 12-September 6) at the Carousel House on the Boardwalk in Asbury Park.
Visit www.RevisionTheatre.org or call 732-455-3059 for show calendars and more information.
Friday, October 31, 2008
November 4th by the writer of Kingdom
Hip hop poem about the election. Words by Aaron Jafferis. Music by KronZilla. Thanks to Angela, April, Daniene, Derrick, Dexter, Dontae, Doug, Gabe, Hillary, Jay, Jessie, Joel, Kesa, Laki, Layla, Liz, Magalis, Mike, Red.
---------------------------
Lyrics:
My father was African, my mother American.
I have brothers blue-black, and cousins with fairer skin
who pale in comparison to Sarah Palin.
Like blues, my family trees roots shoot
deep through the earth, but only in America
could my parents have given birth to me.
Conceived when cultures
collided and made love, previously divided states
(of mind) united and gave blood and life.
Husband and wife split the difference between
hope and change, between cope and pain,
and even though they split, all of it their hope and pain
still fit in their sons open brain
and over time became his/my over-arching aim:
give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses,
give me liberty from war, lift, lift the underclasses,
and if this economy looks fundamentally strong,
your fundamentals are wrong
or youre looking through muddy glasses,
or your fundamental heads are stuck up your metaphorical...
Ask me who I am, and I will tell you true:
my name is not Barack, though this is his story too.
My name is hip hop. Its my history Im telling you:
My father was African, my mother American.
I have brothers blue-black, and cousins with fairer skin
who pale in comparison to Sarah Palin, who isnt
the only illustration of true-blooded Americanism.
Like blues, I am he whose family trees
roots shoot deep through the earth,
but only America could have given birth to me.
I was given the gift of speech, and I use it
to outreach and uplift the youth, and if you
wanna use me as a servant to you in order to form
a more perfect union, then do...organize
and do mobilize and open eyes to truth and show that lies
misled the poor and led to war and broken lives.
Do give the tools to cope and rise,
and as the movement grows in size
and breaks the ropes that hope defies,
and as the youth vote multiplies,
well break the race right open wide,
wide open eyes will vote
and take this nation by surprise. Surprise!
I am the native son, the bought and traded one,
the sometimes hated drum talking of change to come,
I am the underrated, the wonder-if-hell-make-it one,
the character-assassinated but still not jaded son,
even though over time I become the front-page-aided one,
the allegedly overrated, celebrity-associated one,
some people thought I blew up and went pop-
ular, grew up and then dropped the urban
working class who, from first to last, I have worked
to bring from last to first, and if you think my values
are in trouble...your (thought) bubble is burst.
I still cast my lot with the tired, the poor,
the huddled masses. Give me liberty from war,
lift, lift the underclasses, and if this economy
looks fundamentally strong, your fundamentals are wrong
or youre lookin through muddy glasses,
or your fundamental heads are stuck up your metaphorical...
As for us:
if hip hop is the entrance to what is in store
lit hot from the embers of what came before,
if Barack is the belief that God demands more
than a war in Iraq and abandoning the poor,
if America can stare itself in the face and be sure
we want to end poverty, and end endless war,
then we are the ones we have been waiting for.
You are the ones you have been waiting for.
Your name is...My name is...
Our name is...
Our name is America, our very existence, a miracle.
We survived insistent attempts to make our lives unbearable.
Dehumanize us, brutalize and downsize divide us,
still we rise through the work of the multitudes inside us.
Though generations have lived and died,
we pride ourselves on our youth
and keep our eyes on the prize of that self-evident truth
that we know is not a lie even though Americas broke:
Our birthright is equality. Our inheritance is hope.
Our name is America, and you better be ready,
cause on the 4th of November, we are going to vote.
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