Wanda's Picks Friday, July 1

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay! 

1. From the archives: "Grateful" -- Victoria Theodore (4/26/2013)

2. Velina Brown joins us to talk about "Schooled," SF Mime Troupe's 2016 Summer Season opening July 2-3, 1:30 p.m. in Berkeley at Cedar Rose Park and 7/4 Dolores Park in San Francisco.

Velina Brown (Lavinia Jones, mother),
Rotimi Agbabiaka (Thomas Jones, son)

Bio:

Velina Brown (Actor, SFMT Collective) has been a principal performer for the Mime Troupe in such shows as City for Sale, Eating It, 1600 Transylvania Avenue, Mr. Smith Goes to Obscuristan, and Showdown at Crawford Gulch to name a few. She was the Devil in Deal With the Devil, Veronique in Veronique of the Mounties, she's played Condoleeza Rice three times, and was both an actor and Contributing Lyricist on GodFellas and Making a Killing. Velina's most recent shows with the Troupe include Ripple Effect, For The Greater Good: Or the Last Election, Red State, Too Big to Fail, and Posibilidad: Or Death of the Worker for which she won Best Principal Actress by the Bay Area Critics Circle. In 2012 she was honored as one of TBA's "35 Faces", artists who've made significant contributions to the Bay Area theater community.

Mother and Son with Keiko Shimosato-Carreiro (Ethel Orocuru)

Music: Zion Trinity's Elegba Opening Prayer; Victoria Theodore's "Grateful," Rene Marie's Star Spangled Banner/Lift Every Voice 

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