RUINED: Cell phones, rape headline a powerful play set in the Congo

 

Lynn Nottage’s 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Ruined” has garnered world-wide attention for bringing to the forefront two problems that affect millions of people: (A) How obscure and rare minerals used in the manufacturing of cell phones have kept civil war alive in the Democratic Republic of Congo for more than a decade, and (B) How approximately 400,000 women (by the United Nations’ estimation) have been systematically and brutally raped in the nation as an institutionalized weapon of war.

This play isn’t only insightful, it’s relevant all over the world. “Everybody who has a cell phone, particularly a Samsung phone, is remotely part of this conflict. Coltan is used in cell phones and smart phones,” shares Cheryl Hall, an assistant professor of theatre at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who is co-directing the Birmingham production. “The civil war of the Congo is more than a war about who controls the country; it’s about who controls the minerals. Now rape is being used as a weapon of war.”
The effects of war have been devastating in so many ways, adds co-director Jonathan Fuller. “When I learned what’s been going on in the Congo and how long it’s been happening, I was horrified,” said Fuller.
“Ruined,” is about the resilience of the human spirit during times of war. Set in a small mining town in the Democratic Republic of Congo, this powerful play follows Mama Nadi, a shrewd businesswoman in a land torn apart by civil war. But is she protecting, or profiting from, the women she shelters? How far will she go to survive? Can a price be placed on a human life?

City Equity Theatre and The Aldridge Repertory Theatre partner for their companies’ first-time co-production to bring this issue-oriented play to the Birmingham stage in 2013’s only professional production in the United States. This play, co-directed by Jonathan Fuller and Cheryl Hall, will run February 28-March 17 at the Martha Moore Sykes Studio of the Virginia Samford Theatre.
Opening Night — a fundraising event for The Footprints Foundation, and the Center Midical St. Vincent hospital in Bakuva, Dem. Rep of the Congo that works to improve healthcare for women and infants. — is February 28th. Tickets are $100 and are tax-deductible for this event. “Ruined” officially begins March 1st and runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., andSundays at 3 p.m. until March 17th at the Martha Moore Sykes Studio of the Virginia Samford Theatre. Tickets may be purchased by phone at (205) 251.1206 or online at www.virginiasamfordtheatre.org.

City Equity Theatre is Birmingham’s preeminent professional Actor’s Equity Association Company. Its mission is to enrich theatre artists’ process and the community’s life by producing provocative modern and classical plays that enlighten the human condition.
Aldridge Repertory Theatre, Inc. (ART) was officially organized in November 1984. ART, named in honor of the late Ira Aldridge, became incorporated in the state of Alabama in October 1988. Its mission is to identify, cultivate and showcase multi-cultural artistic excellence.

For more information, please call (205) 951-3029. You may also visit www.aldridgerepertorytheatre.org, www.cityequitytheatre.com, and www.footprints-foundation.org.

Encore Performance this Sunday! Marc Raby’s These Three Words Stage Play starring Chris Coleman, Alvin Garrett, MeMe Williams, Isis Jones and DJ Strick

Don’t miss the Encore Performance of Marc Raby’s These Three Words this Sunday only!

Marc Raby’s These 3 Words A Stage Play starring Chris Coleman, Alvin Garrett, MeMe Williams, Isis Jones, LP Like Paul and DJ Strick taking place July 29 – 31, 2012 at the  Harrison Theatre on the Campus of Samford university.

Limited seating and tickets are only $25.00

Tickets are available online and preferred seating options are available at www.these3words.eventbrite.com.

What Do You Do When Your Significant Other Just Can’t Get Enough Of The Game? Do You Pull The Plug?

Ailey II – January 27 at the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center

Ailey II is universally renowned for merging the spirit and energy of the country’s best young dance talent with the passion and creative vision of today’s most outstanding emerging choreographers. Alvin Ailey personally appointed former Ailey member, Sylvia Waters, as Artistic Director in 1974. Under her direction, Ailey II has flourished into one of the most popular dance companies in the country, combining a rigorous touring schedule with extensive community outreach programs.

For more information visit http://alysstephens.org or call (205) 975-2787

Performances:
Friday, January 27, 2012 · 8 PM

A: $52.50 · B: $39.50 · C: $29.50 · Students: $20 · tickets

Venue: Jemison Concert Hall

Winter dance concert set for Dec. 2-3 at Birmingham-Southern College

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Fun-filled, classic, and contemporary Christmas tunes will be played out in dance at Birmingham-Southern’s annual holiday show “A Taste of the Season.”

This popular performance by students in BSC’s dance program will be held Friday, Dec. 2, and Saturday, Dec. 3, at 7:30 p.m. on the mainstage of the College Theatre.

Approximately 18 female students and two male students will dazzle and entertain with holiday favorites such as “O Come, O Come, Emanuel”; “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”; and many more, including an excerpt from “The Nutcracker.”

Jackie Lockhart, BSC adjunct professor of dance and coordinator of the BSC dance program, is overseeing the production.  She is a 1985 graduate of Birmingham-Southern.

All the Christmas tunes and dance numbers and scenes are student-choreographed and student-directed. The production also will feature a variety of dance styles, including ballet, modern, jazz, and hip hop, with each piece being wholly distinct and unique. One piece will transport the audience back to the 1950s with a USO (United Service Organizations) feel and Bing Crosby crooning in the background.

The show runs about one hour, with a 15-minute intermission. The event is open to the public and admission is free on a first come basis.

“We’re so excited to usher in the holidays by ‘dancing our hearts out,’” said Catherine Clubb-Brown, a sophomore English major from Memphis. “We just want to bring joy to our BSC family and to the Greater Birmingham community.”

For more information about the production, please contact Clubb-Brown at caclubbb@bsc.edu.

PME Extreme Drama presents A Sinner Prayer

Prepare yourselves to question who you are as you behold the drama “A Sinner’s Prayer”!! PME Education Foundation presents the powerful gospel stage play that rings loud and painfully clear for any parent who has children making destructive decisions. A Sinner’s Prayer’s true brilliance is how it draws viewers to feel pain and experience flights of laughter! This drama colorfully and skillfully shows how disobedience from God can quickly lead to destructive decisions. You will cry one minute and laugh the next but you will leave praising God for his faithfulness! A Sinner’s Prayer is more than a prayer – it is gospel entertainment at its best. Join us on August 20, 2011 at The Guiding Light 1800 John Rodgers Drive, at 7pm doors open at 6:30pm. Tickets are now on sale at Lifeway Christian Bookstores, Spirit Filled Christian Bookstore and JB’S House of Fashion! Make your plans to be there for the only performance on August 20, 2011, 7p.m. at The Guiding Light, 1800 John Rodgers Drive call 256-682-2720 For more information!  VISIT www.asinnerprayer.com

PME Extreme Drama will be presenting a play (www.asinnerprayer.com)  in Birmingham on August 20, 2011. PME Extreme Drama is a drama group developed out of the non-profit PME Education Foundation (www.pmeeducationfoundation.com) which was established in the honor of my father who believed in education, talent and God.  Each year we host a golf tournament and a stage play production to rasie money for scholarships to be given to high school seniors and freshmen in collge.  Thus far, since our establishment in 2008, we have been blessed to give away four scholarships, help students with books, and assist with other medical needs for different communities.

GOD has truly been blessing me with this drama ministry and has allowed me several opportunities to present several plays. The latest gospel stage play, ‘A Sinner Prayer’ will be presented on August 20, 2011 in Birmingham, AL at The Guiding Light, 1800 John Rodgers Road, Birmingham, AL and on October 30, 2011 at Tuskegee University to kick-off Tuskegee’s Homecoming for the students.

Positive Roots Presents the live stage play Choices

Starring Tamika Scott formerly of XSCAPE and Tyler Perry’s plays this powerful inspiring stage play examines the lives of seven teenagers, all with their own situation. As a result of bad choices, they now reside at the “Crossroad Juvenile Detention Center”. Some of these stories you won’t believe, its sad, but it’s real. The World it seems has given up on our Youth; if they are going to survive its up us, you and I.
Choices can mean life or death!

Written and Directed by National play write -Donald Gray Who brought you “Man of Her Dreams” and “There’s a Stranger in My House”

Sunday Sept. 18th 2011 at the Alabama Theatre 7pm . $25 in advance and $29 at the door.

Get your tickets now at Nu Wear Western Hills Mall, Birmingham, AL 35201 (205) 923-7838 and Bonnie’s Accessories in Western Hills Mall, Color Me Beautiful 788-7997- Mr. and Mrs. Essence barbershop-located on 3917 Ave. I, Fairfield , Al 788-7997, Locate Muzik And More in Birmingham, Alabama 35208 – 205-786-7700…

PROJECT1VOICE making history on JUNE 20th, 8pm w/Multiple readings of TROUBLE IN MIND featuring Tonea Stewart in Birmingham

At 8 PM on June 20th nineteen (19) African-American theater organizations from New York to LA will make history as they present “1VOICE, 1PLAY, 1DAY”, a national one day benefit staged reading of the Alice Childress classic TROUBLE IN MIND.  This inaugural event, by PROJECT1VOICE, seeks to make the country aware of the plight of African-American theater companies and to preserve their legacies and those of African-American playwrights.  This campaign is shedding light on the need for assistance, both financial and in kind, for all arts organizations in this harsh economic climate. These organizations are fighting for their very existence.  Please join us today and support the theaters in our network.

Remember without these organizations we will nor have places for emerging directors, playwrights, actors, costumers and other theater professionals to hone their skills, We are losing the organizations that are at the forefront of cultivating our creative voices in the American theater.  It is imperative that we spark renewed interest in the arts, the artists and the organizations that nurture them.

PROJECT1VOICE is proud to take on this challenge of trumpeting our artistic resources so that they can sustain themselves now and into the future.

Go to www.project1voice.org for more information.

http://www.virginiasamfordtheatre.org for tickets in Birmingham.