JASMINE GUY STARRING IN FEATURING THE AVERY SHARPE TRIO Inspired by the classic 1923 novel "Cane" by Jean Toomer and works by other artists of the Harlem Renaissance WITH AVERY SHARPE, DIANE MONROE AND KEVIN SHARPE WRITTEN AND CONCEIVED BY HARRY CLARK ADAPTATION BY JASMINE GUY MUSIC COMPOSED AND ARRANGED BY AVERY SHARPE Friday, October 17, 2014 BAYLIN ARTISTS MANAGEMENT i Support for this program is provided by: Notional Endowment First Midwest Bank far Itw Aits BANK WITH MOMENTUM; /tMIDWESoT It was an exceptional time. It was our time. Raisin Cane Credits-Poems/Short Story Excerpts/Music 1920s. Harlem, New York, USA. POEMS/SHORT STORIES Gwendolyn Bennett To Usward (1924) In the American Black community, during the years leading up to the Harlem Renaissance, Gwendolyn Bennett Hatred (1926) there was a sense of building artistic expression. Outlets and avenues for its poets, mu- Countee Cullen Nothing Endures (1929) sicians, novelists, artists, and actors were few. But in 1918, as the first great World War Georgia Douglas I Want to Die While You Love Me (1928) concluded and thousands of African-American soldiers returned home victorious, this Langston Hughes Goodbye Christ (1932) Langston Hughes The Negro Speaks of Rivers, (1921) mountain of artistic expression was now ready to explode. Langston Hughes I, Too (1925) James Weldon Johnson 0 Southland (1922) The words and thoughts of Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. Claude McKay If We Must Die (1919) Dubois and many others, became the voice of a new generation of African-Americans Claude McKay The Tropics in New York (1920) Jean Toomer Kabnis, Cane, (1923) who were looking forward but still struggling with the past and present. These thoughts, Jean Toomer Georgia Dusk, Cane, (1923) songs, and images are woven into a panoramic experience that spans this extraordinary Jean Toomer Cotton Song, Cane, (1923) outpouring of artistic endeavor. Raisin' Cane is a window on this critical point in our history. LITERATURE EXCERPTS W.E.B. Dubois The Souls of Black Folk (1903) W.E.B. Dubois "Returning Soldiers," The Crisis, XVIII (May, 1919) W.E.B. Dubois Criteria of Negro Art (1926) No Intermission Langston Hughes The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain (1926) George Schuyler The New Daily News (Summer 1924) Booker T. Washington Speech at the Atlanta Exposition Jasmine Guy (September 18,1895) Avery Sharpe DOUBLE BASS MUSIC Diane Monroe VIOLIN All music composed and arrangements by Avery Sharpe, with the exception of: Kevin Sharpe DRUMS/PERCUSSION "Here Comes My Daddy Now"- by Arthur Francis Collins (1917) AND VOCALS "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child"-traditional Negro Spiritual "The Mooche"- by Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (1928) •I'm Just Wild About Harry"-by Eubie Blake (1921) Written and conceived by Harry Clark "There'll Be A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight"- by Theodore August Metz and Adaptation by Jasmine Guy Joe Hayden(1896) adapted by Bessie Smith Original Score by Avery Sharpe "Charleston"-by James Price Johnson (1923) Directed by Dan Guerrero DIRECTOR'S NOTES: Production design by Gregg Bellon Raisin' Cane was first brought to me by the playwright Harry Clark, an old friend from Tucson. The idea Projection design by R. Daniel Foster of a piece about the Harlem Renaissance intrigued me, although I sheepishly admit to knowing very little of that important time in our nation's history. I read it and I was hooked, Produced by Jade Enterprises, LLC But the path from page to stage is a tricky one and often littered with the corpses of broken shows and shattered dreams. This path however was blessed. I had all the right elements to make magic. The RAISIN' CANE LOGO DESIGN BY RIC WASHINGTON glorious Jasmine Guy brought the script to life as only an incandescent artist could, and the music from the Avery Sharpe Trio made it fly. "A labor of love" is a much overused phrase in our business, but it suits "Raisin1 Cane" perfectly. There's lots of love in this performance, for the piece and between all the creative team. You'll get your share when the house lights dim and you travel back in time with Jasmine, Avery and the many names and faces of those pioneers that created what became known as the Harlem Renaissance. Enjoy! Jasmine Guy ir-director Jasmine NOTE FROM THE COMPOSER: The influence and impact musicians from the Harlem Renaissance had on the world Rjoyed a diverse still reverberates around the universe. American music would not have the extraordinary fevision, theater and sonorous qualities it possesses if not for the creative geniuses of this fruitful period. Composers gan her professional and musicians like Thomas "Fats" Waller, Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington, James "Fletcher" fAlvin Alley American •Dance Theater in New York City. Henderson, Eubie Blake, Louis Armstrong and many more were powerful figures during the 1920s. Jasmine starred on Broadway in the original productions of Beehive and Leader of the Pack, I am most fortunate to be a continuation of the powerful music known as jazz. I am even more fortunate to have been asked to give my interpretation of the music from that era. and reprised hit productions of Grease, The Wiz and Chicago (as Velma Kelly). After years on The music I composed for Raisin' Cane is indicative of the 1920s. I also wrote Broadway and touring the globe, music which is more modern and beyond, because I felt the subject matter of the poems was Jasmine landed the role of Whitley timeless. The music is performed by a slightly different trio composed of violin, bass and drums/ Gilbert on the Cosby Show spinoff A Different World. She won six consecutive NAACP Image Awards percussion. for her portrayal of the pretentious but funny southern belle. Her other television performances include: Melrose Place (with Heather Locklear); NYPD Blue People often think of the instrumentation for this period in Jazz as being piano, (with Jimmy Smits); Fresh Prince of Bel Air (with Will Smith) and Living Single (with Queen Latifah). trumpet, reeds and trombone. I chose violin because violin has a rich history in Jazz from its One of her favorite roles was that of Roxy, the grim reaper meter maid on Showtime's hit series beginning. Precursors to the modern violin can be found in ancient Africa. This might explain Dead Like Me (with Mandy Patinkin.) Her most recent role, recurring as Grams on the popular series why Africans were able to adapt to the instrument they were introduced to in America during Vampire Diaries, can be seen on the CW Network. plantation times. Violin was easily adopted into Jazz at its formation. Jasmine has also worked with these great performers and directors in the following films and mini- series: Spike Lee's School Daze; Eddie Murphy's Harlem Nights; Alex Hailey's Queen and Debbie A vital ingredient which distinguishes Jazz from other forms of music in its early Allen's Stompin' at the Savoy. She received stellar reviews for her work on the film October Baby. stages was rhythm and improvisation. The rhythms Africans brought with them as slaves to this Jasmine has worked extensively in theater with Kenny Leon, Susan Booth, Andrea Frye and Pearl country were incorporated into the music and instruments they adapted to. My brother, Kevin Cleage. She has starred in or directed many productions, including: for colored girls who have Sharpe, brings a rich understanding of the function of the drums and rhythms from the Harlem considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf; Miss Evers' Boys; Blues for an Alabama Sky; The Renaissance and beyond. Colored Museum; The Fourposter; The Nacirema Society; Broke-ology; Fool For Love, and most recently, God of Carnage at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre, where she also directed the world premiere of The bottom or "Bass" is essential to all music and I am a bass player. When Jazz was the opera I Dream, celebrating the life and journey of Martin Luther King, Jr. first played in its early formation, it was often performed by marching bands and small combos In 1991, she released her self-titled album on Warner Bros. Records, featuring the hit single Try of New Orleans. The bass was usually performed by sousaphone or tuba. When Jazz began Me. Try Me was produced by Full Force and features Xcape with Candy Burgess. The song shot up to move indoors and into more intimate urban settings, players began to switch from tuba to the R & B charts quickly to Gold status, and fueled the success of the album's second and third chart string or double bass. One such bassist who made this transition during the 1910s-1920s singles Another Like My Lover and I Just Wanna Hold You. was George Murphy "Pops" Foster. (You will note some of my slappin' on the bass during In 2004, Jasmine penned the biography Evolution of a Revolutionary (Atria Books), which chronicles the performance compliments of Mr. Foster from nearly 100 years ago, but modernized and the life and journey of Afeni Shakur-- Black Panther, activist and mother of slain rapper Tupac Shakur. advanced on by me). As a frequent motivational public speaker, Jasmine is called upon to share her story openly with those who may benefit from her trials and triumphs. Her ongoing desire to blend balance and The bass wouldn't move from a supportive role to a more front or dominant role until discipline with ambition and service continues to fuel her passion for the arts. the 1940s, thanks to bassist Jimmy Blanton with Duke Ellington and later Charles Mingus in the She has traveled throughout the U.S.