New Orleans Black

SWIMMING UPSTREAM

Section: Community

SWIMMING UPSTREAM, a look into the real-life stories of women who survived Hurricane Katrina
HOWLIN' WOLF - 907 South Peters Street, New Orleans
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 @ 8:00pm
The New Orleans performance will feature stars Shirley Knight & Jasmine Guy, along with the original cast of local actors Troi Bechet, Asali Njeri DeVan, Anne-Liese Juge Fox, Karen-kaia Livers and singers Gabrilla Ballard, Michaela Harrison, and Leslie Blackshear Smith...

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Swimming Upstream
NEW ORLEANS (11/10/08) - The international activist organization V-Day and New Orleans's award-winning Ashé Cultural Arts Center have partnered with acclaimed Broadway director Kenny Leon to bring Swimming Upstream, a look into the real-life stories of women who survived Hurricane Katrina, will be back home in New Orleans for one special performance on Tuesday, November 18, 2008 after a 10-day run in Atlanta. This performance is part of Ashé's Tenth Anniversary celebration.
When: Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Where: HOWLIN' WOLF - 907 South Peters Street, New Orleans (formerly the Praline Connection in the Warehouse District)
Swimming Upstream, a powerful and intimate production, transforms consciousness and moves people's hearts through the telling of raw, lyrical, soulful stories of women who have lived through the flood with grace, rage, humor and great resiliency.

The play was originally incubated and coordinated by V-Day Founder/Artistic Director Eve Ensler, creator of The Vagina Monologues, and Carol Bebelle, co-founder and executive director of the Ashé Cultural Arts Center. Together, Bebelle and Ensler worked with sixteen writers to produce a fluid piece of storytelling containing humor and music that comes from the hearts of New Orleanians. Swimming Upstream premiered to great acclaim and an audience of thousands at the Louisiana Superdome as part of V- Day's tenth anniversary in April, 2008.

The writers who brought these stories to life are New Orleanians Carol Bebelle, Troi Bechet, Reverend Lois Dejean, Asali Njeri DeVan, Anne-Liese Juge Fox, Adella Gautier, Briceshanay Gresham, Herreast Harrison, Karen- kaia Livers, Tommye Myrick, Cherise Harrison Nelson, Kathy Randels, Dollie Rivas, Dina Roudeze, Karel Sloane- Boekbinder, and Carol Sutton.

The New Orleans performance will feature stars Shirley Knight & Jasmine Guy, along with the original cast of local actors Troi Bechet, Asali Njeri DeVan, Anne-Liese Juge Fox, Karen-kaia Livers and singers Gabrilla Ballard, Michaela Harrison, and Leslie Blackshear Smith; and other surprise guest celebrities. This project was incubated and coordinated by Ashé Cultural Arts Center & V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls, with Eve Ensler, playwright of The Vagina Monologues.

Special rates available for groups of 10 or more. Call (504) 569-9070.

Tickets: Available at www.howlin-wolf.com under Calendar of Events and at Ashé Cultural Arts Center, 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.

Cost: $30 General Admission; $20 Students and Seniors

www.howlin-wolf.com

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Review: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Katrina dialogue: Survivors and actresses share stage in poignant play
By Wendell Brock / Sunday, November 02, 2008

They are coming to Atlanta, these women of Hurricane Katrina. Coming to tell their stories. Coming to talk about the floods, the panic, the abandonment, the loss, the despair, the joy and hope.

Six Katrina survivors and four professional actresses (including Phylicia Rashad and Jasmine Guy), all with scripts in their hands, will gather at the 14th Street Playhouse to perform "Swimming Upstream" - a raw and poetic play created by the women themselves with many loving spoonfuls of guidance from playwright and mentor Eve Ensler ("Vagina Monologues").

"Swimming Upstream" promises to be a night of electricity and healing. Bearing witness to one of the most politically divisive events in recent years, the play opens a day after Election Day and is directed by Atlanta's Kenny Leon.

Here's what you need to know about the piece and how it came together...

Click for full review

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This music note has been brought to you by Sylvain Music Notes.

Sincerely,

Vincent Sylvain
Sylvain Music Notes

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email: vincent@sylvainsolutions.com

SWIMMING UPSTREAM

Section: Community

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