Theatrical jazz received an expansive and celebratory exploration at Pillsbury House + Theatre’s first-ever Theatrical Jazz Conference on June 13-15 at the University of Minnesota. Over the course of three days, artists and educators gathered from the academic and theatrical communities alike to examine the sankofa of the tradition across disciplines and celebrate the legacy of Laurie Carlos, Sékou Sundiata, Ntozake Shange, and many other revolutionary thought leaders.
Theatrical jazz is defined by Dr. Omi Osun Joni L. Jones, author of “Theatrical Jazz: Performance, Àṣẹ, and the Power of the Present Moment,” as “a way of making art and life. It has a spiritual base… What the work most often calls for is transformation. Many forms of theatrical jazz invite us to be open to that kind of transformation; for me, that’s spiritual.
It tends to be non-linear, allowing for the past, the present, and the “not here yet” to be accessed right here.” Dr. Jones delivered the conference’s culminating Blue Note Address.
The best of the field were featured through the weekend. The conference opened on Thursday evening with an open mic led by Sha Cage and E.G. Bailey. The three-day event provided an array of engagements and conversations from actors, movement artists, and directors,
This included showcases from actors such as Antonio Duke, Sha Cage, Zell Miller III, Virginia Grise, Queen Drea, and Awotunde Judie Al-bilali; also workshops by Noelle + Leila Awadallah, Marvin K. White, Aimee Bryant, Sharon Bridgforth and Sonja Parks.
Roundtables featuring directors such as CEO of Betty’s Daughter Arts Collective Ebony Noelle Golden, senior artistic producing director of Pillsbury House + Theatre Signe Harriday, and Founder of Rescripted.org Regina Victor, and Professor of Performance and Theater for Social Change at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Awotunde Judie Al-bilali.
Also featured were dramaturgs such as Professor at Department of Theatre Arts and Dance at the University of Minnesota Talvin Wilks, Queer Black Troublemaker and Black Feminist Love Evangelist Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Assist. Professor in the Department of Theater at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Pricilla Maria Page, and Chair of the Department of Dramatic Arts at the University of Connecticut Megan Rivas.
“Theater used to always only have this multiplicity and this composition and the music is always there,” Regina Victor stated during the director’s roundtable. “Theater was considered incomplete if you were just talking.”
Ebony Noelle Golden + Company performed “Quickening: Ceremonies from in the Name of the Mother Tree.” Sage Ni’ja Whitson + Douglas Ewart + Marvin K. White + Talief Ticker + Tumelo Khupe performed “this here dust”closing out Friday.
The event closed on Saturday with a tribute to Laurie Carlos, a standard bearer and late performance artist, and a dance celebration followed.
“Music in the room is connected to blood, water, rhythm, breath, where does our mind go when we should be present, and how do we call ourselves back to ourselves,” proclaimed Ebony Noelle Golden when asked about how music informs the work. “What are you hearing and who are you trying to connect with across time and space? What frequency do you need to connect with them? This is the music.”
Recordings of the directors and dramaturgs’ roundtable can be found on pillsburyhouseandtheatre.org.
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