Lia Chang: DK Dyson and Brooklyn Blessings at Joe’s Pub on 8/14

DK Dyson performs at Joe's Pub on August 14 in New York.

I recently worked with the very talented vocalist/composer DK Dyson in the Gurfein Foundation/Ntozake Shange Play Reading Series reading of Derek Walcott’s Marie Laveau, presented by Woodie King’s New Federal Theatre at the Castillo Theatre in New York, and was delighted to hear that she’ll be performing in New York with her band Brooklyn Blessings at Joe’s Pub on August 14 at 9pm.

Fresh from her European tour as lead vocalist in Don Byron’s New Gospel Quintet, at Joe’s Pub she’ll be sharing the bill with Byron, performing her favorite classic Rock/Soul songs, as well as some of her originals with her band Brooklyn Blessings.

Dyson travels comfortably through music categories such as Jazz, R&B, Pop, Rock and World Music. She co-led the Sony / Epic band EYE & I, a group that broke down racial and musical stereotypes with a sound that married heavy Rock and Funk with Jazz smarts. The critically acclaimed release of “EYE & I”, on Epic Records, garnered Dyson a Best New Female Vocalist nod from the NY Music Awards.

Her diverse range is documented by recordings and performances with Living Colour, Don Byron, Steve Coleman, Caetano Veloso, Paulinho De Costa, Ornette Coleman, The Ambitious Lovers, Daniel Ponce, Kip Hanrahan, Bill Laswell, and the Jazz Passengers (performing with Marvis Staples and Debbie Harry).

Her soulful voice can be heard in the film by Thomas Allen Harris That’s My Face. Recently she scored the short film The Task and composed and performed the television theme songs for the nationally syndicated shows “Our World” and “Black Business Report”.

On her solo album “Rising Sun”, Dykson combines her original song writing and singing with Sanskrit, Yoruba and Native American chants. She has also flavored the dance companies of Abdel Salaam (Forces of Nature), Bill T. Jones, David Rousseve, Diane Mckintyre, and Ron Brown with her live vocalese stylings.

DK Dyson at Joe’s Pub
Friday, August 14.
425 Lafayette St. (near Astor Place)
222-538-8717
$15.00 advance & $18.00 at the door
Tickets
www.myspace.com/dkdyson
www.facebook.com/dk.dyson

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Lia Chang: Photo Call: Derek Walcott’s Marie Laveau

Marie Laveau playwright Derek Walcott, director Clinton Turner Davis and New Federal Theatre producer Woodie King Jr. in the Castillo Theatre after the reading of Marie Laveau on June 28, 2009. (Photo by Lia Chang)

On the last Sunday afternoon in June, Woodie King’s New Federal Theatre presented Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott’s Marie Laveau, with music by Hair composer Galt MacDermot and musical arrangement by Chapman Roberts, as the final play in the Gurfein Foundation/Ntozake Shange Play Reading Series at Castillo Theatre in New York.

(front row l-r) Marie Laveau director Clinton Turner Davis with his cast Gerard Catus, Stu Richel, Martin Shakar, Teresa Lasley, DeWanda Wise, Marie Thomas, DK Dyson, John Danelle, Trezana Beverly and Lia Chang (back row l-r) Hunter Canning, Tom Brangle, Harrison Lee, Steve Greenstein, Arthur Bartow, Brandon Dirden

Walcott’s musical comedy, which has elements of French farce, tells the fascinating story of New Orleans madame and Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau, who attempts to wrest control of her brothel away from its white financier, and in the process unleashes a racial and religious storm that threatens to consume the city.

Woodie King Jr. assembled a cast featuring Marie Thomas as Marie Laveau, Arthur Bartow, Trazana Beverly, Tom Brangle, Gerard Catus, Hunter Canning, John Danelle, Brandon Dirden, DK Dyson, Steve Greenstein, Teresa Lasley, Harrison Lee, Mizan Nunes, Stu Richel, Martin Shakar, DeWanda Wise and myself.

Over a tight two day rehearsal period, director Clinton Turner Davis expertly navigated us through the poetic rhythms of the script and we were lucky to have playwright Derek Walcott, who had flown in from his home in St. Lucia, in the house. Just hours before our 3pm show on Sunday, Chapman Roberts infused the text with blues, jazz, the call and response of a church congregation and African drum rhythms, adding yet another dimension to our performances.

(l-r)Marie Laveau playwright Derek Walcott, Sigrid Nama, New Federal Theatre producer Woodie King Jr., Kathy, Jim and Kody Gurfein of the Gurfein Foundation at the reception for Marie Laveau at Castillo Theatre on June 28, 2009 in New York. (Photo by Lia Chang)

All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2011 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachang@hotmail.com.

Lia Chang Photo by Brianne Michelle Photography

Lia Chang is an actor, performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multimedia journalist.

As a photographer and videographer, Lia collaborates with artists, organizations and companies in establishing their documentary photo archive and social media presence. She has been documenting her colleagues and contemporaries in the arts, fashion and journalism since making her stage debut as Liat in the National Tour of South Pacific, with Robert Goulet and Barbara Eden.

Selections of Lia’s archive of Asian Pacific Americans in the arts, fashion, journalism, politics and space are now in the newly created LIA CHANG THEATER PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO in the ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN PERFORMING ARTS COLLECTION housed in the Library of Congress Asian Division’s Asian American Pacific Islander Collection.

Lia’s portraits and performance photos have appeared in Vanity Fair, Gourmet, German Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, The Paris Review, TV Guide, Daily Variety, Interior Design, American Theatre, Broadwayworld.com, Life & Style, OUT, New York Magazine, InStyle, Timeout.com, Villagevoice.com, Playbill.com, Theatermania.com, thelmagazine.com, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post. A former syndicated arts and entertainment columnist for KYODO News, Lia is the New York Bureau Chief for AsianConnections.com. She writes about culture, style and Asian American issues for a variety of publications and this Backstage Pass with Lia Chang blog.

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
A night out with Gordana Rashovich, Flora Goforth in The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore
André De Shields Set for World Premiere of Charles Smith’s The Gospel According to James at Indiana Rep, 3/22-4/10
Photos: A.B. Cruz III and Lillian Kimura Receive 2011 AALDEF Justice in Action Awards
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive.

Lia Chang: New Federal Theatre Presents Reading of Derek Walcott’s Marie Laveau on June 28 in New York

Lia Chang

I’m delighted to be working again with Woodie King Jr.’s New Federal Theatre, acting in the Gurfein Foundation/Ntozake Shange Play Reading Series final play of the season, Derek Walcott’s fascinating play Marie Laveau, featuring music by Hair composer Galt MacDermot, on Sunday, June 28th at 3pm, at Castillo Theatre, 543 West 42nd St. (btwn 10th and 11th Aves) in New York.

In Walcott’s Marie Laveau, New Orleans madame and Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau attempts to wrest control of her brothel away from its white financier, unleashing a racial and religious storm that threatens to consume the city. With his customary feel for character and language, Derek Walcott expertly navigates the territory between two very different New Orleans—one Christian and the other animist.

Clinton Turner Davis directs a stellar cast featuring Marie Thomas as Marie Laveau, Arthur Bartow, Trazana Beverly, Tom Brangle, Gerard Catus, Hunter Canning, John Danelle, Brandon Dirden, DK Dyson, Steve Greenstein, Teresa Lasley, Harrison Lee, Mizan Nunes, Stu Richel, Martin Shakar, DeWanda Wise. Chapman Roberts is the musical arranger.

(l-r) The cast of A TUNE BEYOND US or WHAT A REVOLTIN' DEVELOPMENT THIS IS! Arik Luck, Robert Paul Abelson, Edward Pomerantz, Sandra Kazan, Michael Citriniti and Lia Chang with New Federal Theatre producer Woodie King Jr.

In February, I had a blast in a reading of Ed Pomerantz’s A Tune Beyond Us , presented by Woodie King Jr.’s New Federal Theatre, as part of the Gurfein Foundation/Ntozake Shange Play Reading Series. Shontina

(l-r) Andre De Shields, Kathy and Jim Gurfein of the Gurfein Foundation, at the reading of Edward Pomerantz's A TUNE BEYOND US or WHAT A REVOLTIN' DEVELOPMENT THIS IS! on February 15, 2009 at the Theatre at St. Clement's in New York. Photo by Lia Chang

Vernon’s A Lovely Malfunction; Levy Lee Simon’s Smell The Power; Josh Kashinsky’s Heel In The Sand, Cori Thomas’s Pa’s Hat and Liberian Liberation were among the other plays showcased. Derek Walcott’s Marie Laveau is the final play in the series this season.

Playwright Derek Walcott is the recipient of the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature, and was born in Castries, Saint Lucia, the West Indies on January 23, 1930. At fourteen years of age, he published his first poem, “1944″ in The Voice of St. Lucia, which consisted of 44 lines of blank verse. Walcott attended the University of the West Indies, on a Colonial Development and Welfare scholarship,

Nobel Laureate poet Derek Walcott (Photo by Lia Chang)

and in 1951 published the volume Poems. In 1957, he was awarded a fellowship by the Rockefeller Foundation to study the American theater. Walcott founded the Trinidad Theater Workshop, and has written several plays which have been produced throughout the United States, including The Odyssey: A Stage Version (1992); The Isle is Full of Noises (1982); Remembrance and Pantomime (1980); The Joker of Seville and O Babylon! (1978); Dream on Monkey Mountain and Other Plays (1970); Three Plays: The Last Carnival; Beef, No Chicken; and A Branch of the Blue Nile (1969). His play Dream on Monkey Mountain won the Obie Award for distinguished foreign play of 1971. He founded Boston Playwrights’ Theatre at Boston University in 1981. Walcott’s honors include a MacArthur Foundation “genius” award, a Royal Society of Literature Award, and, in 1988, the Queen’s Medal for Poetry. An honorary member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the playwright currently divides his time between his home in St. Lucia and New York City.

Woodie King Jr. (Photo by Lia Chang)

Woodie King Jr. is the Founder and Producing Director of New Federal Theatre. Woodie King Jr’s New Federal Theatre has presented over 200 productions in its 39-year history. Mr. King has produced and directed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in Regional theatres, and in universities across the United States. He co-produced For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf (first produced by NFT and Joseph Papp’s Public Theatre), What The Wine Sellers Buy, Reggae and The Taking of Miss Janie (Drama Critics Circle Award).

To reserve tickets for Marie Laveau, call 212/353-1176. For more information, please visit www.newfederaltheatre.org.
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