Shirley Ellis

Women Playwrights International and University of Cape town, welcomes Food for the Gods

The next Women Playwrights International Conference  will be held in Cape Town South Africa, hosted by the University of Cape Town.  The theme this year is "Without Words"  and Food for the Gods was selected and invited as one of the plays to be presented.  

Inspired by the killings of Black men  at the hands of police and other institutions of authority, this work utilizes mixed-media and mask-puppetry to explore the process of dehumanization, positive and negative space, invisibility and well…the MAGICAL-less-ness of it all. A three-part expression of rage, indifference, and celestial knowings.  Food for the Gods is an experiential triptych of sort,  an audience immersive performance installation that takes place in three unique settings.  It juxtaposes harsh reality with piercing beauty.

"Yes, there are subjects that are beyond words. While studying this issue of dehumanization in America, without knowing it, I found myself “beyond words.”  There was only raw emotion.  Within Food for the Gods, I attempted to captured that emotion through images, movement, transformative space, and sound. The characters do speak, however, this is not a play of dialog. Rather, it is a sensory experience of visceral expression documented in words. WPIC international will be held June 29th to July 2nd 2015.

meditations

behold the mighty and precious  seed…

                                                for within it the ALL is contained…

of aloe plants and octopus arms…

of healing and sensitivity

that with prickles and that with tri-hearts..

of tumors and seeds:

i am deeply concerned for the watermelon--unable to  grow and produce the things 

that it should...

i am deeply concerned for the human being-- growing and producing that which it should not!

make me please like the mango, the avocado, the cherry and nectarine,

each refusing to give up the core of their being…

make me 

please to hold fast to the seed that is me…                 

Summer Reading

          

This week... Daughter of the Makahiya

inverse

         

 ...it's what made me come...
           ....maybe it will also be what makes me leave...


              

maya a.and d. chappelle...

mgm. process inspiration.

There have been many a blogs and updates that haven't made it form my mind or from the drafts  list ...khunum Productions has actually been quite busy... with updates to come...
but somehow this image leaps to the front of the line:   A picture showing the recording of the MGM lion taken in 1929. and cue the mental roar. So this is my inspiration for the night:
an image of a process. details to a legacy born. a reminder to me that each invisible detail requires 10 more details. And thats just that. So keep walkin it out...

what do i see?
I see phone calls and scheduling.
I see the lion tamer not in the picture.
I see the lion cage very near by.
I see the extenders to extension cords.
I see the meeting where the idea was first expressed.
I see the reactions of those who thought it was crazy
I see heads tilted in gasp saying " You MEAN A REAL LION??"
I see the young boy at the zoo who grew to be the ceo
I see shampoo and scissors for the day's special grooming
I see a vehicle being loaded.
I see gas tanks being filled.
I see the cue being taught.
I see an audience in attentive silence.
I see the stage hands that measured the heights and distance of it all..
I see the instructions given to tech crew regarding cetain movements..
I see dinner table conversation for the night..
I see the beginning of a legacy manifest...

Doodles, meditations, beginnings

noticings

that the morning sun drapes black iron fences with orange ribbons. that complaints could be much more powerful with an agenda and action plan. that rain drops on bare branches of April nights look like the Christmas lights on 59th.  that i wasn't attracted... not one bit. that my life has a flow of its own. accept it.  that cherry blossoms in the wind look like spring time snow... and  i imagine them as the drifting scales of  dragons making love.  crystal shimmer and pearl shine.   ....that i've started to miss him more than less. that subway art is on the F, G,  N , Q, R, 4, 5 ,6, 1, 2 and 3, but not the A.  That only after finally deciding to turn down the street with the sign that read "no outlet" did i find the creek with a bridge that led me back to where i was supposed to be.  that one inch of nag champa aglow is equivalent to 15 minutes of breath... that the dedication of the new title will read "for ayn."  gosh...that prisma brush tip markers make me see how much i do love control!  that the mentors of 26 federal plaza are  mostly white-haired men, who don't get that I leap, not crawl.  that those who proclaim with honor, "i'm hurt!" often tend to be the authors of their offense. And the oscar goes to! "no more years a slave!" (how bout that?) Calligrapher's pen on a cosmic proclamation.  That  9 year olds plan the very very best parties, and offer PhD level guidance for story telling.  that katt williams never fails me. And that at dusk,  the spire atop the new world trade is the same color as the magnolia blossoms...

As Noticed on 43rd Street:  Photo Credit: Nehprii Amenii