2008 Woodie Awards
10th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration to Feature Reader's Theater Presentation of Book about Harriet Tubman
FSU Public Relations
Issue date: 1/5/07 Section: FSU News
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The 10th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Concert, sponsored by the Department of Performing and Fine Arts at Fayetteville State University (FSU), will be held January 15, 2007 at 7 p.m. in Seabrook Auditorium. The concert will feature guest soloists Denise Payton from Spring Lake, and James E. Laws from Washington, DC. Also on the program will be the Heritage Restoration Chorale, The Smith 16 Singers, and the Fayetteville State University Concert Choir. The concert is free and open to the public.
This concert will mark its 10th anniversary as the only evening celebration in Fayetteville and Cumberland County of Dr. King's birth. It was started by the Department of Performing and Fine Arts as a musical tribute, and over the years has presented several musical guest artists, musical ensembles, and drama students from Fayetteville. Dr. Marvin Curtis, assistant dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and choir director at FSU, has helped to coordinate the celebration. Both Ms. Payton and Dr. Laws were the guest artists on the first concert. The Heritage Restoration Chorale, directed by Ms. Payton has participated in each event.
The concert will feature a different presentation than in the past. The main focus will be a reader's theater presentation of the book Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford, an associate professor of English at FSU. The presentation will be a multi-media production featuring readers, projected illustrations from the book, dancers, and singers. The production will be under the direction of Dr. Marvin Curtis and Ms. Phoebe Hall, with choreography by Maceo Smith.
Ms. Weatherford's book is illustrated by Kadir Nelson, and imagines Tubman's faith journey, from her harrowing first escape to her risky return south to free others. Harriet Tubman, the legendary Underground Railroad conductor, led countless slaves to freedom. She never lost a passenger. However, she did face doubts and fears, which her faith helped her to overcome. In powerful paintings and poetic text that echoes African American spirituals, this story unfolds through conversations with God that are based on Tubman's narrative. "She was a devout woman who spoke to God as a friend and believed that He spoke to her," says Weatherford. "That dialog was Tubman's moral compass."
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