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NEWS RELEASE
Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu
)
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466
2/3/2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATCHITOCHES -Folk artist Clementine Hunter will be among the women portrayed when The Core Ensemble presents Ain't I a Woman! at Northwestern State University on March 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the A.A. Fredericks Auditorium. Admission is free and open to the public.
Ain't I a Woman! celebrates the life and times of four powerful African American women: renowned novelist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, ex-slave and fiery abolitionist Sojourner Truth, Hunter and fervent civil rights worker Fannie Lou Hamer. The musical score is drawn from the heartfelt spirituals and blues of the Deep South, the urban vitality of the Jazz Age, and contemporary concert music by African Americans. Ain't I a Woman! is a joyful exploration of the trials and triumphs of four passionate and accomplished women. The work is the latest in a series of multicultural and feminist performance pieces produced by the ensemble over the past seven years.
The Core Ensemble includes Tahirah Whittington on cello, Hugh Hinton on piano Michael Parola on percussion and actress Liz Mikel.
A versatile performer, Mikel has been performing since childhood. She was a company member of Vivid Theatre Ensemble and is co-founder of Universal Connections, a storytelling troupe. Mikel has done films, commercials, and voice-overs and recently appeared in her 13th season of the Dallas Theater Center's production of A Christmas Carol. In early 2004 she toured in France and Switzerland in the music theatre piece Blind Lemon. The show was also presented in the summer of 2004 at Central Park Summer Stage in New York City.
The Core Ensemble receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the Virgil Thomson Foundation and the Palm Beach County Cultural Council. The Core Ensemble has toured in Australia, Russia, Ukraine, the Caribbean and in every region of the U.S.
The show tours throughout the U.S. during Black History Month and Women's History Month. For tickets and information, contact the box office at (318) 357-5475 or (318) 357-6511.