A Womanhood Rites of Passage

For the Women

an Afternoon of Poetry, Drama and Dialogue

A Womanhood Rites of Passage
Saturday, March 19, 3-6pm
Joyce Gordon Gallery
406 14th St.
downtown Oakland

Aries Jordan,
poet, actress,
Assistant Minister,
First Poet's Church


photo Gene Hazzard























Hunia Bradley,
Minister of Ceremony

For the Women, A Womanhood Rites of Passage

On Saturday, March 19, 3-6pm at the Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th Street, Bay Area Black Authors present For the Women, A Womanhood Rites of Passage. Through poetry, drama and dialogue, we will experience a ritual of healing from the ravages of White Supremacy patriarchal domination that has repressed and oppressed women, along with men and children.





Aries Jordan

Sexual repression is the dominant theme in White Supremacy culture, the dehumanization of the woman as chattel or personal property. The scene from Vagina Monologues, enacted by Aries Jordan, attempts to break the woman from hatred and rejection of her body, to appreciate and love herself.













Phavia Kujichagulia, Griot, Minister,
First Poet's Church

Yo, Yo, Yo by Phavia Kujichagulia says it all regarding the true social status of the woman, "If you think I am just a physical thing, wait til you see the spiritual power I bring." The poem returns women to their divine status, transcending the physical.




Jasmin Conner, Assistant Minister,
First Poet's Church

photo Gene Hazzard

Jasmin Conner's scene from For Colored Girls comments on men and the ritual of being sorry, Mr. Pitiful, attempting to wake them up to stop being sorry and up their game by doing the right thing. Being sorry becomes meaningless after a repetition of negative behavior. One atones by stop doing reprehensible acts.



Mechelle LaChaux,
actress, Minister of
Song, First Poet's
Church

Woman on the Cell Phone considers the last rite or death. We see Woman, Mechelle LaChaux, in her casket talking on the cell phone to a girlfriend, commenting on those present at her funeral and what she might expect as she transcends to heaven or hell.




Opal Palmer Adisa, poet, playwright

Bathroom Graffiti Queen is Opal Palmer Adisa's classic womanhood rite of passage, the counterpart to Amiri Baraka's The Toilet. Queen, a shaman woman, is seer of the woman's room, deciphering female graffiti of pain and suffering, offering wisdom to women in search of their true selves. Ayodele's performance is masterful. She is without equal among Bay Area women actors, or men for that matter.



Ayodele Nzinga, Minister of
Poetry and Theatre,
First Poet's Church








Jerri Lange, Minister of Woman's Affairs, Media,
First Poet's Church

The afternoon concludes with Jerri Lange facilitating a discussion on womanhood rites of passage, based on the above presentations. After opening remarks, the panelist do Q and A.

We hope you will plan to attend but come early as seating is limited. The Joyce Gordon Gallery is located at 406 14th Street at Franklin, downtown Oakland. jmarvinx@yahoo.com

Sponsors: Bay Area Black Authors, Post Newspaper Group, Academy of da Corner Reader's Theatre, San Francisco Recovery Theatre, Lower Bottom Playaz, Center of Hope Church, First Poet's Church of the Latter Day Egyptian Revisionists, Black Chauncey Bailey Project, National Prisoner Book Day, May 20

The Ritual

3pm. Welcome, Hunia
3:05 Libations, Mutima Imani
3:10 Poetry from Journal of Pan African Studies Women
3: 10 Phavia
3: 20 Toreadah
3: 30 Ayodele
3: 40 Aries
3: 50 Jasmin
4:00 For the Women, read by the men
4: 10 Rev. Reems on Haiti, Timothy Reed reading, ten minutes each
4: 30 Drama
4: 30 For Colored Girls, Jasmin Conner
4: 40 Vagina Monologue, Aries Jordan
4: 50 Woman on Cell Phone, Mechelle LaChaux
5: 00 Bathroom Graffiti Queen, Ayodele Nzinga
5:30 Panel on Womanhood Rites of Passage, Facilitator Jerri Lange: Ayo, Mechelle, Aries, Jasmin, including Q and A
6:30 End