This spring, 新澳门六合彩开奖 will get a taste of a unique theatrical experience thanks to a visiting Fulbright student鈥檚 interest in our region鈥檚 history.
Quanda Johnson is currently hard at work putting together Beyond the Veil of the Sorrow Songs, a theatrical 鈥渆vent鈥� concert for this spring that explores the rich and often untold history of the Underground Railroad as it relates to Atlantic Canada.
鈥淚鈥檝e woven dance, spoken word, drama, instrumental music, vocal performance, multimedia, and visual art 鈥� all together to pay tribute to fugitive slaves escaping from the United States to Atlantic Canada via the Underground Railroad,鈥� says Johnson. 鈥淭en signature spirituals W.E.B. DuBois claimed defined the Africans experience in the 'Americas' will be the glue holding it all together, thus: Beyond the Veil of the Sorrow Songs.鈥�
A global journey
Originally from Philadelphia but an honorary New Yorker, Johnson comes to Halifax through the Fulbright program. The Fulbright is a prestigious international academic award, allowing scholars to study or conduct research abroad in order to build global understanding and community. Johnson is one of 16 American students working in Canada this year thanks to the Fulbright Student Awards. She is affiliated with both 新澳门六合彩开奖鈥檚 Departments of Music and Theatre (chairs Jennifer Bain and Rob McClure) and NSCAD University鈥檚 Media Arts Department (Bruce Barber, David Clark, and Solomon Nagler).
Beyond the Veil of the Sorrow Songs is her Fulbright research and production project that gives testimony to an important event of the African Diaspora in Atlantic Canada.
鈥淭he chronicle of the Underground Railroad, escaped slaves, and Atlantic Canada have seemingly been written out of history, and I want to know why,鈥� says Johnson.
She says she鈥檚 been warmly embraced by the greater Halifax African-Canadian community, and has been mentored by Afua Cooper, Dal鈥檚 James R. Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies. She also acknowledges wide support from the Dal community, including the first James R. Johnston Chair Esmeralda Thornhill (Schulich School of Law), History鈥檚 Jerry Bannister, Russian Studies鈥� John Barnstead, and Music鈥檚 Jacqueline Warwick and Steven Baur.
Performing for three seasons at New York City Opera, as well as appearing in Broadway鈥檚 original Ragtime with Audra MacDonald and the national tour of Hello Dolly (with the legendary Carol Channing), Johnson has travelled the world as a performer.聽 It was through these travels that the idea for theatrical 鈥渆vent鈥� concerts came to her.
鈥淭here was no one to whom I could shop the idea, and still create what I envisioned,鈥� says Johnson.聽 鈥淪o 鈥� I thought I鈥檇 start a company of my own.鈥�
She created THE QUEST FACTOR, an arts company/think-tank through which she researches, creates, produces (and often performs, along with other talent) theatrical explorations of persons, events, and/or circumstances in the history of the African Diaspora. Beyond the Veil of the Sorrow Songs will be Johnson鈥檚 third such work; her others showcase the lives of Langston Hughes and Marian Anderson.
鈥淚 read Langston Hughes鈥� two part autobiography, The Big Sea and I Wonder as I Wander. His story was so compelling; I had no idea he鈥檇 collaborated with composers, like W.C. Handy and Kurt Weill, writing lyrics to songs.鈥� Her original production, Lyrical Langston: His Muse for Music, told the story of his life, weaving his own lyrics, songs, and poetry into the performance. "I wanted to give an innovative take on a person everyone thinks they know, and ill