Charles C Smith

Searching for Eastman Charles C Smith

SEARCHING FOR EASTMAN is a multidisciplinary performance in 4 acts, based on the interpretation of four of Julius Eastman's compositions through poetry, theatre, music, dance, video and digital. (Julius Eastman [October 27, 1940 - May 28, 1990] was the great Black American composer, pianist, vocalist, and dancer whose work fell under minimalism.--Wikipedia

These pieces are: (1) evil nigger; (2) prelude to st joan; (3) stay on it; and (4) gay guerrilla.

SEARCHING FOR EASTMAN is a choreopoem whose roots trace through the African griot tradition, the harlem renaissance (e.g. the work of Langston Hughes with jazz and Kurt Weil), the black arts movement (e.g., Amiri Baraka's work with sun ra). It is a form of dramatic expression that combines poetry, dance, music, and song--(as) first coined in 1975 by Ntozake Shange in a description of her work, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf.

Poetry.