Ella Joyce to Celebrate Pulitzer Prize Winning Playwright August Wilson, April 16th
Veteran Actress Ella Joyce Comes to Pasadena City College
to Celebrate Pulitzer Prize Winning Playwright August Wilson
In honor of National Poetry Month, Pasadena City College will be hosting a special program on Thursday, April 16, 2015 celebrating the life and literary work of Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson. Titled “Celebrating August Wilson…Ten Years Later” begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Center for the Arts on the campus of Pasadena City College located at 1570 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91106. Parking is $2 per vehicle. The program is free and open to the public.
Actress Ella Joyce who is remembered and beloved in the community for her television role of “Eleanor” on TV’s family sitcom “Roc” which earned her an NAACP Image Award Nomination. Ms. Joyce world-premiered two August Wilson plays, one directed by the late master teacher Lloyd Richards: “Two Trains Running” opposite Laurence Fishburne; and “King Hedley II” opposite Tony Todd which she world-premiered at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. Ms Joyce will be joined by Actor/Director, Montae Russell( ER, The Players’ Club, BIRD LIVES) and vocal stylist and actress Michole Briana White ( Ava DuVernay’s “I WILL FOLLOW”) for a special panel discussion of artists who have performed in or produced Wilson’s plays. The panel will be moderated by program curator and cultural architect, Charles Reese.
An acclaimed playwright and poet, August Wilson – who passed away in 2005–is best known for The Century Cycle, a series of 10 plays that earned him two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. Each play is set in a different decade and depicts the comic and tragic aspects of the African-American experience in the 20th century.
Dr. Christopher Jimenez y West, PCC assistant professor of history states, “This is a wonderful opportunity for the public to hear from actors who have starred in Wilson’s plays, on- and off-Broadway.”
The program will also feature performances from the Los Angeles regional finalists of the Center Theatre Group’s August Wilson Monologue Competition. The three finalists, Phillip Patrick Bucknor, Shalia Essley and Wayne R Mackins-Harris – all high school students from the Los Angeles region – will be bringing Wilson’s memorable characters to life through a series of monologues.
“To hear this new generation of young artists bear witness to Mr. Wilson’s literary legacy will be an incredible experience,” added Charles Reese. “It will be an engaging, educational, and entertaining evening of art and culture for the soul and the senses.”
A screening of the documentary “August Wilson: The Ground On Which I Stand” will also be held at the event.
“Celebrating August Wilson…Ten Years Later” is made possible through Pasadena City College’s Jackie Robinson Arts & Humanities Lecture Series. In its third academic year and initiated by Dr. Robert Bell, senior vice president/assistant superintendent of PCC, the series is named after PCC’s most internationally recognized alumnus, Jackie Robinson. The implementation of this annual event celebrates the multiple aspects of the college’s diversity through a series of presentations, workshops, performances, and lectures.
For more information about the event, please contact Dr. Christopher Jimenez y West at(626) 585-7236or via email at [email protected]. For directions to the college:www.pasadena.edu.
Photo credits:
1. August Wilson: The Ground On Which I Stand. Courtesy of PBS. 2. Ella Joyce. Courtesy of the Artist. 3. August Wilson Painting by Ronald K. Jackson. 4. Promo One Page. Courtesy of TEC.
