ENTERTAINMENT
VODOU
Educator and anthropologist Regine Romain’s show, “Vodou Roots: A Love Story Musical,” playing at Teatro
Latea on Feb. 19, celebrates Regine Romain
Caribbean L BQ ife, Feb. 8–14, 2019 35
By Alexandra Simon
We’re going back to our roots.
A mixed media performance celebrating
traditional African spirituality
will play at Teatro Latea on Feb. 19.
“Vodou Roots: A Love Story Musical,”
is a musical-like show inspired by
its Haitian-American creator Regine
Romain, and her cultural pilgrimage
to Benin. The educator and anthropologist’s
trip to the West African
birthplace of vodou, was a beneficial
awakening about its origins, which
she wanted to condense her experience
and share.
“This is a love story and the show
at its core has storytelling, which is
specifically myself as narrator, sharing
aspects of vodou,” she said.
With many misconceptions surrounding
the concept of vodou and
all other African-originated religions,
Romain said a large part of her show
and mission was to educate people on
these spiritualities and teach them
how much culture was lost with
the introduction of European beliefs
via the transatlantic slave trade and
colonization. But she uses her own
experiences to reshape the narratives.
“There is a lot of myth around
vodou, and I’m allowing my personal
narrative to tell my story because
often when we talk about spiritual
religions there’s a lot of fear,” said
Romain.
She said African-based religions
that survived in the western world
such as Obeah, Santeria, Hoodoo, or
Candomble, are almost always ster-
Continued on Page 36
Trinidadian-American writer Wendy
Arimah.
By Alexandra Simon
The forthcoming “Hear Her Call” festival,
selected seven Caribbean-American
women writers for its York College event
on March 29. Headed by the Queensbased
production company, Conch Shell
Productions, the festival is a celebration
of Caribbean women writers, and their
stories and narratives and close to four
dozen writers submitted, said founder and
creator Magaly Colimon-Christopher.
“We had over 44 submissions and
Continued on Page 36
“The Hollywood Jim Crow: The Racial
Politics of the Movie Industry” by Maryann
Erigha
c.2019, New York University Press
$25.00 / higher in Canada
224 pages
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The movie you’ve been waiting for is
finally available.
Sure, you saw it in the theatre, but
you’re happy to watch it again. It has
adventure, a little romance, and plenty
of action — plus, it features your favorite
actor, so what’s not to love? Better question,
asks author Maryann Erigha in her
book “The Hollywood Jim Crow”: what
color is the cast?
The movie industry’s awards will be
given out soon, and there’s something
Continued on Page 36
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ologist Tecelebrates
traditional African spirituality. Celebrating its origin with a love story
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