TOP 10
SINGLES
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TOP 10
ALBUMS
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The Middle
Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey
Psycho
Post Malone Feat. Ty Dolla $ign
Nice For What
Drake
Never Be The Same
Camila Cabello
Delicate
Taylor Swift
No Tears Left To Cry
Ariana Grande
In My Blood
Shawn Mendes
Meant To Be
Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line
God’s Plan
Drake
Mine
Bazzi
EVERYTHING IS LOVE
The Carters
Nasir
Nas
Youngblood
5 Seconds Of Summer
Liberation
Christina Aguilera
Post Traumatic
Mike Shinoda
The Greatest Showman
Soundtrack
SQUARE UP (EP)
BLACKPINK
Redemption
Jay Rock
?
XXXTENTACION
KIDS SEE GHOSTS
KIDS SEE GHOSTS
Presented by
wireless
Festival for Caribbean women writers winners
they were all pretty amazing —
we were not expecting a lot of
responses for our first time,” she
said. “We were very happy with
them and narrowed down to
seven plays.”
The initial deadline was in
late December, but was extended
until Jan. 13 due to an uptick in
last minute submissions.
The submission call asked
for female writers of Caribbean
descent to submit a short
10-minute play, with three characters
or less, and have a unique
story in any subject.
Including herself, she and two
other members of the company’s
selection committee spent most
of January reading through dozens
of submissions before deciding
on six writers. Because they
received so many submissions,
Colimon-Christopher decided to
include one more writer.
“There were a lot of plays to
read and we ranked them from
structure to content, and their
approach to be innovative, and
different ways of thinking about
things,” she said. “A key element
of the festival is to inspire new
ways of looking at life and thinking
of how we see the world.”
The seven selected writers
represent Trinidad and Tobago,
Caribbean L 36 ife, Feb. 8–14, 2019 BQ
Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica, Dominican
Republic, and St. Kitts and Nevis.
They are Wendy Arimah, France-
Luce Benson, Maggie Diaz Bofill,
Marjuan Canady, Nattalie Gordon,
Rossely Harman, and Juliette
Jeffers.
Colimon-Christopher says
almost every woman who submitted
work to the festival had
ancestry from almost every
country in the Caribbean. Several
genres submitted range from
comedy, drama, magical realism,
to afrofuturism.
She said ensuring every island
was represented was a priority of
hers because she wanted different
voices heard.
“That was really important
for me because my vision is to
create a stage for all people in
the Caribbean,” said Colimon-
Christopher. “I want to share
their innovative viewpoints in
society and how we can change
with theater, and change the way
we can think, because these are
very clear and very unique voices
we can hear from.”
In addition to showcasing the
theatrical work written by Caribbean
women, the company is
also hosting an exposition in conjunction
with the festival to support
local and independent businesses.
The exposition is offering
owners of non-food businesses to
sign up to become a vendor and
introduce their products to the
festival attendees, said Colimon-
Christopher.
“Our goal is to bring the community
to every festival and
beyond,” she said. “The community
will be there to share their
art form and their passions, so
this is a great way to increase
more awareness about their business.”
As part of the festival, vendor
fee includes regular admission
price and sellers will get to enjoy
the show.
eotyped negatively or looked
at with fear due to maligning
by white supremacy. With so
much internalization of these
labels, a significant portion of
the African Diaspora is wholly
removed.
“So many people have visceral
reactions about those
religions, but part of those
reactions come from being
oppressed out of blackness and
accepting themselves,” she
said. “But these are our roots
and they are fundamental for
our survival as black people in
America.”
Last year Romain documented
her trip in her film,
“Brooklyn to Benin: A Vodou
Pilgrimage.” In the film she
takes viewers on a journey of
tracking how despite the harsh
realities of colonization and
the slave trade, much of those
roots still live on consciously
and subconsciously.
“I highlight the survival of
vodou in Brooklyn to Haiti, and
to the source in Benin,” said
Romain. “I explore the tradition
and what survived.”
The show itself will feature
Romain as a narrator, along
with Beninese composer Jah
Baba, South Carolina based
healer and dancer, Ikeoma
Divine, and Brooklyn-based
deejay DJ Sabine Blaizin.
Romain said she wanted
people to reconnect, or at the
very least, allow themselves to
relearn how much programming
they’ve been inundated
with steering them away from
African spirituality. She said
people should try and reintroduce
themselves to a life of
spirituality prior to forced conversion.
“My endeavor is to soak and
connect people with these religions,
because the world psyche
is awash with white supremacy,”
she said.
“Vodou Roots: A Love Story
Musical” at Teatro LATEA
107 Suffolk St. between Rivington
and Delancey streets
in the Lower East Side, (212)
529-1948, www.teatrolatea.
org. Feb. 19 at 7 pm. $20 ($15
online).
Continued from Page 35
Haitian-American writer,
France-Luce Benson’s “Fall”
will be one of seven plays
debuting at the festival.
Continued from Page 35
Racism in Hollywood
about it that you may notice
again: the faces you’ll see at the
awards show could be predominately
white. This issue is old
but it came to a head in 2015
with the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite,
and it still hasn’t changed
much.
Racism in Hollywood started
when Hollywood itself began:
from the outset, Black directors
were “barred” from directing
studio films. That led to a
twofold issue: so-called “race
movies” had to be made without
studio money; and because
there was no one to advocate
for them, few African-Americans
landed roles in major
movies. In those early years,
producers did manage to make
limited-run films with Black
casts and crew, and audiences
saw the occasional Black performer
here or there, but it
wasn’t until the late 1960s that
a Black director landed a job in
a mainstream film.
As many actors, actresses,
directors, and movie-goers
have seen, today’s Black moviemakers
still struggle to land
jobs. Like their predecessors,
they fight Jim Crow laws within
the industry, and the same old
reasons have a few twists: the
assumption that white audiences
won’t pay to see a movie
with a Black cast means that
fewer “Black” films are given
big budgets or green lights.
Fewer “Black” films mean
fewer jobs are offered to African
Americans, from behindthe
camera crew to the director’s
chair to the cast. Hollywood
insiders further believe
that all-Black casts will not
make any money in overseas
theatres, which limits African-
American moviemakers even
more. This leads Black films
and directors to receive the
label of “unbankable,” despite
that there are obvious exceptions
to that dubious belief.
And it’s all happening
through “completely legal
practices….”
Movies make us happy.
They put us in another mood,
another country, or another
planet. After reading “The Hollywood
Jim Crow,” they may
make you angry.
Continued from Page 35
Vodou Roots - a musical
Jamaican-American Nattalie
Gordon’s “Cooter Soup” is
one the festival’s selection.
Kittitian writer, Juliette Jeffers’
story is titled “Pan
Gyul.”
/www.teatrolatea
/www.teatrolatea