"Love and Street Corner Harmony"
Love and Street Corner Harmony takes place on any corner in America where music and dance was popular...where fun and good times seem to be the only issue, not all of the issues of today. When singing groups (singers) who aspired to be great singers and dancers, seem to come together on some corner in America.
The place - a hotel suite overlooking the gritty streets of Harlem, New York City. But this meeting between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz), two giants of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's, actually took place only in the creative imagination of playwright Jeff Stetson.
The two leaders are believed to have met only once: briefly outside the halls of the U.S. Congress during the debate prior to passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Bill.
"The Meeting"
For this play, they are together in February 1965, days after a bomb explosion in Malcolm's home, and weeks before his assassination. A motif of struggle permeates this characterization of the leadership careers of these two men, who although on opposite sides of America's socio-political spectrum, were vying for the same outcome.
Gems of the Ocean
Happy Endings
Fences
The Emmitt Till Story
Just like this corner which is called Love and Harmony two streets intersect one another coming together like you'd always wish people would come together. It seems as though they did in the 60's all the way up to the 80's. Somehow it seems as though we've lost it. Love and Street Corner Harmony inspires to bring people together just like those two streets come together...Love and Harmony.
Ujima Performer, Kieashia Edwell
Photo courtesy of Karl Kuntz
"What Color Is Trouble"
Columbus, Ohio playwright Ron Pitts of Ujima Theatre directs this original production with music, song and dance performed by area youth and young adults. The play weaves a story of contemporary problems - gangs, addiction, racism and violence, as well as the discovery that we can make a choice to prevail and discover hope, self-identity, forgiveness, trust and responsibility. Pitts co-authored "What Color is Trouble" with Dr. Raymond Wise.
"What Color Is Trouble" has also been instrumental in advocating non-violence in the city of Columbus.
Much of what occurs is the playwright's interpretation of Martin Luther King Jr.'s calm, reasoned and compliant style versus Malcomn X's fiery confrontational and now accommodating approach. Although both men were murdered at age 39, they live on as martyrs of the cause they equally embraced - the advancement of freedom for those Americans who are the grandchildren of slaves.
"Ujima Presents 'Heart Tugging' Expos`e"
...A Long Time Since Yesterday Premieres
Five sorority sisters reunite 17 years after college for the funeral of one of their classmates. The women confront the truth about their own lives, private struggles, emotional scars hidden all of their lives, and painful memories of childhood emotional traumas that have led to their success. Laughter rolls, tempers flare and guilt is served in this humorous, yet sensitive and painful look at contemporary women as they struggle with their emotional wounds to meet the demands of the times. Contains mature issues, and language not appropriate for young audiences. For ticket info, please contact our Executive Secretary.
"Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" debuts in Ohio's Capital City
To honor the major contributions of the late Tony Award winning playwright August Wilson, Columbus-based Ujima Theater Company recreated his first and most famous work, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. The play is about a recording session with blues singer Ma Rainey set in 1920s Chicago and the first of an epic 10-play cycle chronicling the Black experience in 20th-century America. Directed by Ron Pitts co-founder with August Wilson of the Ujima Theater Company in Pittsburgh during the early 1960’s.
Ma Rainey
