UNC Process Series

The Dragon Tree takes us to 1961 in South Los Angeles. White Flight has given African and Japanese Americans the chance to reimagine their rapidly changing neighborhood and set a new standard of building quality for folks of color. But who gets to build it? And who gets to live in it? Set to the music of Nancy Wilson, The Dragon Tree follows the design and construction of a seminal apartment complex off Crenshaw that continues, to this day, to set new standards of beauty and quality in the face of racial housing discrimination, redlining, and a constantly changing city.

The Dragon Tree takes us to 1961 in South Los Angeles. White Flight has given African and Japanese Americans the chance to reimagine their rapidly changing neighborhood and set a new standard of building quality for folks of color. But who gets to build it? And who gets to live in it? Set to the music of Nancy Wilson, The Dragon Tree follows the design and construction of a seminal apartment complex off Crenshaw that continues, to this day, to set new standards of beauty and quality in the face of racial housing discrimination, redlining, and a constantly changing city.

In 2022, The Institute of African American Research (IAAR) and the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History merged to become the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Research in Black Culture and History. Performing Sankofa is an oral history project focused on the vision and goals that animated the creation and expansion of the IAAR. This staged reading is the culminating project for Comm 565: Oral History and Performance taught by Professor Renée Alexander Craft.

In 2022, The Institute of African American Research (IAAR) and the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History merged to become the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Research in Black Culture and History. Performing Sankofa is an oral history project focused on the vision and goals that animated the creation and expansion of the IAAR. This staged reading is the culminating project for Comm 565: Oral History and Performance taught by Professor Renée Alexander Craft.

Playwrights Howard L. Craft and Mike Wiley introduce Dizzle Jollyworth, a front-line elf at Santa’s Workshop, who is struggling for meaning in his life and is tasked to travel to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to rekindle the Christmas spirit of Hezikiah Jones, a grief stricken, disillusioned toymaker. A new holiday play told in a way that only Craft and Wiley could imagine, commissioned by PlayMakers Repertory Company.

Playwrights Howard L. Craft and Mike Wiley introduce Dizzle Jollyworth, a front-line elf at Santa’s Workshop, who is struggling for meaning in his life and is tasked to travel to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to rekindle the Christmas spirit of Hezikiah Jones, a grief stricken, disillusioned toymaker. A new holiday play told in a way that only Craft and Wiley could imagine, commissioned by PlayMakers Repertory Company.

Rap and Redemption on Death Row by Alim Braxton and Mark Katz is based on the correspondence between Mark Katz and death row inmate Alim Braxton and is presented in conjunction with the release of their book and record album. According to Katz, “Alim and I have now been corresponding for over a year. His seventy-five letters so far—well over two-hundred handwritten pages—have chronicled an eventful year that has included the tragic death of his sister, a cruel and unwarranted thirty-seven-day stint in isolation, his work on behalf of wrongfully convicted prisoners, the nationwide protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, and the reality of living on Death Row in the shadow of COVID-19. Both despite and because of his history, Alim Braxton has a great deal to teach us—about rap and redemption and so much more.” 

Rap and Redemption on Death Row by Alim Braxton and Mark Katz is based on the correspondence between Mark Katz and death row inmate Alim Braxton and is presented in conjunction with the release of their book and record album. According to Katz, “Alim and I have now been corresponding for over a year. His seventy-five letters so far—well over two-hundred handwritten pages—have chronicled an eventful year that has included the tragic death of his sister, a cruel and unwarranted thirty-seven-day stint in isolation, his work on behalf of wrongfully convicted prisoners, the nationwide protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, and the reality of living on Death Row in the shadow of COVID-19. Both despite and because of his history, Alim Braxton has a great deal to teach us—about rap and redemption and so much more.” 

John Pietrowski’s new play takes us to 1972, when Philip, a newly-minted professor and celebrated poet of the “voice of the working man” returns to his hometown of Detroit on a book tour, where he will present a reading at his alma mater, Wayne State. Prior to the reading, he meets in a bar with colleagues who worked with him on the assembly line in Detroit when he was a young man, one of whom thinks his poetry is terrible and untrue. Based on the poem “Angels of Detroit” from the book They Feed They Lion, and other Philip Levine poems.

John Pietrowski’s new play takes us to 1972, when Philip, a newly-minted professor and celebrated poet of the “voice of the working man” returns to his hometown of Detroit on a book tour, where he will present a reading at his alma mater, Wayne State. Prior to the reading, he meets in a bar with colleagues who worked with him on the assembly line in Detroit when he was a young man, one of whom thinks his poetry is terrible and untrue. Based on the poem “Angels of Detroit” from the book They Feed They Lion, and other Philip Levine poems.

Three poets explore race, ethnicity, gender, culture, intersectionality, and what we might require to address our global climate and cascading emergencies in an evening of performed poetry accented by musician Nikki Kilgore.

Three poets explore race, ethnicity, gender, culture, intersectionality, and what we might require to address our global climate and cascading emergencies in an evening of performed poetry accented by musician Nikki Kilgore.