Word Becomes Flesh is a commission to redevelop Bamuthi’s first landmark work into a multi-player work of theater, with new writing and new direction. In a Re-Creation of Word Becomes Flesh, Youth Speaks Living Word Project gathers Daveed Diggs, Dahlak Brathwaite, Dion Decibels, Khalil Anthony, Mic Turner and B.Yung to present a series of performed letters to an unborn son.

Using poetry, dance and live music, the collective documents nine months of pregnancy from a young, single father’s perspective.

Download the “Word Becomes Flesh – One Sheet”

Credits:

Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Artistic Director
Joan Osato, Producing Director
Written and Directed by Marc Bamuthi Joseph
Written and Performed by Dahlak Brathwaite, Daveed Diggs, Dion Decibels, Khalil Anthony, Michael Turner and B.Yung
Technical Director/Lighting Designer: Haldun Morgan
Production Manager/Stage Manager: Joan Osato
Photography by Bethanie Hines

About Word Becomes Flesh

Word Becomes Flesh is a fluid evening-length choreopoem written in the form of a narrative verse play. Presented as a series of performed letters to his unborn son, the piece uses poetry, dance and live music to document nine months of pregnancy from a young single father’s perspective.

These performed letters incorporate elements of ritual, archetypes, and symbolic sites within the constructs of hip hop culture. Word Becomes Flesh evolves the realm of spoken word and realizes the form’s theatrical potential as the poet/dancer cogently presents the complex contradictions involved in race, using the stage as an open page, and deftly writing the body as text.

While women continue to fight for their right to make choices about their bodies, the legacy of patriarchy and male privilege still allow a man the social right to choose domestic absenteeism and refrain from offering either emotional or financial support.

Word Becomes Flesh critically, lyrically, and choreographically examines this phenomenon. In the process we confront the intersection of the physical reality and mythology of the black male body from the cotton field to the athletic field and all spaces in between. The piece was performed in the original production and tour by Marc Bamuthi Joseph with live music composed and performed by Paris King, Sekou Gibson and Ajayi Jackson. Other collaborators included dancer/choreographer Adia Whittaker and dramaturg Roberta Uno.

We’re proud to say that these artists have had a long relationship with Youth Speaks and The Living Word Project. Of the young artists who are re-envisioning this important piece, two started with Youth Speaks when they were 16, one was a big part of our partner program in NYC, 3 have collaborated in LWP repertory works and tours previously, and all 5 of the poets are veterans of Youth Speaks’ Annual Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival.

Word Becomes Flesh premiered in November 2003 at the Alice Arts Center (Oakland, CA) and subsequently toured through 2007 nationwide to venues including Bates Dance Festival (Lewiston, ME), ODC Theater and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco, CA), On the Boards (Seattle, WA), New World Theater (Amherst, MA), Dance Theater Workshop (New York, NY), Live Arts Festival (Philadelphia, PA), Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago, IL), University Musical Society (Ann Arbor, MI), Miami Dade College (Miami, FL), and Dance Place (Washington, DC). Considered the seminal work of Marc Bamuthi Joseph and The Living Word Project, this piece was chosen by the National Performance Network for its 25th Anniversary Re-Creation Initiative supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

For Booking and More Information:

Joan Osato, Producing Director
Youth Speaks, Inc. + The Living Word Project
c) 415-710-7427
josato@youthspeaks.org
www.livingwordproject.org

September 6: The ISIS Project @ Lawrence Hall of Science

September 27-Oct 1: Estria Invitational Graffiti Battle Sattelite Events @ Various Locations

October 2: Litquake’s Tribute to Larewnce Ferlinghetti, hosted by Marc Bamuthi Joseph at Palace of Fine Arts

October 3: Life is Living: Oakland @ DeFremery Park

October 9: Brave New Teachers presentation at Teachers for Social Justice conference

October 14: The Spoken World @ LeHigh University

November 6-7: Life is Living: Houston @ Emancipation Park and Last Organic Outpost

December 2-4: Left Coast Leaning @ Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

December 6-12: Word Becomes Flesh Re-Premiere @ National Performance Network, Dallas, TX

The New Parish/ 579 18th Street @ San Pablo

Doors 7 /Show 7:30
$5 before 8p /$10 after

Click here to view the embedded video.

——-

We humbly welcome you to THE STANDARD, a new monthly music series
hosted by The New Parish and The Living Word Project. In one night we add three chapters to Oakland’s talking book…

Ch. 1: NEW WORD SERIES
7pm – 9pm

An Open Mic Battle Royale with $200 awarded to the ONE poet who can get through 3 lightning rounds of competition.

MC’d by Lauren Whitehead and Mona Webb

Ch. 2: OLD TO THE NEW
9pm – 10pm

An invited roster of pre-eminent Bay Area MC’s perform their favorite Old School Classics with the live instrumental expertise of THE PARK.

Featuring CHINAKA HODGE / DAVEED DIGGS /and WONWAY POSIBUL
MC’d by Marc Bamuthi Joseph

Ch. 3: THE WAY YOU MOVE…
10pm – 1am

Music to uplift you, spun by the legendary DJ FUZE and special guests.

—

All proceeds benefit Youth Speaks.

Check out: www.thenewparish.com

From Intersection’s acclaimed resident theatre company Campo Santo and The Living Word Project (the resident theater company of Youth Speaks) comes the world premiere of Mirrors In Every Corner, written by emerging playwright Chinaka Hodge. This genre breaking and strikingly original theatre work chronicles an Oakland-based African American family alternately in the present and in 1988 after the mother gives birth to a Caucasian baby. Examining how race is lived in and through the body, this world premiere play attempts to unearth the reality and the fictive construction of race – what makes someone black, what is blackness, what is family, and what is lineage- as a family grapples with the issues of race and identity in contemporary America. The play is directed by performance innovator and the Living Word Project’s Artistic Director Marc Bamuthi Joseph; and features Daveed Diggs, Margo Hall, Dwight Huntsman and Traci Tolmaire; with a score by composer and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire;and a dual visual art installation and scenic design by artist Evan Bissell; and a collaborative team of Alejandro Acosta, Ray Diaz, Ben Fisher, Tanya Orellana, Joan Osato, Kate Purnell,and Ricky Saenz.

LOCATION

Intersection for the Arts
446 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

MORE INFORMATION

www.theintersection.org
(415) 626-2787 x109

LINKS

www.ambroseakinmusire.com
February 10, 2010

Innovators: Stepping Up
October 1, 2007 – By Derk Richardson, Smithsonian.com

Even as he travels the world, dancer and hip-hopper Marc Bamuthi Joseph has stayed close to his musical roots.

Chinaka Hodge performs at Spoken City, October 10th, 2006
January 29, 2010

Chinaka Hodge performs at Spoken City, October 10th, 2006

Chinaka Hodge Website: FOR GIRLS WITH HIPS. AND ALLIES WITH OR WITHOUT THEM.
January 29, 2010

Chinaka Hodge’s Official Website

IN THE NEWS

White Girl in the Mirror
February 17, 2010 – Rachel Swan, East Bay Express

Youth Speaks’ Living Word Project and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Present

A Revolutionary Three-Day Festival Celebrating
West Coast Dance, Theater and Music

Curated by Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Left Coast Leaning positions the west coast, long celebrated as the progressive edge of the country, as the emerging center of a changing world.

Each evening features a different line-up of urban-based movement, storytelling and music, showcasing performances and collaborations by some of the west coast’s most influential artists, including Amara Tabor-Smith of Urban Bush Women and inkBoat’s Sherwood Chen performing together as Headmistress, Amy Seiwert of Smuin Ballet, Seattle’s Zoe Scofield and Juniper Shuey, and musicians ranging from Berkeley’s Ambrose Akinmusire to Portland’s Holcombe Waller.

DEC 3
ODC Dance // Zoe/Juniper // Amy Seiwert / im’ij-re // Headmistress f/ Amara Tabor Smith and Sherwood Chen

>>Purchase Tickets

DEC 4
Rennie Harris PureMovement // The Embodiment Project f/ Nicole Klaymoon // Steve Connell and Sekou da Misfit // Lauren Whitehead

>>Purchase Tickets

DEC 5
Holcombe Waller // Denizen Kane, Erica Chong Shuch and Sean San José / Ambrose Akinmusire f/ Chinaka Hodge

>>Purchase Tickets

Left Coast Leaning is made possible through the generous support of the James Irvine Foundation, The Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, The Columbia Foundation, & the San Franscisco Bay Gaurdian.

$35 Left Coast Leaning Festival Pass!
Get all three performance dates for one low price!

$10 tickets for ages 24 & under*
*Call or stop by YBCA Box Office for details. Sorry, but 24 & under discounted tickets may not be purchased online. ID required.

—

PRESS RELEASE

Youth Speaks and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts present

Left Coast Leaning Festival

A celebration of West Coast Dance, Theater, & Music

Dec. 3-5 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Forum

Work by:

Rennie Harris PureMovement, Amy Seiwert, Lauren Whitehead, ODC/Dance,

Denizen Kane & Sean San José, Holcombe Waller, Nicole Klaymoon, Zoe|Juniper,

Amara Tabor Smith & Sherwood Chen, Steve Connell & Sekou tha Misfit,

Chinaka Hodge & Ambrose Akinmusire

Curated by Marc Bamuthi Joseph

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—November 10, 2009—Youth Speaks’ Living Word Project and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts are pleased to present a three-day festival celebrating West Coast dance, theater and music. Curated by Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Left Coast Leaning positions the west coast, long celebrated as the progressive edge of the country, as the emerging center of a changing world.

Each evening features a different line-up of urban-based movement, storytelling and music, showcasing performances and collaborations by some of the west coast’s most influential artists, including Amara Tabor-Smith of Urban Bush Women and inkBoat’s Sherwood Chen, Amy Seiwert of Smuin Ballet, vocalist and playwright Lauren Whitehead, and musicians ranging from Berkeley’s Ambrose Akinmusire to Portland’s Holcombe Waller.

December 3 : >>Purchase Tickets

Four contemporary dance companies open the festival on December 3, including ODC/Dance, Zoe|Juniper, im’ij-re, and Headmistress.

ODC/Dance, San Francisco’s internationally acclaimed contemporary dance company, performs Unintended Consequences: A Meditation, a work by ODC Artistic Director & Founder Brenda Way. Set to music by Laurie Anderson, Unintended Consequences explores the emotional and political costs of complacency within an egalitarian community. Launched in 1971, ODC/Dance moved to San Francisco in 1976, and in 1979 was the first modern dance company in America to build its own home facility. In January 2010 next year ODC/Dance will travel to Southeast Asia to perform as an ambassador of the United States in a brand new program of the U.S. State Department entitled Dance Motion USA.

Seattle-based Zoe|Juniper is a relatively new collaboration of two artists, choreographer Zoe Scofield and visual artist Juniper Shuey. Zoe|Juniper perform an excerpt of a piece entitled the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t. The duo began their collaboration in 2005 with a performance at On the Boards’ Northwest New Works Festival, and have gone on to collaborate with Dave Matthews for his “Eh Hee” video, and publish a book of their ongoing photographic collaboration entitled White Teeth. Their latest works have taken them abroad to Budapest, Hungary and New Zealand.

Also formed in 2005 is the San Francisco-based im’ij-re, who perform a new work entitled Static. im’ij-re is a contemporary ballet company directed by Amy Seiwert, who is also currently Choreographer-in-Residence for Smuin Ballet. im’ij-re’s artists share the belief that through collaboration and experimentation, vibrant and courageous ideas can be expressed.

The evening’s program also includes a new work entitled Up to Know Good by Headmistress, which represents yet another of the festival’s unique collaborations. Headmistress is a newly formed entity between San Francisco Bay Area-based choreographers and dancers Amara Tabor-Smith (of Urban Bush Women) and Sherwood Chen (of Maijuku). The company began as an impromptu groove on the dance floor at 2 am and has evolved into a mutual inquiry into various kinds of connection—ancestral, national, transcultural.

DECEMBER 4 : >>Purchase Tickets

Founded in 1992, Rennie Harris PureMovement (RHPM) made it a goal to represent the essence and spirit of hip-hop, rather than the commercially exploited stereotypes most often presented by the media. Its founder and artistic director, Rennie Harris is the recipient of numerous awards and has been compared to twentieth-century dance legends Alvin Ailey and Bob Fosse. His group of dancers and their infectious brand of movement have toured around the globe. Although based in Philadelphia, Lorenzo “Rennie” Harris has in recent years made California his second home, and we are the richer for it. At 45, Rennie Harris is atop the hip hop heap, and its leading ambassador. His company performs a work-in-progress entitled 100nakedlocks.

Newly formed performance group, The Embodiment Project perform a work entitled I’m Coming Back to Me. The group, directed by Nicole Klaymoon, interweaves a variety of forms including street dance, song, theater, and spoken word. Similarly, its choreography is a fusion of house, popping, waaking, and modern dance. For Klaymoon, such movement can be used to reveal personal narratives and to push hip hop into a more universal performance context.

Acclaimed actors/poets/playwrights, Steve Connell and Sekou tha Misfit, have been featured on ABC World News, Good Morning America, HBO’s Def Poetry, MTV’s World AIDS Festival, and BET’s Lyric Café, to name only a few. They perform an excerpt from their “explosively funny” play entitled, The Word Begins, which recently received three Helen Hayes Nominations for Best Acting, Best Writing, and Best Play.

Lauren Whitehead, a vocalist, a poet, and a budding playwright who has performed at venues across the country, explores the blues and blues singers in her latest work, Written in Blues. Whiteheard reently performed at the Sundance Film Festival and The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C and appeared on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, and was featured in the HBO documentary, “Russell Simmons Presents: Brave New Voices”.

December 5 : >>Purchase Tickets

The festival concludes on December 5 with a program of spoken word and musical performances, including artists Holcombe Waller; Denizen Kane and Sean San José; and Ambrose Akinmusire and Chinaka Hodge.

Holcombe Waller is a Portland-based singer-songwriter who melds personal introspection with political commentary and allegory. Most recently, Waller collaborated with Joe Goode Performance Group to create the critically-acclaiemd Small Experiments in Song and Dance. Waller performs a new work entitled Into the Dark Unknown: The Hope Chest, a vocal performance in which movement, video, costume, and character join to create a unique style of multimedia, interdisciplinary story-telling.

Poet and musician Dennis Kim (aka Denizen Kane) and actor and director Sean San José come together to perform excerpts from Tree City Legends, a collection of poems and songs written by Kim. One of the founders of I Was Born With Two Tongues (1998-2003), an Asian American spoken word quartet and Typical Cats, a Chicago-based hip hop collective, Kim’s poetry has been widely published; it’s also been featured on three seasons of Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry Jam. San José is a co-founder of the theatre company Campo Santo, the award-winning resident theater company of San Francisco’s Intersection for the Arts.

The festival concludes with another innovative collaboration between spoken word artist and playwright Chinaka Hodge and jazz musician and composer Ambrose Akinmusire. Hodge’s first full length stage play,Mirrors in Every Corner, was recently granted The Rockefeller Foundation’s prestigious MAP Award. Akinmusire, was born and raised in Oakland and was one of Berkeley High’s “All Star Players”. Before he was eighteen, Ambrose had already performed with such famed musicians as saxophonists Joe Henderson, Joshua Redman, Steve Coleman, and drummer Billy Higgins. He recently won two of the most prestigious jazz competitions in the world, the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition and the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition.

The Living Word Project (LWP) is the resident theater company of Youth Speaks, Inc., a premiere youth poetry, spoken word, and creative writing program. The Living Word Project is committed to producing literary performance in the verse of our time. Aesthetically urban, LWP marries personal narratives with interdisciplinary collaboration. Though its methodology includes dance, music, and film, the company’s emphasis is spoken storytelling through verse, which often comments on important social issues and movements of the present day. “LWP connects Shakespeare’s quill with Kool Herc’s turntables, Martha Graham’s cupped hand and Nelson Mandela’s clenched fist: it offers a new voice for a new politic.” Repertory works include Cause, Word Becomes Flesh, Scourge, Mirrors in Every Corner, Written in Blues, In Spite of Everything, War Peace and the break/s. For further information, please visit www.livingwordproject.org.

MARC BAMUTHI JOSEPH (Lead Curator) is one of America’s vital voices in performance, arts education, and artistic curation. In the Fall of 2007, Bamuthi graced the cover of Smithsonian Magazine after being named one of America’s Top Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences. He is the artistic director of the 7-part HBO documentary “Russell Simmons presents Brave New Voices” and an inaugural recipient of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship, which annually recognizes 50 of the country’s “greatest living artists.” After appearing on Broadway as a young actor, Joseph has developed several theatrical works in verse that have toured across the U.S., Europe, and Africa. These include Word Becomes Flesh, Scourge, and the break/s, which co-premiered at the Humana Festival of New American Plays and the Walker Arts Center in the Spring of 2008. Mr. Joseph’s next project, red black and green: a blues dramatizes the eco-equity movement for so-called “green collar jobs” in black neighborhoods. A gifted and nationally acclaimed educator and essayist, he has lectured at more than 200 colleges and universities, served as a commentator on National Public Radio, and has carried adjunct professorships at Stanford University, Mills College, and the University of Wisconsin. Bamuthi’s proudest work has been with Youth Speaks where he mentors 13-19 year old writers and curates the Living Word Festival for Literary Arts. He is also the lead curator of Life is Living, a national series of one-day festivals designed to activate underused parks and affirm peaceful urban life through hip hop arts and focused environmental action.

CALENDAR EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE:

Left Coast Leaning Festival

Where: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Forum (701 Mission Street at 3rd St., San Francisco)

What and When:

Thursday, Dec. 3, 8PM

ODC Dance (contemporary dance company directed by Brenda Way)

Zoe|Juniper (contemporary dance company directed by choreographer Zoe Scofield and visual artist Juniper Shuey)

im’ij-re (contemporary ballet company directed by Amy Seiwert)

Headmistress (contemporary dance company directed by Amara Tabor-Smith and Sherwood Chen)

Friday, Dec. 4, 8PM

Rennie Harris PureMovement (hip hop dance company directed by Rennie Harris)

The Embodiment Project (hip hop performance group featuring Nicole Klaymoon)

Steve Connell and Sekou da Misfit (collaboration of two spoken word artists)

Lauren Whitehead (one-woman song and spoken word act)

Saturday, Dec. 5, 8PM

Holcombe Waller (contemporary song-based performance art)

Denizen Kane & Sean San José (a collaboration of spoken word and hip hop song)

Ambrose Akinmusire & Chinaka Hodge (play by Hodge, jazz score by Akinmusire)

Price: $20 (regular admission); $15 (YBCA members, students, teachers, seniors); $10 (ages 24 and under/student rush); $35 (three-day pass). Enjoy same-day gallery admission with all YBCA presented performances.

Tickets: 415.978.2787, www.ybca.org

Through eight festivals, more than 30,000 people have enjoyed several hundred artists of various disciplines from around the country.

…this is where you want to be…hip hop does not dominate the body of content, and yet, hip hop is in the body of the players on stage.

A festival born out of forced labor and pandemic unemployment. Jim crow and reaganomics. a left coast, left-leaning (out of your hybrid impala) kinda interdisci- plinary artist-curated festival.

–> UNIVERSES: LIVE FROM THE EDGE

Universes’ presents live from the edge, an evening that showcases the ensemble’s special brand of fusion theater in a “best of” evening that tracks the evolution of their poetic language from childhood rhymes and community rituals, to poetry and theater, hip-hop and gospel.

fierce, funny, and bitingly intelligent…prodigiously versatile, handling the demands of the piece with professionalism and aplomb —The L.A. Times

Oct 8–9, 8pm //
Counterpulse, 1310 Mission St, San Francisco //
$20 /$10 students, elders, teachers

–> LIFE IS LIVING (www.lifeisliving.org)

Oct 10, 11a-5p //
DeFremery Park, 1651 Adeline St, Oakland //
Free

–> BRAVE NEW VOICES TEACHERS’ CONFERENCE

Photos in Image taken by Bethanie Hines

Youth Speaks executive team members James Kass, Hodari Davis, and Marc Bamuthi Joseph offer specific curriculum expertise on how to maximize the classroom use of the HBO 7 part documentary series “Brave New Voices.”

Attendees of this four-hour professional development opportunity will receive the HBO produced DVD, an electronic educational guide, and will be provided with lunch.

Oct 17, 10a-2p //
Lick Wilmerding High School, 755 Ocean Ave, SF //
$50. limited capacity.

Click here to register.

–>LIVING WATER: YOUTH SPEAK TO SPIRIT

A curated sampling of Youth Speaks poets perform works about their faith, conflicts and complexities included. Young writers of all religious backgrounds engage with both ministry and apathy, forging a safe space for young artists to examine their relationship to the divine through poetry. Co-hosted by Denizen Kane and Brandon santiago and featuring remarks by members of the Glide Memorial Ministry Council.

Oct 18, 2p //
Glide MeMorial Church Sanctuary, 330 Ellis St @ Taylor, SF //
Free

Click here for the “Life Is Living Music Player“

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.