Wole Soyinka, Nobel literary laureate and so much more, spoke at the symposia in his honor at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale this winter to an overflowing auditorium. Mr. Soyinka, however, was his composed self, attending to his first task of adjusting his glasses to suit the light as, on the other side of the stage the woman signing for the deaf began her work.

Wole Soyinka

"Culture dialogues anyway," Soyinka opened, "it's only human beings that get in the way."

He spoke of the arts, meant to lead the way, yet often get in the way. Then, he led us to "that continent of infinite resources and infinite frustrations," speaking of the correspondences and differences among Hollywood (USA), Bollywood (India), and Nollywood [the "N" word] (Nigeria). "We can only imagine 'Jollywood' [Japan]."

Not only is the man erudite and brilliant, but he is also intricately informed on popular culture and killingly funny.

Diaglogue between cultures is not one-way. There is cross-pollination going on. He then launched into the main focus of his talk, "Big Brother Africa," an American TV program that was imported via the United Kingdom.

Soyinka recapped the methodology of "Big Brother Africa," one of the original reality programs, even before they were called that. "The image is a powerful vector of cultural exchange." This TV show is a huge advertisement for food, drink, and "the most tawdry, banal conversations one could ever hope to listen to". Cameras beamed on these prisoners including barely disguised love-making. In the promo for the show, it was touted as promoting dialogue of peace and harmony between cultures.

Yet, is this Africa at all? Exhibitionism runs counter to most African cultures. There's a ban on showing belly buttons on the street. There is a difference between nudity and nakedness. There is high art of nudity and stripping off before audiences, baring all in a state of insanity loose-ego....that is nakedness. Culture is far more elaborate than that being portrayed. "Shakespeare's royal sceptre finally ended in a madman's crotch, saying, 'I am every inch a king' as a way to prick an audience's attention."

(A digression within a digression...What a delicious digression that is.) Vulgar feminism? The language of nudity? Nelson Mandela as the Minister of Culture? ("Hey, Buddy. I would gladly hand you the Reins of the World, but I would never make you Minister of Culture." His taste is rather special.)

"What is being given as the commodity of exchange that is being selected?" Once a Hollywood producer visited Soyinka asking him to adapt "Henderson the Rain King" which Jack Nicholson had an interest in. Soyinka could not imagine how the actor could enter the role. (He'd discovered that Nicholson was a big fan of the Lakers...and wondered if he, Soyinka, would have to re-culturalize himself to write the screenplay treatment.) What was it for Nicholson, he wondered: his own private quest? The ritual? The producer met Soyinka at his home where they discussed Soyinka's sense of the unconvincing ritual of the lion hunt...that it would have to be unleashed, not just plastered on. The producer appeared to listen attentively, until Soyinka noticed his eyes glazing over...and, he never heard from him again.

Soyinka ended with a successful case of cultural dialogue outside of performing arts. A French woman, now in her 80s: "She came. She saw. She was conquered."

--She adopted a deity and composed poetry in trance.
--She was an Eco-warrior for the grove she established for her deity.
--She painted and sculpted.
--She followed the mystic play of Shango. (Brazil, the other home of Yoruba.)
--Syncretic.
--Architecture, too, came about as a result of her interactions.

This was no dumbing down. This was true cultural exchange. This was procreative, generative dialogue, as she entered fully into the culture to let it speak to her soul.

HOMEWORK LINKS
1) Hear Soyinka's rolling baritone, relaxed, just chatting, sharing wisdom
First, let me give you a link to a 1998 conversation between Harry Kreisler and Wole Soyinka that took place in Berkeley, California as part of the "Conversations with History" series. What is said is still fresh today, AND you'll get to hear his richly nuanced voice. You can also go over to the Wole Soyinka page there and generally have a grand time.

2) Review of "Death and the King's Horseman"
Also, please read Paul Friswold's review "Honor System: The Black Rep impressively mounts Death and the King's Horseman."
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Flyer for Soyinka's Black Rep appearance

ANTICIPATION! GETTING READY FOR SOYINKA'S TALK

When Natalie Johnson (The Black Rep's Director of Marketing) told me that Wole Soyinka, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in literature, was coming to St. Louis, I hugged her and did a victory dance, right there in the lobby of the Grandel Theatre. Because I'd taught his work as part of the exam curriculum in both Ghana and Botswana, I was thrilled to think I could meet him in my lifetime.

When I found out there was a two-day Soyinka Symposia at SIU, Carbondale, I signed up and went. You can see these archived posts in AH, AFRICA! category. That symposia was over the sky amazing. Yes, I did meet Soyinka and shook his (dare I say it?) papery hand before he signed his latest memoir "You Must Set Forth At Dawn." (See post on under Read On category.) In addition to being brainy and wickedly funny, he's a gracious man who (my father's term) is "solid."

Wole Soyinka's memoir "You Must Set Forth At Dawn"

From the fulsome and heartfilled Carbondale Soyinka Symposia, I'd dashed back to Grandel Theatre (3610 Grandel Square, 314-534-3810, theblackrep.org) where the informal discussion presented by the St. Louis Black Repertory Company and Washington University's performing arts and African and African-American studies departments had been moved up two hours. Robert Henke, chairman of the performing arts department was to moderate the discussion with poet, novelist, critic, dramatist, and activist Soyinka.

WAITING AT THE GRANDEL

Distinguished linguist John Baugh and Professor Robert Henke chatted with us as we awaited Wole Soyinkas' arrival. Soyinka was in transit from the Carbondale, Illinois conference to the stage at the Grandel Theatre. From thence he would be whisked away to the St. Louis airport.

Henke gave us some background to appreciate what we were about to experience by telling us more about Soyinka life and the "fertile mythology he uses as a basis for tragic situation". Baugh honored Ron Himes, founder of the Black Rep, as an artistic genius and icon.

An impressive gathering turned out to be with Soyinka on this morning. Rudy Nickens (executive director of the Black Rep) Eugene B. Redmond (poet laureate of East St. Louis),
Poet and founding father of River Styx Michael Castro, Civil Rights icon Dovetta Wilson (who died this April at 73), and Chris King (editorial director for the St. Louis-American)...among other luminaries.

We stood when Soyinka made his (unintentionally) dramatic entrance...like the guest of honor arriving late at a dinner party.

Here, then, is my extremely loose transcript of this historical conversation.

Professor Henke: Tell us about the context for "The Lion and The Jewel" (1958) and the epic "Dance of the Forest." It's an interesting yoking.

Soyinka: "Lion and the Jewel" had a ludicrous stimulous. It owes its birth to Charlie Chaplan, one of my favorite comedians. He had just married Oona O'Niel, a much younger woman. I thought, aha, these Europeans do as our chiefs do at home. They take young wives just like our tradition of marriage at home. This subtle dialogue of culture is never completely expressed in the play.

Henke: What makes a civilization great?

Soyinka: In my youth we were not only fierce nationalist, but we were combatants. we were going to liberate all of Africa...from Colonial to independent status. Civilization is built on cruelties. We were not free of this burden of negative history...the exoriating history of Imperialism. I believed in possibility.

Henke: Is the school teacher in "The Lion and The Jewel" related in some way to the typology we see in Comedia del Arte?

Soyinka: [Whose father was a schoolteacher] He's placed in the schoool context to represent education and literacy in the play. The school teacher's idea of culture is ballroom dancing, sipping tea, and abandoning traditional foods. "The Lion and the Jewel" is a simple straight-forward story in favor of the cunning of tradition.

Henke: Have you been influenced by poetic dramatist such as Senge and Shakespeare? Could you speak to the link between poetry and drama?

Soyinka: I come from a densely poetic culture. Even hawking criers in the street permeates the poetic surroundings outside my mother's shop. Mythology inn Yoruba society is very much alive and rendered in poetic language of provers and riddles with which everyday language is laced.

Poetry is all around in African life. You hear it in Mammy Wagons. [We called these always-crowded converted Bedford trucks "Tro-Tros" in Ghana.] There's a concision, music, and startling matrices.

[I couldn't catch the onomatapoetic word he used which means "get down," so, I asked Nigerian poet Obinna Nwakanma for help. Perhaps he was talking about the "Bolekaja"? A sort of engaged polemical poetics made famous by the critics Chinweizu et al, in their critique of the writings of Soyinka's generation of poets including Okigbo and J.P Clark. It comes from the image of the "Tro-tro" or the "kia-kia" buses and of street lore.

Henke: Diction includes a range of registers.

Soyinka: Yoruba people don't believe in corrupting English when a new object comes into the culture. For example, the word for grammaphone means "eagle speaks without a fair reply."

Henke: Detailed stage directions for the dances?

Soyinka: The play comes to me visually, not conceptually, so I'm not thinking about thwarted love or writing dialogue to add adornments.

Henke: Sound is important. The drums.

Soyinka: As I see an actor on the stage, I hear what they'd hear. But dramaturgy has some artificial construction.

Henke: Spaces. Variety of staging. Different from Africa.

Soyinka: Theatre is where it happens, as it happens. TIn Africa, theatre happens in the streets, in the market square, at the chief's palace, on market day. he sense of space is very fluid!

In the West you slice spacial allowance...almost cinematically if you like.

Henke: "Death and the King's Horseman" is one of the greatest plays of our age.

Soyinka: Its stimulus was European. What evoked it was history. I saw a bust of Winston Churchhill, the British Bulldog at Cambridge King's College. Churchill was the symbol of the British Empire. I had an overwhelming desire to give it a push. I resisted, anyway. These are the people who took over entire cultures and got away with it. I locked myself in an apartment for about four days and wrote it.

Henke: Clash of cultures?

Soyinka: "Clash of cultures" was a buzz word of the times. For example, Achebe's work was described that way, but it is so much more. I wanted to warn readers and veiwers to look deeper. It was factual first, with the historical event triggering it. But one does not necessarily follow all the details literally in translating history into a work of art.

Henke: You've seen many productions of "Death and the King's Horseman." How have they differed over time?

Soyinka: I've seen perhaps seven productios. I never tire of college productions. It's the professional productions I'm most scared of.

Henke: Influenced by everything you ever read?

Soyinka: All human beings become part of what they eat, taste, smell. We are influenced by music, architecture, painting, and dance. It's inevitable that from time to time traces of what one has consumed will creep into one's creative production.

Senge? Irish culture and music are closer to Yoruba. Joan Littlewood said, "At last I've met the Black Irish."

[I think about this time, questions came from the audience.]

Question: Colonialism? Wars?

Soyinka: We must transcend and express our collective national will, resources, and responsibilities. We cannot blame outsiders for recruiting child soldiers. We must accept failure of nerve and lack of vision...and learn. we must take our own humanity as a prime responsibility for independence.

Question: African writers?

Soyinka: If you Google under "African Literature" [big laugh] so many will come up.

Question: Incarceration and forced exile...how affected?

Soyinka: I like to think...not at all! It provided a different rhythm of working. My activities in exile...I've never been a passive exile. I consider it a five-year political sabbatical. I always worked with others to overthrow the root of the reason for my exile.

Question: We're all Africans....?

Soyinka:These definitions and divisions came later. I never take these latest discoveries as final. I don't like to be final. I just take the latest assessment as that. But, I do know that humanity IS one...SHOULD BE...one. It's good to retain that philosophy. That's logical for me.

Question: Drumming in mythology? Censorship?

Soyinka: Traditional modes of expression. We like to think Yoruba's invented Talking Drums. Their 1.5 octaves imitate the human voice with great accuracy. Drumming is a tool of expression as versatile as human speech, used in ceremony and ritual. When you combine drumming and dirging, you get harmonics and it takes people under...into trance. I had to choreograph a scene to get the actors most vulnerable to trance off the stage. At the JFK and Lincoln Center it was remarkable and sometimes frightening to see how it affected the audience.

Question: Censorship?

Soyinka: It's difficult to shut a Nigerian up. Censorship is not a very successful business in Nigeria.

Question: William Shakespeare?

Soyinka: I do not believe that William Shakespeare can be over-rated. The man is just a genius.

Question: Conflation of identities: African/Nigerian/Yoruba?

Soyinka: Everyone has several identities. We can even reduce it to "What passport do you carry?" Some people believe in national identity. Some in the Pan-Africanist identity of The Diaspora. These are all intersecting circles. This for me is quite rich. We should all honor our multiple identities wherever we find them.

African-Americans still have to work at entering African culture when staging my plays. There is no intuitive cultural visa.

Question: Commonweath literature?

Soyinka: I resented having my work stamped with the label of "Commonwealth Literature." I felt it stamped me as a vessel of Colonialism in a strange way and made my squirm. But, you leave it aside and do what you have to do, which is to create.

Question: African diaspora?

Soyinka: Lost out somewhere. Gained somewhere.

Question: What are you working on now?

Soyinka: I never answer that question.

Question: [about Nigerian politics]

Soyinka: An example of failed leadership. When you betray a people, you lose my respect. He chose to turn his rule into one of the worst kind and it's tragic. That's why the fight cropped up all the time.

Question: Collaborate with sister at University of Kansas?

Soyinka: I try not to disturb her.

Then Ron Himes whisked Wole Soyinka off to the airport, world citizen that he is. Out in the lobby I huddled with two other women of letters--- Lavelle Wilkins-Chinn and Ruth Miriam Garnett as we collected ourselves from being transported into Soyinka's orbit...and went off for a bite to eat for re-fortify our bodies as well as our souls.

The Washington University Performing Arts Department describes the dance-drama cum social satire like this:Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate for literature, wrote several light-hearted plays that examine political ideas about colonization, culture, and gender roles . . . and often makes fun of Westernized school teachers. In The Lion and the Jewel, Lukunle, the teacher, tries to woo Sidi, the Jewel, by belittling her and trying to convince her to adhere to modern ways. Meanwhile, Baroka, the tribe's chief, decides that Sidi would make an excellent addition to his already large collection of wives and concubines. In a carnival of dance and song, Sidi must find her destiny somewhere between the old and the new, between the modern and the traditional in this comedy of the human condition.

Poetry, drumming (Grandmaster percussionist Arthur Moore II remains on-stage throughout the 90-minute performance),dance, mime, masks, tableaux, and women's chorus merge with outstanding acting to provide a delightful evening of theater and powerful storytelling. The modernist-traditionalist debate central to development in Africa is nowhere played out more starkly than in Soyinka's two tales of the Nigerian village presented in St. Louis this Spring (with "Death and the King's Horseman" being the other.)

"Lion and the Jewel" is an extended dancepiece that is intricately choreographed by Keith Tyrone; the play remains in constant, telling motion. I loved the physical bits of stage business. I sat close enough to see the actors' foreheads beaded with sweat from their intense effort. There is, by the way, equal-opportunity beefcake and cheesecake as handsome bodies of both sexes are displayed at their best advantage, with skin not just peeking out, but proudly there.

Jimmy Ganasin Brooks Jr. who plays Lakunle, the school teacher totally slayed me with his mastery of comedic timing and understanding of physical comedy as more than slapstick. He's something like a young Chalin or Keaton in the way he can move from a rubber-kneed awkward dance that covers the stage to absurdist riffs of dialogue of the moderist to the depths of pathos.

The supporting stagecraft is, as usual in a Himes production, minimally elegant and effective. I loved the sun/moon globes behind the scrim, the trees that flew up and down on wires, the use of silhouette, and great props like the faux zebra skin on the chief's bed.

Listen folks, if you're in the St. Louis area and reading this...do yourself a favor and run buy yourself a ticket for one of the remaining performances.

The Lion And The Jewel opens Friday, April 18, 8:00 p.m.at Washington University: Edison Theatre St. Louis, St Louis, Missouri.

"The Lion and the Jewel" by Wole Soyinka is diirected by Ron Himes and presented by the Washington University Performing Arts Department.

VENUE
Edison Theatre St. Louis
900 Walnut Street
St Louis, MO 63102
(314) 621-3182

TIMES
Sat, Apr 19 8:00p
Sun, Apr 20 2:00p
Fri, Apr 25 8:00p
Sat, Apr 26 8:00p
Sun, Apr 27 2:00p

Buy tickets here.

Price: ADULT (Reserved)$15.00
STUDENT/SENIOR$9.00CHILD 12 & UNDER$9.00
Phone: (314) 621-3182
Age Suitability: All Ages

I saw this play performed as part of the Wole Soyinka symposium in Carbondale, Illinois and I'm eager to see it performed again, right here in St. Louis.

The St. Louis Black Rep Company describes Wole Soyinka's play "Death and the King's Horseman" in this way:

Considered by many to be the Nobel Prize winner's greatest play, Death and the King's Horseman is based on a real incident in Nigeria during British colonial rule when the ritual suicide of the horseman of an important chief was prevented by the intervention of colonial authorities.

Forged out of this story is a metaphor not just for the whole history of Africa and its collision with colonial Europe, but a profound meditation on the nature of man.

Soyinka builds upon the event to tell us about the relationship of life with death and the power of religion, ritual and spirituality in human existence.

First off, let me say I consider that the reader section on the Amazon book product pages are, for the most part, best termed as "comments" rather than "reviews"---which usually would be rather over-stating the case.

Secondly, I am frequently appalled by the casual way in which readers in these comment sections reveal their ignorance, not even knowing they are doing so.

If you want to sample the state of literacy and literateness in America today, just turn to the Amazon Jungle of Democratic commentary, complete with voting buttons.

Obviously, I am in a Cultural Curmudgeon mood. What has so twerked me off? I've just come from looking at the Amazon book product page for Wole Soyinka's newest memoir, "You Must Set Forth At Dawn."

Soyinka's newest memoir, "You Must Set Forth At Dawn"

Here is one of the clunkers pucking my last nerve, which can be summarily dismissed as completely missing the point:

1) Craig Kenworthy asks, "Ever have a friend who tells great stories but takes too long to get to the point?" and states: "This is a good book that could have been..a little less self centered, if self-centered can be a fair criticism of a memoir."

2) Jimi Oke responds, "I completely disagree with those who complain that Soyinka is too wordy and dawdles over many unnecessary details before getting to the real thing. What real thing are they searching for, anyway? This, after all, is a memoir. Moreover, every page, every word was an absolute treat. Solidly written, with a plethora of hilarious, as well as sobering anecdotes, and a masterful deployment of literary devices, this, surely is a chef-d'oeuvre. However, this book is not only an autobiography but an excellent historical account of Nigeria's political history since independence in 1960.

Wole Soyinka

"Catapulted right into the middle of the action and intrigue that took hold of the nation, I learned new things and gained a lot of useful insight into how the nation became to be what it is today and the various roles of those involved in shaping its destiny.

"I grabbed this book because I wanted to learn more about the history of my country from the mouth of a seasoned literary figure. I was astounded to discover that he was completely involved in the struggle right from the beginning. What is more, I was rewarded with a distinctive literary style and all the rewards it brings---new vocabulary, new expressions, and more knowledge."

3) Michael Crown, in an otherwise positive review, says, "Mr. Soyinka's style tends to be a little heavy on grammar..." Hello? What could this possibly mean? Heavy on grammar?

4) Maxine Lederman complains that it took her almost 250 pages before she "could really get into the book. It was very wordy and nothing said really kept you wanting to go forward. Our reading group decided to read this and none of us could finish the book and many never started. Our discussion leader was very determined and forced herself to read until the end. She was kind enough to point out some good parts. On pages 436-440, his thoughts were timely as to the world situation today. This is a read for someone who really likes a challenge!"

Maxine...let me just say, Soyinka has my complete and heartfelt attention from the first sentence onward! "Outside myself at moments like this, heading home, I hesitate a moment to check if it is truly a living me." (chapter one :For Those Who Went Before, p. 5) Maxine, honey, I'm in love from the get-go, and his words of wisdom continue with constancy throughout.

5) Hedzoleh is another reader, like Jimi Oke above, who is able to meet Soyinka with informed intelligence:

"Soyinka skilfully offers refreshing glimpses into his life as a humble, honest and courageous individual. He is deeply spiritual but definitely not a holier-than-thou prude. Soyinka's infectious enjoyment of life comes across in his passion for hunting, wine, music, art and, of course, women. It seems that it is this enduring appreciation of the immense possibilities of life that drives his resistance to dictatorship and systems that seek to rob the individual of the opportunity to partake in the sacrament of life. The man, his art and his politics are inseparable."

There, now I feel better. Back to my reading. The next chaper beckons: "The Conquest of Civilian Pride."

So here I am at the Wole Soyinka Symposia at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, about as happy as a girl can be and still remain in her skin! The brainpower in this auditorium hooked up to electrical generators could solve the world energy problems and light up every nation around the world. Yes, the people here speaking on the platform and listening in the audience are that bright.

At the break Fatima from Kano (studying Public Health, but interested in poetry and literature) and I lean our heads together and whisper our confession that we simply allow the words and phrases to waft in and out of our being, intoxicating us, not forcing our brains to follow in a linear fashion for fear that would crack our heads open.

Yes, the feeling is resplendent with a calling down of the spirits. The Orishas of the Nigerian pantheon are here as surely as we are. It is, as Robert Fox said of another encounter "As if Shango had arranged the encounter because there was intellectual lighening everywhere."

In the lobby I greet my first familiar face, Ron Himes (producing director of St. Louis Black Rep Theatre Company) and tell him how I appreciate the way all the elements of stagecraft in "Radio Golf" (the August Wilson play currently on their main stage at the Grandel Theatre) wholly supports the exquisite skills of the actors. [Read more about Ron and The Black Rep under the categories "Meet Me in St. Louis" and "Performance Matters."] Ron reminds me he'll be staging Woyinka's "The Lion and the Jewel" at Washington University.

In the auditorium I greet my second familiar face, Obi Nkwanma, who brought Africa into my gathering room one day last week for several hours, and exchanged poetry books. The next day I called friends all over the country to read poems to them from "The Horsemen." He says in the lobby that "Sightlines" is a tribute of remembrance and he senses the closeness between my sister and myself...and how my father is the core everything revolves around. I am grateful, always, to be so well-read.

Marcel Okhaku, Senior Lecturer in Dramatic Theory and Media Arts, University Benin, Nigeria, sends me when he delivers the West African click at the end of our handshake. It's better than a roller-coaster ride, and a quicker trip to Africa and back than the Concorde. "Thanks for the click!" I say. He laughs, understanding, it seems, and says, "For nothing." When I recall the beauty of Benin when I traveled through there in the 1970s, he says it's changed, but yes, is still beautiful.

I learn that Western Illinois University (where I first went to college in 1967-68 before going on to Washington University for a semester...marriage...and getting my degrees at Southern Illinois University at Edwardville, then a commuter's school) now has an Africa Studies department! The world is turning, yes it is!

The keynote "Forget the Muse, think only of the subject?" is delivered by Biodun Jeyifo of Harvard with Robert Fox of Southern Illinois University as the respondent. This, is seems to me in this context, is like the call and response of traditional African music.

But, now....back to the conference to learn more about Muse and Mimesis!

Wole Soyinka defies categories and boundaries: Scholar, poet, playwright, actor, human rights activist, Nobel Prize winner, former political prisoner.

Born in 1934 in western Nigeria. He studied at Government College in Ibadan. In 1973, he earned a doctorate from the University of Leeds. Dramaturgist at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1958 to 1959. He went back to Nigeria to study African drama, and taught at universities in Ibadan, Lagos and Ife. Since then, he has been a visiting professor at Cambridge, Sheffield and Yale universities. A prolific writer, poet and dramatist, Soyinka founded two theater companies, and has written more than 20 works so far. In 1986, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature at a time when, according to the Swedish Academy's press release, he was "in his prime as an author." His most recent publication is his 2006 autobiography, "You Must Set Forth at Dawn: A Memoir."

In addition to living in a world of letters, Soyinka was directly involved in the political upheaval during the civil war in Nigeria. In 1967, he was arrested and held as a political prisoner for nearly two years because he advocated for a cease-fire. He spent several years in exile after his release. (Click here to read more about Soyinka in SIUC newsletter.)

I taught Wole Soyinka's work in Ghana and in Botswana as set books for examinations my students would take that would mark the course of their lives. I love his work. To think that I will have a chance to hear him speak, and possibly to meet him, in my lifetime, fills me with joy!
--JGR
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A. February 28, 2008 Wole Soyinka visits Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) to share the story of his remarkable life during a free, public lecture beginning at 5 p.m. in SIUC Student Center Ballroom D. A reception follows.

Read All Africa report by clicking here.

Soyinka's visit to SIUC coincides with the production of his play, "Death and the King's Horseman," first published in 1975, and a symposium focused on Wole Soyinka's life and work. Segun Ojewuyi, assistant professor in the Department of Theater, directs the play.

The symposium begins February 28, with registration starting at 9 a.m. in the Student Center Auditorium. The symposium is free to SIUC students, faculty and staff. There is a charge for non-SIUC-affiliates. Call the Division of Continuing Education at 618/536-7751 for details or visit www.dce.siu.edu and follow the links through conferences.

The two-day symposium features three keynote speakers. On February 28, Biodun Jeyifo, an expert on African drama generally and Soyinka particularly, speaks at 10:30 a.m. Jeyifo is professor of African-American studies at Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. His topic is, "Forget the Muse, Think Only of the Subject."

Gary Younge, a columnist for the British newspaper, "The Guardian" and that paper's New York correspondent, speaks at 10 a.m. on February 29. He will talk about "Writing Wrongs: the U.S. Media and the War on Terror."

Author and social justice advocate Randall Robinson speaks at 2 p.m. on February 29 about "The Impact of Race: Africa and the World."
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B. On Saturday March 1st from 1-2 pm The Black Rep welcomes Nobel Prize Winner Wole Soyinka, "Death and the King's Horseman" playwright and NOBEL PRIZE WINNER, to The Grandel Theatre. This is a FREE event. Space is Limited. Reserve your seat today. Contact Cornelius Davis 314-534-3810 or email corneliusd@theblackrep.org.

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C. March 19 through April 13 "Death and the King's Horseman" runs at the St. Louis Black Repertory Theatre's main stage at the Grandel Theatre For more information, visit www.theblackrep.org.

The play is one of Soyinka's greatest and most famous works. Based on a true story, the play describes the events and aftermath when British colonial authorities prevent the spiritually significant ritual suicide of a deceased chieftain's horseman. The play is mysterious, yet said to be one of Soyinka's more accessible plays, touching as it does on such basic human problems as the meaning of life, of death and of religion.

(Information gathered from news reports.)

Currently playing is "Othello."

From the broadside (as in Shakespeare's day):
Passion.
Jealousy.
Betrayal.
This time among Buffalo Soldiers.

St. Louis Black Repertory Company's production is part of "Shakespeare for a New Generation," a national theater initiative sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts in cooperation with Arts Midwest. The Black Rep is only 1 of 25 theatre companies to receive the NEA award.

Until February 3rd, 2008 at the Grandel Theatre, in the Heart of Grand Center (3610 Grandel/at Grand). For tickets, call (314) 534-3810 or online at www.theblackrep.org. The Black Rep voted Best Arts Organization by Riverfront Times "Best of St. Louis 2007"

Season No. 31: Season of the Storyteller...subscriptions still available...I recommend the Passport Subscription which gives you maximum flexibility and a dynamite value price.

THE SEASON CONTINUES WITH:

Radio Golf by August Wilson, February 13 - March 9, 2008

Death & the King's Horseman by Wole Soyinka, March 19-April 13, 2008
Soyinka is the 1986 Nobel Literature Laureate (and one of my favorite authors---I taught his novels in Ghana and Botswana).

Halem Duet by Djanet Sears, April 23- May 18, 2008
Sears is the winner of Canada's highest literary award, Governor General's Literary Award 1998.

Sarafina by Mbongeni Ngema, May 28-June 29, 2008 Nominated for 5 Tony Awards.

St. Louis Black Repertory Theater is a National Treasure. That's not just me, talking, folks, but the head of the Kennedy Center on his last visit here. Get on your walking and dancing shoes and get on down there!