St. Paul, Minn. – Macalester College’s annual Black History Month this year features several events that are open to the public including two keynote speakers and three plays.

Thu., Feb. 12 – Penumbra Theatre’s production of Lynn Nottage’s “Meet Vera Stark.” Pulitzer prize winner Lynn Nottage turns a keen eye toward Hollywood as she tracks the life and career of Vera Stark, a talented black actress who can’t catch a break in the 1930’s.
+ Penumbra Theatre, 270 North Kent Street, Saint Paul, Minn., Call (651) 224-3180 for ticket information. 

Tue., Feb. 17Black History Month Keynote: Dr. Joy DeGruy – “Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome.”  A critically acclaimed author, DeGruy wrote the groundbreaking book Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing, which addresses the residual impacts of trauma on African descendants in the Americas. 
+ Alexander G. Hill Ballroom, Kagin Commons, 1600 Grand Ave., St. Paul, Minn., 7 p.m., FREE 651-696-6290. 

Thu., Feb. 19Sixteenth Annual American Studies Conference with Prof. Christina Greer: “Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream. A discussion of Black Ethnics. Greer, an assistant professor of Political Science at Fordham University – Lincoln Center (Manhattan) campus, will analyze the differing political negotiations of Black American, Afro-Caribbean, and African immigrant groups once they settle into the American polity.   The conference seeks to highlight the links between scholarship, activism and civic engagement. Each year a different theme is selected based on pertinent issues.
+ Alexander G. Hill Ballroom, Kagin Commons, 1600 Grand Ave., St. Paul, Minn., 5:30 p.m., FREE, 651-696-6410. 

Thu. – Sat., Feb. 19 – 21 – Macalester’s Theatre and Dance Department presents “Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act.” The Athol Fugard play is about miscegenation under apartheid, telling of the tragic relationship between a teacher of color and a white librarian and their arrest.  Directed by Macalester alumnus James A. Williams who is known locally and nationally as a recognized August Wilson actor.
+ Main Stage Theater, Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center & Gallery, 1600 Grand Ave., St. Paul, Minn. 7:30 p.m.  Tickets: General $7; Seniors/Groups $5; Students $2. 651-696-6359.
Other Performances:                     
Fri, Feb. 20 and Sat. Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 21 and Sun., Feb. 22 at 2 p.m.

Fri. – Sat., Feb. 27 – 28 – Staged Reading: “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf”
In honor of Black History Month, Macalester students will perform a staged reading of the 1975 book and play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf, by Ntozake Shange. From its inception in California in 1974 to its highly acclaimed critical success at Joseph Papp’s Public Theater and on Broadway, the Obie Award-winning play has excited, inspired, and transformed audiences all over the country. Passionate and fearless, Shange’s words reveal what it is to be of color and female in the twentieth century. First published in 1975 when it was praised by The New Yorker for “encompassing…every feeling and experience a woman has ever had, “For Colored Girls… will continue to be read and performed for generations to come.
+ Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel, 1600 Grand Ave., St. Paul, Minn., 8 pm, FREE, 651-696-6394.

Macalester College, founded in 1874, is a national liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 2,045 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its long-standing commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, multiculturalism, and civic engagement. Learn more at macalester.edu

February 4 2015

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