Harlem Stage to Present The Vicksburg Project This Week
(© Richard Termine)
Harlem Stage will begin 2023 with the world premiere of The Vicksburg Project, which will run at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse January 12-14. Described as an "exploded song cycle," it is produced by Mabou Mines and piece by piece productions, and created by Eve Beglarian, Karen Kandel, and Mallory Catlett.
According to an official description, "The texts of The Vicksburg Project are constructed from historical diary entries, letters home, newspaper accounts, live interviews, and original writing by Karen Kandel as well as poetry by June Jordan, Thylias Moss, and Lucille Clifton. These materials are spun into intimate songs and confessions inspired by everything from parlor music of the 1860s to traditional blues of the 1920s to freedom songs of the 1960s, and from Wagnerian lushness to solo uke strumming to a capella chant. The Vicksburg Project resurrects deeply researched stories from the Civil War, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights Movement, and integrates the creators' own experiences as women—Black and white, straight and gay, the descendants of enslavers and the enslaved. The work acknowledges the humanity in every person's story."
