ItaParica and Sky, 2020

Praia Paciencia - Rio Vermelho, Salvador da Bahia, Brasil 2020

After sunrise - Festa da Iemanja, Rio Vermelho, 2020

Lavogem do Bonfim, 2020

O Cravinho with friends. The Pelo. 2020.

Mural honoring Iemanja. Rio Vermelho. Rua da Paciencia. 2020.

Lavogem do Bonfim

Still from my video poem "Invocation for Jose Antonio Aponte"

Charisma at the Crossroads at Alice Young Arts Center at Drew University

I have been moving. So, I am just sharing photos from the production of my play CHARISMA AT THE CROSSROADS at the Alice Young Arts Center at Drew University, directed by Lisa Brenner with co-director Kimani Fowlin. Sitting in the audience and watching my writing come to life was one of my favorite experiences as an artist in 2018.The play will be published in an anthology of plays for BIPOC youth in 2021 on Bloomsbury. Loved working with youth artists from Newark, NJ for this!

Review of Visionary Aponte Exhibition in BOMB Magazine

My visual poem "Invocation for Jose Antonio Aponte: Lamina 26" was part of the Visionary Aponte exhibition at Little Haiti Cultural Center for Art Basel-Miami. Really enjoyed working with inde film-maker Toshi Sakai on this project. And I am simply honored to be in community with fierce visual artists I admire and respect while illuminating Aponte's urgently relevant history of resistance and power in Cuba. Our present time demands that we invoke this communal spirit as we move forward as diaspora. Big thanks to Tosha Grantham for pulling us together on the one. The exhibition is moving to NYU's King Juan Carlos Center on February 22nd. Check out the exhibition review in BOMB magazine ...
https://bombmagazine.org/articles/reanimating-history-visionary-aponte-art-and-black-freedom/

Got a chance to talk about the connection between art and activism with Margaret Prescod on Soujourner Truth Radio  ...
https://soundcloud.com/sojournertruthradio/black-women-artists-for-black-lives-matters-nina-angela-mercer-on-connecting-art-activism

On Performance and Black Theatre: An Interview with Playwright Nina Angela Mercer, a repost of JT Roane's interview in PERSPECTIVES, published by AAIHS

Talking to my brother, scholar J.T. Roane, is always rich with gems, especially over fries at my favorite diner in the Bronx. Check it out.

http://www.aaihs.org/on-performance-and-black-theatre-an-interview-with-playwright-nina-angela-mercer/

Taking the Road with Ebony Noelle Golden's 125th and Freedom - A Recap and Call to Join the Tribe

Check out my experience witnessing, walking, and strategizing with the 125th and Freedom Tribe at the link ...

https://medium.com/@ninaangelamercer/taking-the-road-with-ebony-noelle-goldens-125th-and-freedom-ef4da537f3d2

That Artist, Scholar, Witness Life ... Recent Publications with Links!

Check out a few of my most recent on-line publications. There's variety here - my own chorepoem, a scholarly essay in a peer review journal, and a recap of a dope street performance that's happening one more time in Harlem at the end of this week.

http://www.wocninc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/VOICESCall.jpg
*My choreopoem ITAGUA MEJI: A Road and A Prayer is published in this issue of Voices online magazine, #SayHerName Edition.

http://continuumjournal.org/index.php/108-volumes/issues/vol-4-no-1/4-1-articles/156-performance-as-participatory-policy-making-taja-lindley-s-trinity-black-life-as-burlesque
*My essay Taja Lindley's TRINITY, Black Life as Burlesque is published in the current issue of Continuum: The Journal of African Diaspora Drama, Theatre and Performance

https://medium.com/@ninaangelamercer/taking-the-road-with-ebony-noelle-goldens-125th-and-freedom-ef4da537f3d2
*My recap of what it was like to witness Ebony Noelle Golden's 125th and Freedom in Harlem.

Back to the grind, y'all. One love. You can also find excerpts of my play GYPSY & THE BULLY DOOR in back issues of Black Renaissance Noire and The Killens Review of Arts and Letters. More print and on-line goodies coming soon!

Changing Perceptions Theatre Company Celebrated the birthdays of Lorraine Hansberry & Malcolm X at The Langston Hughes House in Harlem on May 19th, 2017!

It was definitely an honor to get a call from Shaun Neblett, founder and director of Changing Perceptions Theatre Company, asking if I'd write a monologue for the annual birthday party for Lorraine Hansberry and Malcolm X at the Langston Hughes House in Harlem. Both Lorraine and Malcolm have been inspiration, influencing my walk on this road. I keep a portrait of Malcolm in my foyer; my father painted it in 1969. And I have this dope memory of reading his speeches from the By Any Means Necessary collection purchased at DC's Pyramid Book Store when I was 17 years old, staying up late at night before school just to gain deeper understanding of my place in the world through Malcolm's vision. But I selected Lorraine's words for my writing inspiration this time around, because I have often wondered what she would have written, what she would have had to say, what she would advise in these chaotic times. I did not get a speech or letter to work from. Instead, I had her musings from private notes, a list of "likes" and "regrets." I was moved by the intense loneliness, passion, and commitment in her personal thoughts, a woman holding intense love for her craft, community, and self, even through the contradictions. I found a beautiful woman in the midst of becoming ... And, to get to share work at the Langston Hughes House - me, a woman who grew up reading Langston's Jesse B. Simple stories with my dad on Sunday drives through the city? Well, that is just all the goodness. Right on time.

 Celebrating the birthdays of Lorraine Hansberry and Malcolm X at the Langston Hughes House!

 Kymbali Craig performs SPARROW by Nina Angela Mercer, a monologue inspired by Lorraine Hansberry's notes archived at The Schomburg Center.

 Kymbali Craig in SPARROW, a monologue by Nina Angela Mercer

 Packed house!

#SACREDRESISTANCE

I got a text message from my dear sister in January, asking me to join a very important call to think about how to sustain our movement against the culture of violence and inhumanity that the current administration wears as its emblem and boots. She felt an urgent need for us to dig deep into our ancestral traditions to harness a force transcending divisions, especially because the current administration is determined to use religion as an incendiary threat, sparking fear, and informing travel, immigration, policing, and foreign policy. We must fight this.

That call became a national #blacklivesmatter interfaith action for #sacredresistance. We've been in deep conversation to hold space and welcome people of all faiths, religions, and spiritual practices, as well as those who do not claim a particular faith but are still deeply rooted in the practice of social justice and human rights rooted in love. Join us on April 1st for #sacredresistance at Malcom X Park/Meridian Hill Park at 11am for drumming, song, meditation, poetry, prayer, dance, and resistance. Satellite actions in your city. And, for those able to begin our vigil through fasting and/or meditation, we will start as early as midnight that day. Location for midnight gathering TBA. More details at www.sacredresist.org See you on the 1st! #chantdownbabylon #sacredresist #blacklivesmatter

An August Occasion at Howard University

I am looking forward to presenting a paper for the August Wilson Conference at Howard University this month. I have been deeply inspired by Wilson's work since seeing Joe Turner's Come and Gone at Arena Stage when I was in junior high school in DC. I did not know that I would be moved to write plays years later then. But Wilson's rare gift for blues poetics and story-telling struck me in an unforgettable way in the dark house of the theater. I actually went into labor with my first daughter while listening to August Wilson speak about Seven Guitars at Howard University back in 1995. I didn't know I was in labor at the time, but it became very apparent later, after hanging out at a music studio into the wee morning hours. It's all intertwined. It has been a precarious alignment at times, but it has always made sense, if you know how funk makes sense, and if you know how blues makes all the sense, and the way life does if you choose that dance. And, of course, it's always special to return to HU - my alma mater, my former place of employment, the ground that knows every aspect of how my feet fall while walking. If you're in the area, come through ...

Seph Rodney of Hyperallergic.com Covers Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter

http://hyperallergic.com/321046/black-women-artists-bear-witness-in-red/

Media Coverage of Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter from NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/03/arts/design/at-new-museum-a-pop-up-support-system-for-black-lives-matter.html?smid=tw-nytimesarts&smtyp=cur&_r=2

Video footage of ITAGUA MEJI: A ROAD & A PRAYER and trailer for GYPSY & THE BULLY DOOR

ITAGUA MEJI: A Road and A Prayer by Nina Angela Mercer, featuring Audrey Hailes as Aisha with Kimani Fowlin as Ori. Directed by Maya James with choreography by Kimani Fowlin. Percussion by Chris White.

Link to raw footage below ... This performance happened at Rutgers University-New Brunswick in Sept 2014. The choreopoem started outside. The audience followed the performers into the theater in a processional. The footage begins as the procession enters the theater.

Watch the performance at the link below ...

ITAGUA MEJI: A Road and A Prayer
_________________________________________________________________________________

And check out the video trailer for GYPSY & THE BULLY DOOR by Nina Angela Mercer. On camera and editing, Rachel Eliza Griffiths. Choreography by Kimani Fowlin. Featuring Dameka Hayes and Kimani Fowlin in video performance with Nina Angela Mercer giving Voice to her own words. This trailer was inspired by the full play, GYPSY & THE BULLY DOOR by Nina Angela Mercer, as it appeared at Dumbo Sky in Oct 2013 with Ebony Noelle Golden directing.

GYPSY & THE BULLY DOOR vid trailer:
https://vimeo.com/76490935

I am full with the deepest inspiration. Why? Because this July I joined a collective of Black women artists and cultural workers to co-birth Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter. Simone Leigh, the brilliant Artist in Residence at The New Museum, generously opened up her residency to all of us. She has made it possible for us to build this collective action as an addition to her exhibition, The Waiting Room. And we are definitely making strong medicine, or as some of us say, "That Good Good."

Because ...

this July 2016 was a time of continued rage, deep sadness, and absolute frustration as our minds and souls rocked in response to state sanctioned violence against Black lives again. It was also a time for continued love and organizing for justice. What I could not have known was that this intense love for community would bring so many beautiful folk together in this way. But now I do know through experiencing it. And we want you to share in our offering Thursday, September 1st from 4:30pm to 8:30pm at The New Museum in NYC. RSVP at the link below. Thanks to the New Museum for supporting us with such integrity and vision!

http://www.newmuseum.org/calendar/view/1061/black-women-artists-for-black-lives-matter

I am looking forward to being a panelist and facilitating an interactive workshop at the National Black Arts Festival this year!

National Black Arts Festival 2016

SYMPOSIUM

Saturday, September 17, 2016, 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
“Call and Response: Contextualizing African American Presence in the American Theater”
A partnership with Arts at Emory and Emory University
Tickets: $40 to include a private tour of the exhibition “Raising Hell: The Art, Archives and Activism of Camille Billops and James V. Hatch”
Goodrich C. White Hall, Emory University, Room 208

NBAF in partnership with Arts at Emory and Emory University presents a day long symposium with distinguished local and national scholars addressing the issue of the presence and influence of African Americans on performance arts and theater. Participants will include: Michael D. Harris, Artist, Associate Professor of Art Historian, Emory University; Krista Thompson, Northwestern University, author of Shine: The Visual Economy of Light in African Diasporic Aesthetic Practice (2015); McKinley Melton, Professor of English at Gettysburg College, whose research focuses primarily on spiritual and religious traditions throughout the African Diaspora and its influence on Diasporan literary, artistic, and cultural expressions; moderator Dr. Paul Carter Harrison, Emory Scholar/artist in residence, playwright, director and author of “The Drama of Nommo;” Nina Angela Mercer, playwright, poet, theater scholar based in NY City who will conduct interactive breakout sessions; Dianne Stewart, Associate Professor in the Emory Department of Religion; Dr. Pellom McDaniel, curator at Emory University’s Rose Manuscript and Rare Books Library and Playwriting Fellow Jireh Holder.

Come through for this!

Rehearsal and Show Photos:

Walking the Talk, or Why We Changed Our Venue for Sunday, Aug 9th, 2015!

Dear friends,

Some of you have been following the announcements I've been making about the upcoming performance of my choreopoem, ITAGUA MEJI: A Road & A Prayer, as I have posted rehearsal update photos and reminders about the show for the past month or so. The show is still on for Sunday, August 9th, but we have changed our venue to the Nuyorican Poets Cafe at 236 East 3rd Street, NYC from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. Join us.
This decision to change venues is grounded in my heart-felt commitment to justice, Black lives, courageous truth-telling, and the very important choice to walk my talk, always. I am standing in solidarity with many artists, but most especially, Eboni Hogan, a spoken word artist and mother who was treated with gross disrespect at The Sidewalk Cafe (the former venue) as she advocated for proper treatment for her son. Thanks to Mahogany L. Browne for mobilizing the people and making it possible for the show to go on.

I have tagged all of my folk who responded to the event invite, but all are welcome to attend. Please spread the word. Thank you. Onward.

Check out the Facebook Event Link here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1053506571333924/

right here/right now

I will find a way into this troubled truth that makes my most sensitive child shed hot tears because "this is how they treat us." I will find answers stronger than hugs. I will find words and do what writers do with them. And I will wonder if those words could ever be enough. Probably not. That's why the poets and singers, the music-makers and dramatists, the painters and provocative visionaries will not stop. Because it's never enough. And I will seek action, and after that, I will wonder the same things about ceilings, iron bars, escape routes, and this strange weather, this seeming drought in some of our souls. It don't stop. Neither will we.

Check out ITAGUA MEJI: A Road & A Prayer by Nina Angela Mercer on Sunday, August 9th in NYC!

 (photo by Hemamset Angaza)

Join us for ITAGUA MEJI: A Road & A Prayer by Nina Angela Mercer, with choreography by Kimani Fowlin, at The 9th Annual Boog City Poetry, Music and Theater Festival in NYC at The Sidewalk Cafe at 94 Avenue A on Sunday, August 9th!

In ITAGUA MEJI, Aisha struggles to find Ori, the divinity of her own head ...

Aisha, performed by Audrey Hailes
Ori, performed by Kimani Fowlin
The Source, all percussion by Pamela Patrick
Written & Directed by Nina Angela Mercer

Facebook Event link here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1004987699541764/