F245.
Surviving, Thriving, & Building Creative Community While Avoiding COVID Chaos
Friday, March 25, 2022
3:20 pm to 4:20 pm
This panel will examine the creative and healing effects provided by the virtual collaborative writing processes implemented during the COVID shutdown. In answer to the Black Lives Matter movement during the pandemic, playwright Deborah Ferguson virtually convened the geographically diverse Nubian Theatre Company after a twenty-year hiatus to reenvision their seminal work, The People Could Fly, as a musical theatre production entitled FLY! Weekly meetings provided interactive writing and editing.
Participants
Judy Card has told stories in many settings including the Center for Southern Folklore, the Pink Palace Museum, and Brooks Museum of Art. A retired librarian, she was youth services coordinator for First Regional Library in Mississippi and coordinated staff training for Memphis/Shelby County libraries.
Cequita Monique is a performing artist and arts educator with a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Lemoyne College. She has performed as a solo and ensemble artist in venues local and abroad while receiving awards of excellence in her field. Monique is a museum guide in Memphis.
Kern Michael Jackson, PhD, is a folklorist with an extensive academic and ethnographic career. He is the director of the African American Studies program and an assistant professor of English at the University of South Alabama.
Reverend Rhonda Akanke' McLean-Nur is an accomplished NYC-ordained interfaith minister, actress, and folklorist. She is known nationally and internationally for her work with homeless families, prisoners, the elderly, and youth, utilizing the arts to engage and empower others.
Deborah Adero Ferguson, MA, is an adjunct professor of English and American literature at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. She is also a poet, playwright, budding screen writer and professional storyteller, and African dancer and musician known as the Dancing Story Lady.
