The 3rd NYC Hip-Hop Theater Festival runs June 18-29. Celebrating the best of both worlds, talented artists are given a stage to be political, intellectual, dramatic, angry, proud and above all, creative.
On opening night, The Hip-Hop Theater All Stars presented the works of well-known performers such as Danny Hoch, who is the executive director of the Festival, Sarah Jones, Will Power and British performance artist Jonzi D. (Danny Hoch is best known for his play Jails, Hospitals & Hip-Hop and movie Whiteboys.)
Throughout the two weeks, there will be solo and group performances at PS. 122, located in the East Village and The Nuyorican Poets Café on the Lower East Side. On June 19, Bay area playwright/performer Aya de Leon spoke words about rap from its humble beginnings to its bling-bling heyday and ended with a Mos Def-influenced quote that if hip-hop is going where she’s going, then she’s taking hip-hop somewhere positive. Then Jonzi D integrated the physicality of Jim Carey with the political commentary of Chuck D as he described life in London. Other plays and performers include Will Powers’ The Seven and Rennie Harris’ Pure-Movement: The Repertory. For more information, log onto: www.hiphoptheaterfest.com.
