Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts today announced a new commission, an evening-long performance commemorating Juneteenth, I Dream a Dream That Dreams Back at Me, A Juneteenth Celebration. Conceived and curated by award-winning poet and artist Carl Hancock Rux, the site-specific experience will unfold in four distinct parts across the Lincoln Center campus on June 19, […]
Composer/musician Toshi Reagon, and writer/spoken word artist Walidah Imarisha and singer/songwriter/cultural activist Hanifa Nayo Washington hold a discussion June 25 at noon titled “Everything you touch, you change: Visionary Science Fiction and Liberation,” which promises to cover “Afrofuturism, Octavia Butler, and the role of change in bringing a creative approach to our understanding of what […]
The arts ecosystem is in deep crisis as the result of the pandemic and rigid structures that have not evolved with the times. What can artists do to re-imagine a mutually beneficial system or subvert the old systems that consistently fail artists and arts workers? What do artists need to charge through these turbulent times? […]
Beginning with The Parable of the Sower, our hosts Toshi Reagon and adrienne maree brown are examining each of Octavia E Butler’s published works, chapter by chapter. Our podcast summarizes the storyline, places it in a strategic context for those intending to change the world, and provides questions to help bring Butler's ideas to life.
Toshi Reagon and BIGLovely return for Toshi's 38th annual birthday celebration. Reagon's annual birthday shows have become staples of the New York performance ecosystem, and these 5 performances will mark an incredible artist's journey. Toshi's amazing band includes some of New York's finest musicians collectively known as BIGLovely. The event promises extra-special surprise guest appearances from her […]
Based on the post-apocalyptic novel by the late Afro-futurist and science fiction author Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower is a genre-defying work that harnesses two centuries of Black music. Written by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon, Parable chronicles the spiritual awakening of young Lauren Olamina amidst a dystopian America wracked by the violence brought on by unrelenting greed, and systemic injustice. Exploding the form of an opera, Parable fuses science fiction, African-American spiritualism, deep insights into gender and race, and climate activism to construct a mesmerizing meditation on the future of human civilization.
Created by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon Music and Lyrics by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon Eric Ting, director "An unrepentantly political work of theater. Poignant and cautionary, this blues, gospel and funk-inflected work argues that if we want to avoid this future we’ll need diversity, strength and a song or two."—The New […]
Parable of the Sower is a triumphant, mesmerizing work of rare power and beauty that illuminates deep insights on gender, race, and the future of human civilization. This opera brings together over 30 original anthems drawn from 200 years of Black music to recreate Butler’s Afrofuturist masterpiece live on stage.
Please visit the website for more information and to purchase tickets.
Parable of the Sower is a triumphant, mesmerizing work of rare power and beauty that illuminates deep insights on gender, race, and the future of human civilization. This fully-staged opera brings together over 30 original anthems drawn from 200 years of black music to recreate Butler’s sci-fi, Afrofuturist masterpiece live on stage. With music and lyrics […]
First practiced by enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and in the United States, a Shout (or Ring Shout) is an ecstatic, transcendent ritual in which worshipers move in a circle while shuffling, stomping, and clapping, creating an open space to collectively grieve, awaken joy as a source of liberation, and find love as a form […]
A triumphant, mesmerizing work of rare power and beauty that illuminates insights on gender, race, and the future of human civilization, Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower is “one helluva rockin' roller-coaster ride.” (Vibe Magazine) This fully-staged opera created by Toshi Reagon in collaboration with her mother, Bernice Johnson Reagon, brings together more than […]
