Kai Mwaafrika

Jan 26, 2011 – Kai Mwaafrika clears the table and offers up a delicious brunch-time sampler with 'Come What May,' which touches deep within the R&B realm - Women's Radio

Jan 26, 2011 – Kai Mwaafrika clears the table and offers up a delicious brunch-time sampler with 'Come What May,' which touches deep within the R&B realm - Women's Radio

The Artistic African Diaspora Restoration Initiative created by Kai Mwaafrika
Purpose
The Artistic African Restoration Initiative (AADRI) is a cooperative dedicated to restoring balance and prosperity to the African Diaspora through art, education and community initiatives.
Mission
AADRI is dedicated to creating higher levels of visibility, support and action for several smaller initiatives that are dedicated to implementing programming that benefit the African Diaspora in the following areas
• Creating a greener and healthier environment in urban and underserved areas
• Providing high school junior/seniors and undergraduate college students with “real life” opportunities to gain education and experience in artistic endeavors that showcase powerful artistry representative of the African Diaspora
• Grass roots programming that provide relief to impoverished areas in the African Diaspora that include but are not limited to areas in the African Continent and in the U.S.
Core Belief
AADRI believes that music of the African Diaspora has universal appeal! Our belief is that restoration to the African Diaspora is not only needed but is essential to creating a more harmonious world as we believe Africa to be the “heart” of our earth and that it should be regarded with respect, tenderness and love. We believe that revitalizing the African Diaspora is akin to restoring accord to our collective world and universe. ADDRI also prides itself in the belief that resourcefulness and creativity are power! AADRI finds avenues in what most perceive as unimportant or not useful. We believe in making a way and taking “the road less traveled” to achieve optimal results.
Organization
AADRI uses as its core vehicle of operation AARU and its independent record label, SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION. AARU radio and SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION are a streaming online radio station and record label dedicated to showcasing world class music that is traditional, urban, and cultural. As an umbrella to this effort, AARU RADIO and SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION have a greater mission of outreach that exemplifies the mission of AADRI. AARU RADIO and the SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION strive to use the unique opportunities and resources that come with being an entertainment entity in the broader independent music market to uplift activity that creates a healthier, happier, and more exceptional African Diaspora and a more exceptional world. Essentially, AARU RADIO provides a platform, a voice, and other services for initiatives to connect with points of need. In exchange, those initiatives provide, manpower, support, and programming that help AARU RADIO’s mission of not only creating higher levels of visibility and financial support of its artists, but also of being an innovative entertainment entity dedicated to new world peace and progression.AARU RADIO and SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION are doing this by teaming up with student and community initiatives that are already working to this end. In addition to AARU RADIO and SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION these groups currently comprise AADRI: Kheprew/Tehuti Institute and Ki Ecocenter of Indianapolis, The Ujamaa Institute of Cultural Development and The Afrikan Connection, HERU (Healing through Revenue/Resources and Unity), and Elite Inc. Educational Consulting Firm.



Process
AADRI reaches its desired outcomes by categorizing needs and matching them with causes that can provide expertise, no cost or low-cost resources or ways to attain no cost or low cost resources to support each other. AADRI also uses student ingenuity and effort to accomplish its mission. Additionally, our energy is placed in helping one another in our core group to accomplish specific goals. In helping each other, we help ourselves and the greater mission.
Objectives
AADRI infuses outcomes of all participating group and processes them through the broader goals of AARU RADIO and SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION as it has established a higher level of visibility and a more apparent global presence. The goals of AADRI are inherent in the mission of AARU RADIO and SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION outreach efforts. They are:
• To revitalize our planet’s harmonious energy
• To find fun and holistic ways to unify spiritualism with intellectualism
• To create a more balanced environment for artists and great thinkers
• Creating opportunities for student outreach and development, through HERU
• Using human ingenuity as a guaranteed means of success
• To create quality cross genre projects that are high in artistic merit.
• Find and initialize ways to incorporate cross-culturalism
• To be a pentacle of creative and financial success in the music industry using an ethical yet sound system of selling music products

1. To revitalize our planet’s harmonious energy:
• Kheprew/Tehuti Institute/Ki Eco center and AARU RADIO and SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION will work together to further student based environment restoration initiatives. AARU RADIO and SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION will provide educational and promotional resources to advance the organization’s visibility online. In exchange, students will provide help in promotionng AARU RADIO and DIGITIAL ORISHAS to the surrounding community.
2. To find fun and holistic ways to unify spiritualism with intellectualism:
• Find practical ways to encourage student study of Kemetic and other higher conscious principles in our efforts as a means of enhancing the purpose of our work and outcomes
3. To create quality cross genre projects that are high in artistic merit:
• Use our collective base of knowledge, experience, and resources to create artistic projects (music videos, ads, films, songs) that inherently incorporate aspects of multiple mediums. AADRI acknowledges the importance of collaboration to the success of any effort. In addition, we will make as our indicators for artistic merit, originality, powerful performance, and strong presentation.
4. In creating a more balanced environment for artists and great thinkers we will:
• Use integrity as a cornerstone. AADRI supports independent initiatives that serve higher purposes and as such, AADRI supports AARU RADIO and SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION in it’s commitment to support independent musicians. AARU RADIO and SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION make records of earnings easily available to its artist, provides extensive promotion to national and international markets on it’s artist’s behalf, and provides assistance finding exposure opportunities for its artist. In addition, AARU RADIO and SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION present a large body of innovative music that often times carry messages of higher understanding and healing.
5. In creating opportunities for student outreach and development using HERU (Healing through Education, Revenue/Resources and Unity):
• View the student as a resource intrinsic to our success. HERU centers on a consciousness in the principle of abundance. We believe committed efforts towards positive outcomes will lead to the manifestation of those outcomes. The initiative will choose a successful student to participate in an internship. The student will be a junior or senior in high school or an undergraduate college student with demonstrated higher order skills. The student’s main goal will be to help generate traffic to AARU RADIO and SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION’ website which will encourage the expansion of its fanbase. He /she will be responsible for radio station promotion on social networks, developing strategies for appealing to a student market, and will act as a student liaison to future affiliates. In return, the student will be showcased and presented with a stipend to be used towards higher education efforts by AADRI and its affiliates (stipend will be no less than $350 and no greater than $1000—the award is contingent upon funds that are available). The student will also receive a AARU RADIO and SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION shirt and will be invited to participate in some of the, studio sessions and video shoots. In addition, the student will be exposed to a real functioning record label in the independent music industry.
6. Using human ingenuity as a guaranteed means of success we will:
• Continue to advocate the use of brain and heart power! AADRI believes that music and entertainment are essential to social change. We believe creativity infused with intellect and a compassionate spirit creates outcomes that satisfy a variety of needs and our aim is to exemplify this belief through the success of our entity and all its affiliates.
7. To find and initialize ways to incorporate cross-culturalism:
• AARU RADIO and SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION believes in the concept of “one world united,, all shades invited.” AARU RADIO and SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION seek a stream of support from a mixed fanbase. AARU RADIO and SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION seek national and international recognition. Our group believes in the universal appeal of the music it shares and will elicit support from the U.K, Africa, India, Asia, as well as the United States. AADRI seeks outreach opportunities in all of these areas and as such will support AARU RADIO and SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION in their efforts to connect with these groups.


8. To be a pentacle of creative and financial success in the music industry and provide a higher service while doing it:
• AADRI will support AARU RADIO and SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION goal of encouraging students with in the program to devise a system that targets a high school market. Artists of AARU RADIO and SOUNDWAVE RESSURECTION will add interested high schools to the tour roster. Not only will participating high schools receive riveting performances but they will also receive a follow up workshop and/or “talk back” session from the artist. In exchange, we will ask that students who attend to make at least one digital music download. Our group takes responsibility for the content of the art it advocates and will avoid messages that propagate unhealthy relationships or unsafe social/physical and emotional practices. It is the goal of our group to find success in the mainstream market but to appeal to a higher order and humanitarian efforts as well.

Roles of Ujamaa and Elite Inc.,:
The Ujamaa Institute of Cultural Development and Elite inc. will provide operational support in a variety of areas.
Primarily, Ujamaa will help connect activity with basic resources i.e. refreshments for events and sessions, room/ board networking and amenities, and clerical resources.
Elite Inc will serve as a support to involved students by assisting them with their presentation skills, development of their plans on paper, task management, and will intervene if necessary in redirecting student energy so that their efforts can be more effective.

The Afrika Connection (TAC)
The Afrika Connection is an offset of the Ujamaa Institute of Cultural Development. TAC will help fulfill AADRI’s grass roots initiative. TAC strives to provide relief to the African Continent by providing health/beauty resources, educational resources, and other such products in specified areas of need. TAC will solicit support and resources from all affiliates of AADRI as we make it our collective effort to help that effort in any way. In the past, participants of Ujamaa have provided resources to family’s in Ghana and South Africa. As it is with all AADRI’s efforts, student support is emphasized
- Soundwave Ressurection

C series and the Carol Mitchell-Leon Theatre:

To function as a:
• New theatre w/eatery
• Conceptual framework for a New Visions Script Project
• Professional film/theatre component for AARU

Fundraiser/kickoff with Steve Carell and in conjunction with Steppenwolf Theatre (David Schmitz) in Chicago tba



In part of the C series effort to introduce new art—new artists tba

Sneak peak:
Iyanla Vanzant
Rob Breszney
Hennriette Klauser
And
Deepak Chopra….to meet the big screen
In Hebrews (w/ Betty White)
The Raymond Andrews Series

- Soundwave Ressurection

Synopsis ( in process)

The Nu Hollywood Dream Scene
Starring Robert Kelly, Kai Mwaafrika and Jamie Foxx

A live one-act musical concert concept deeply rooted in the premise and for the promotion of Star Trek the Next Generation:Sirus (special edition ). Also to appear Rae Dawn Chong, Shay Roundtree, Serena and Venus Williams, Jill Scott and introducing Carol Anne Williams-Markes
A prophetic trio of visionaries (Kelly, Mwaafrika, and Foxx) linked by ancestry take a platonic journey to help each other find their soulmates in a time of ascension; in doing so. they find their own individual and collective sense of love and power. Filled with original music, passonate prose and poetry “The New Hollywood Dream Scene” invokes the highest level of provocativeness. Special guest appearances by Anthony Hamilton and Musiq Soul Child


Star Trek the Next Generation: Sirus
(Special Edition)

On a single mission to the galactic dwelling place of God, the team of the Enterprise reunites with a common bind of Sirian ancestry and a quest for the absolute truth. Ever yet establishing the Federation as a beacon of peace, STNG: Sirus explores the orgins and validity of “Q” (John de Lancie) and completes a supreme cycle. Led by the inexhaustible genius and integrity of Jean Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the power of the ships Empath Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) who is joined by a new empathic team member (character to be portrayed by Beyonce Knowles) the captain and crew arouse the energy of a universal and cosmic legacy. Along with the traditional crew members, the production is to include the magic of Sean “Diddy” Coombs, Erykah Badu Jamie Foxx, Robert “R” Kelly, Pat Morita and Sidney Poitier. Many other special guest to appear.


The Wiz II-303*

Starring Shay Roundtree as “Oz.” A “spiral” of events lead Skateboarder “D” (portrayed by Beyonce Knowles) . to pursue a new course to her destiny. Joined by two other “D’s” (Erykah Badu and Kai Mwaafrika) “D” merges with the newly uncovered mystic gold paved yellow brick road to the city of Oz which lights up a new way of existing. The Wiz II-- a profound companion to continue the legacy of Quincy Jones’s “Wiz!” To feature a prolific soundtrack and to include many special guests appearances. Ft. the efforts of Stevie Wonder..





How I Became Oz

Set in a time before time—reminiscent of the rural south/midwest somewhere between 1700-1800, a man with the presumed name Anthony Willie transcends planes when a magical tree emerges on his land. A farmer/cow herder and minister, Anthony, hearkens the voice of what he thinks to be an “angel in heaven” and uses the new found magic of nature to move through different periods of his lives/existences. He discovers the angel to be a woman/goddess he is destined to meet at the right time. His journey takes him all the way to the Alpha dimension –the land of Oz where he takes root and becomes...himself. A cohort to the Wiz II, Anthony Willie’s provoking and passionate adventure is sure to speak of the timeless tale of freedom, happiness and love.

Tales

A spin off of Spike Lee’s Tales from the Hood—featuing KRS-ONE. Is narrated from beyond the grave. See the unveiling and snuffing out of global corruption. Tales is presented as a series of vignettes that make a real time claim of backlash when powerful seekers of the right kind of justice—prevail. Tales to feature an all-star cast with notables such as Rainn Wilson.

Tree
tba
.
The Raymond Andrews Series—Appalachee Red/Rosiebelle Lee Wildcat Tennesse/Jessie,Jesus and Cousin Claire—

To feature Will Smith and many other drama legends. The Raymond Andrews Series presents a compilation of works by the late novelist Raymond Andrews and his esoteric accounts of the black southern identity. Something for everyone.

The Brenda Wilkinson Series: Ludell, Ludell and Willie, Ludell’s New York Time.

Another African American novelist of great fortitude. the story of a young southern girl’s coming of age. Set in WayCross Georgia primarily and later in the 50s to the 70s, Ludell finds her way on a delightful and endearing journey to maturation.

Hebrews
A comedy based on the book of the Bible “Hebrews” w/Betty White
Synopsis in progress


Edward Scissorhand II: The Castle

Synopsis in progress
To feature Johnny Depp, Betty White, RuPaul, and Eddie Murphy.

Sundiata

An epic of “movie
proportions—Sundiata is the tale of the coming of an African royal and speaks of empire. A trilogy to feature performances of an unknown kind. To be brought forth with a rich heritage of writers and performers including Jamie Foxx, Sidney Poitier, Jeffry Wright, Tyler Perry and many others. Soundtrack effort forthcoming. To be accompanied by a version Anowa by Ama Ata Aidoo and a non-animated film version of Kirakou from the story Kirakou and the Sorceress presented by Micheal Ocelot.


The Live Theatre Circuit Fundraiser

Skin of Our Teeth by Thorton Wilder (with adaptations) –featuring Kelsey Grammer and Martin Lawrence in two separate presentations

Tituba—a one woman show starring Erykah Badu at The Lookingglass Theatre of Chicago.

Lys
tba


A Piano Lesson
Location and cast tba
To accompany a continued script by the late Carol Mitchell Leon—Wilson’s People—The Men of August: A Tribute to Art of August Wilson. To include
Patrick Stewart!
* (“Emerging Through Black Theatre, a Unique Concept of “Color Blind” casting—Patrick Stewart: A Master.)

The C Series

Spawned by a life time of creating and exalting new works, new visions and new notions of grandeur, the C Series is the continuation of the legacy of Carol Mitchell-Leon. To partner the Whitman Mayo Brilliance Initiative.


Millenia

A tribute to Beyonce Knowles conceived and portrayed by Kai Mwaafrika. Kai’s original interpretation of the impact of the Beyonce on our contemporary world—a part of the C series

- Soundwave Ressurection

The Spirit:

Exalting the Human Spirit--Acts of Super Empowerment


A Genius Framework: Edward “Eddie: Murphy

A Call to Academia-Institutionalizing the Efforts of Eddie Murphy (Honorary PhD and MasterMind Elect): The Positive Power of the Dragon Movement-a Cannon of Marvel

Eddie Murphy’s Filmography to be inducted officially into Roosevelt University’s Graduate Studies Program in conjunction w/ tba

A New Dialogue for Comparative Literature, Film Studies and the Classical Model

Eddie Murphy is a recipient of the Whitman Mayo Brilliance Initiative Award

Salute a World Leader!



A Genius Framework: James “Jamie” Foxx

A Model of Ascension/360 Degrees of Mastery: Why Jamie? Because He Said So
The Realization of Brilliance; Answering His Spiritual Charge;Moving on To Greater Horizons

A Contemporary Disciple of the Christ Consciousness/Being a New Book in the Bible


Jamie Foxx is a recipient of the Whitman Mayo Brilliance Initiative Award

Salute a World Leader!


MasterMinds ProjectA Celebrity Policy Making Constituency :
Bridging the Gap/Fulfilling the Dream:
Celebrity MasterMinds—

Using a “transition to teaching” model, an abridged yet super-powered course track designed to bridge the gap between Celebrity and higher education. Ultimately, an opportunity for the attainment of Masters and PhD’s to celebrities that have made their mark on humanity and who are intrinsically a part of AARU. To be created, implemented and conferred by a league of visionaries in the field of education. spirituality and entertainment. Special elect MasterMind—Shawn Corey Carter aka Jay-Z! A direct outcome of this effort is to give accreditation and other tools for a new body of policy makers and Obama supporters to solidify President Obama’s re-election in 2012, to head and implement efforts that remove congressional barriers against the movement to stabilize, restore and improve the perspective, economy and socio/economic/political standing of human beings in the United States and the world.

The Movement:
Conscious Effort to Re-energize Our Planet to Her
Highest Potential

The Food Network Extreme and the Big Picture Student Alliance-

Ending natural disasters/supercharging our global warming resolve efforts, cleaning the world’s water, making our environment a global priority by using the magic and mystery of food and the ingenuity of students to make it happen. Also as an offset of this an ew “students for Obama” priority.


Africa Connect/AADRII:

Revitalizing the African Diaspora: Creating global balance

Brown Pride-

Creating a resurgence of love and respect for Hispanic People. Ending the notion that a human can ever be “illegal”

BBB or the Bring BIG Back=

Boosting the human morale by syncing our planet with a grand vision. Believing that our world can be healthy, prosperous and magical. A first ever..with ingenuity and technology leading the way, unveiling a conglomeration of AARU to the world! A unifying component similar to the Olympics.

- Soundwave Ressurection

The Fundmentals: Three Parts—The Word, The Spirit, The Movement (The Effort)

The Word: “The Ministry is in the Art” The Declaration of the Scripts also known as The Whitman Mayo Brilliance Initiative and the C Series: A Tribute to Carol Mitchell-Leon

AARU’S Art is:
Relevant
Focused
Prophetic
Life Changing
Inspiring
Outstanding
Transformative

The Art:
Star Trek the Next Generation: Sirus (Special Edition)

The Nu Hollywood Dream Scene

The Wiz II-303*

How I Became Oz

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

Jazz by Toni Morrison

Hebrews

Edward Scissorhand: The Castle

Sundiata

Anowa

Kirikou and Karaba

A Wind in the Door Madeleine Lengle

Tales

The Raymond Andrews Series

The Brenda Wilkinson Series

The Young Adult Series ft. works by:
Judy Blume: Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself and Are You There God…
Emily Cheney Neville: Garden of Broken Glass
Paula Danziger: The Cat Ate My Gym Suit and Sequel
Norma Fox Mazer: Mrs. Fish, Ape and Me the Dump Queen
Barthe DeClements: Nothing’s Fair in Fifth Grade or Elsie
Rosa Guy: The Friends (with adaptation)
Virginia Hamilton: A Little Love

A Story/ A Story

Cow Tail Switch

The Live Theatre Circuit to ft. Seven Works:

Tituba w Erykah Badu

Wands/Tarot or Lys (short for Lysistrata)

Skin of Our Teeth (adaptation)

Three Tall Women (under consideration)

The Wiz II-- Staged Musical

An Evening w/ Marina Sirtis

The Men of August Wilson ft the crossover performances of “Sir” Patrick Stewart (*special feature-Piano Lesson)

Brown Pride

George Bernard Shaw and Chekov tba*

Sidney-Tribute to Sidney Poitier

Millenia

Tree

*titles in process
*art contributions ongoing




- Soundwave Ressurection

AARU

A progressive social arts movement The Manifestation of Paradise

Mission: To form a conglomeration of artists and visionaries and lead our world into a new way of existing through campaigns of universal healing, education, policy and transformative art.

Objectives and Outcomes—“I Am”:

To produce works that capture the new spirit of greatness and destiny, with fortitude astounding artistry and uncommon beauty

To tell the story of the Universe and her majesty

.
To utilize technology, human ingenuity, positive intention, affirmative power, authenticity, integrity and high levels of creativity to create and move forward a new level of human existence through artistic, educational and social/political efforts, initiatives and programs

To create a more nurturing world for artist, visionaries, and spiritualists


Finding practical ways to enhance our world through healing; for example, shifting to a focus on health as opposed to health care insurance (curing the common cold as opposed to spending more on treating it); a focus on ending natural disasters by listening to the earth and her needs. Creating a new wave of diplomacy in which we pursue peace in ways our history has not seen. Preparing the World based on the specifications of our absolute desire.

More affirmatively believing and utilizing the gifts of prayer, good intention, positive thinking/feeling, and asking

Placing a higher day-to-day value of positive energy and perspective. Making as a priority a greater level of effort towards the mission of abundance

Fully realizing the power of global unification

Officially saying goodbye to limiting thoughts and behavior.


Perceiving God as a constant nurturer and teacher.

Ending the “cross” as our dominant symbology of Christ to more positive imagery.

Bringing forth a barrage of new efforts that comprehensively heal our earth, our Universe and its inhabitants

Following up with the notion that peace/Eden/paradise is for us to have and to meditate on what we want and enjoy getting it.

Finding common ground in our walks of life for the purpose of bettering our global and universal body

Enjoying life more

Moving from a “debt” mindset to an “abundance” mindset

Centering ourselves in nonjudgement


Using our folklore, myths, and parables in a more active way to help attain and sustain ascension.

Using heightened expression to reclaim our intelligence and our greater artistic minds.
.
Nurturing our supers—Celebrating our celebrities!

Creating a core alliance of the gifted and the exceptional as a premis for setting a new standard. Becoming solution based and using our gifts to help us cross over to a higher and better way of existing

Preparing for the coming of the Creator and understanding that every interpretation of that notion is valid and welcomed


Providing an atmosphere where creativity thrives

Reclaiming the original ideal of the media-objectivity. Canceling out the “gossip” approach to make way for a higher notion of human Showing a higher level of accountability for the principles of respect and kindness.

Celebration our individual greatness—being compliant to our own intuitive phases and reaching new heights and levels of joy

Un-demonizing the notion of desire. Removing certain words from our vocabulary that in any way make our wants and needs “wrong”



Making social justice a must,

Appreciating that human existence has been a work in progress and as such redefining what our global mission is and acting on it.


Inhabiting a more progressive view of democracy

Absolving past global and national conflicts—ending abuse in all its forms.

Resolving that hunger and poverty are “not”—resetting for a new platform. Removing barriers.

Seeing art as “the” way to grow into our greater selves


Encouraging and tempting the spirit with a new suite of art with a presentation style like no other. Encouraging the synergy of technology, thought, and creativity

Putting the concept of “AARU” ( heavan/paradise) into a practical and everyday scope for all our world
- Soundwave Ressurection

Kai Mwaafrika – Inaugural Innovator
- karl stober
In the music industry today, among the tools of talent and innovation, the one absolute that takes any artist to the next level is tenacity. That drive is what separates dreams from reality; for it’s that force that stirs the waters of creativity and liberates the attention of those whom count. Vocalist Kai Mwaafrika has that compelling desire, which mixed with a talent, is pure in development and rich in flow. Ms. Mwaafrika is fresh; untainted by negativity and assumptions. A gifted woman with the ability to tell a story with tone and a worship to liberate her ideals on the world around her; determined to never compromise them. This is an artist ready to meet the egocentric road of music ahead her.
Ms Mwaafrika’s gift to generate appeal, whether it is in the arena of reggae, straight-ahead jazz, or the African experience is accomplished by her behind the stage work ethic. Take into consideration her work with producer Beatroom with her spin “Love Buzz” as you will become very aware of her off the music sheet arranging, along with her ability to keep the listener on their toes, expecting nothing, anticipating everything. The beat of this cut is infectious, as is many of her projects thus far in her young resume.
In contrast we follow a different stream and producer as Ejaaz Mwaafrika and Ms Mwaafrika combine to develop “Come What May,” soon to be in my opinion, one of this lady’s ”coming out to ignite” singles. The effects of the mixing are unique, unscripted, and natural. This is a justifiable signature for this artist. There is a raw elegance to this young artist and it is ready to be unleashed, this may be the slice of her music that accomplishes that.
Neo-soul is often used to describe this talents space however I will stand to the opinion that she is at an unclassifiable stage in her career with a deceptively righteous appeal. As young as she is she needs no labels to undress her place in the industry. Ms Mwaafrika only needs to write and often, sing with persistence, and arrange with an innovative pulse. If one would critique any part of her world thus far it’s what took you so long and where is the rest of the magic. Yes magic, a seldom used term for a highly engaging craft she calculated.
Between Awake and a Dream is in the works for this artist which has the promise to have a narcotic reaction to its release. This is due to shelve itself in the immediate future.
I have had the pleasure of talking several times with this young woman, at times critical, at times supportive, however this is what she looks for, for she is an activist for honesty and straight talk. Ms. Mwaafrika looks for growth in all forms of conversation, opinions and direction; taking it all in and using what fits.
Kai Mwaafrika is a force to be watched and examined closely. She is not of the social norm of musical architects. Her space is her own; her music is her foundation, never swearing in her weaknesses. I find this artist a separate entity from the rest as she delves in the now, not what one wishes to be…
- Karl Stober/WaxTrenzz

On Thursday night I drove downtown to the Phoenix Theatre for the opening performance of ”Well,” by Lisa Kron. When this autobiographical play opened on Broadway, the playwright played herself. In this production, directed by Martha Jacobs and produced by Bryan Fonseca, Deborah Sargent plays the part of Lisa Kron, and Gayle Steigerwald plays her chronically ill mother.


The playwright assures us, however, that this piece is not about their relationship. Or at least, not directly. Of course, what writer doesn’t use her family in her writing in one way or the other? But Lisa has index cards to keep her on track. This piece, this theatrical construct, is to be a well-disciplined exploration of other, more important topics, such as racism. And health.

Her mother is in the play because she was a leader in the racial integration of their neighborhood when Lisa was growing up back in the early 1960s. And also because her mother has been sick for the past few decades. She is the specific to illustrate the universal, that’s all. Or so the playwright tells us, from a small, spot lit platform. (Lighting design by Bryan Fonseca.)

Her mother, meanwhile, is off to the side in her lazy boy recliner, surrounded by her carefully organized collections of angel figurines and other items. (Set design by Justin Kidwell.) She sleeps a lot, but when she is awake, she offers the audience drinks and candy. Everyone falls in love with her, especially the other characters and the actors who play them.

The metastory is that the creative process is messy. You can’t always pick and choose what you want to explore when you are making a piece of art. It is even more unpredictable when you are moving from one form of art to another, from one-woman shows to plays with several characters, for example. Emotions well up. So do memories, some of them accurate, others less so. Sometimes characters show up that you would prefer to forget. It is futile to try and control all this with index cards.

It is fascinating to watch Lisa try.

Lisa asks the seductive question, “Why do some people get well and others stay sick?” She got well, so why can’t her mother?

She also, in so many words, asks the question, “Why can’t we all just get along?” Black and white, healthy and sick, Jewish and Christian, same as us and different from us…Why do we believe that dichotomies are so important? (Because sometimes they are.)

She asks these questions with both irritation and compassion. (Speaking of dichotomies.)

Some of the scenes take place at the allergy center where Lisa went when she was in college. Gail Bray plays Joy, whose allergic reaction to her new roommate, Lisa, is hilariously specific. Danny Russel plays a bizarre Head Nurse - sort of a cross between Mr. Rogers and Richard Simmons.

Other scenes take place in the integrated neighborhood. Kai Mwaafrika is terrifying as Lisa’s childhood tormentor. Michael H. Smith is completely believable as both Lisa’s fun-loving friend, Little Oscar, and his alcoholic father, Big Oscar.

Each member of the ensemble (Russel, Mwaafrika, Bray, and Smith) skillfully plays more than one role. They also play themselves when their sympathy for Lisa’s mother overturns their commitment to the characters.

There is a lot going on in this intense show, but somehow it all ties together. It is not a healing experience in and of itself, the way some shows are, but it is definitely a catalyst for healing. There is a lot of yelling and crying, and this made me worry about the actor-characters rather than lose myself in their story, but there is also a lot of nourishing, hypoallergenic food for thought. It has been feeding me for days now.

I love the layers in this piece. I love that it made me think of the word “integration” and the phrase “getting clear” in new ways.

By the way, one of the reasons that I was particularly interested in seeing this show was because of the director, Martha Jacobs. One afternoon a couple of months ago I got to have a long conversation about the craft of acting with an actor named Bill Simmons. He had spent two years learning the Meisner method of acting from Jacobs. He raved to me about the experience. I was curious to see what a show directed by her would be like.

It was very real, very in-the-moment. I don’t know if Deborah Sargent and Gayle Steigerwald always use this method, but I do know that they were both very convincing in this show. At more than one point I even thought, “Wait, did this really happen to them? Are they mother and daughter in real life, too?” even though I knew they were not. Their portrayals are very powerful.

Before I end this review, I want to mention the costumes and a couple more things about the set:

Karen Witting designed the costumes. I especially admired Lisa’s brave show business outfit: a black and white pantsuit with a dramatic red scarf at her throat chakra.

On Thursday night, coincidentally, during a conversation where Lisa and her mother were beginning to speak more honestly with each other, one of Lisa’s diamond-y earrings fell off onto the floor. Deb Sargent calmly picked it up, felt her ears, took off her other earring and placed both of them behind a pole. Surely the earring falling was an accident, but it fit very nicely with what was happening in the dialogue. I.e. – glitz and bravado falling away to make room for candor and love. I wonder if it is possible to rig an earring to fall off on cue?

I also admired the large black-and-white squares on the floor, designed by Justin Kidwell. They, along with Lisa’s costume, contrast nicely with the not-so-black-and-white issues of the play.

And finally…even though the refreshment stand has to close up before the start of the play because the fridge and cabinets back there become part of the set (with more of Bryan Fonseca’s clever lighting), not to worry: Jessica the bartender returns at intermission with more of her yummy, homemade “magic bars” and exotic (to me) beers.

“Well” continues in the intimate Frank and Katrina Basile space downstairs at the Phoenix Theatre Thursdays-Sundays through April 6, 2008. Please call 317-635-PLAY to make a reservation.

Hope Baugh – www.IndyTheatreHabit.com
- Hope Baugh

Not feeling so 'Well'
by Lisa Gauthier
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Well
Phoenix Theatre
Directed by Martha Jacobs
Through April 6


The fourth wall goes up and down so many times in Well I got vertigo just watching it.

The play, by Lisa Kron, is a self-indulgent work that uses the playwright and her mother as main characters. It is made up of three elements: direct address towards the audience, a play within a play and the interaction of Kron with her mother.

In Well, Kron is re-creating her childhood with her perpetually sick mother (she suffers from “allergies”) via Kron’s new theater experiment, which she and four actors are rehearsing in her mother’s living room. While the main issue is Kron confronting her mother’s health issues, thrown in is her mother’s work in revitalizing and integrating their Michigan neighborhood — an unnecessary subplot that barely skims the concepts of racial integration.

While Deborah Sargent (Kron) and Gayle Steigerwald (Ann, her mother) are lauded local theater staples with many excellent shows to their credit, here they are given too little to work with. Under director Martha Jacobs, the show feels exaggerated and over the top. You can’t sympathize with Sargent, who plays Kron as a tyrannical, self-centered adult child. Steigerwald is too doting of a mother figure for us to understand where Kron’s anger towards her is coming from. Supporting actors Danny Russel, Kai Mwaafrika, Gail Bray and Michael H. Smith seem forced even when they are performing as “themselves.”

Well continues through April 6. Tickets are $25, or $15 if you are under age 25. The Phoenix is at 749 N. Park Ave.; 317-635-PLAY.
- Lisa Gauthier/Nuvo Newsweekly

Sorry about those technical difficulties with the blog. Fortunately there's still some time to see comedy "Well" at the Phoenix Theatre, in Indy, so I can give you my impression of the show.

Imagine you are a playwright. You are immersed in the ways of the theatre, and you like doing one-woman shows. You're writing a new one, but this one will let other actors playing other characters intrude. However, one of these other people is your mother, who is not a theatre person. And she has concerns about how you are presenting her on stage.

This is the dilemma that faced noted playwright Lisa Kron in performing "Well" off-Broadway. Phoenix regular Deborah Sargent is excellent as Kron's Indianapolis stand-in in the local production, on the downstairs Frank and Katrina Basile stage at 749 Park Ave. (corner of Park and St. Clair near Mass Ave.). Gayle Steigerwald brilliantly takes on her "feisty and lovable old lady" persona again as Kron's mother. The other members of the cast fall in love with her -- you will too.

And that ensemble is well-played by Danny Russel, Kai Mwaafrika, Gail Bray and Michael H. Smith. They deftly help Lisa in her "theatrical exploration" of health -- hers, her mothers, and that of the racially-mixed community where she grew up -- and dealing with the "allergies" that plague them. But at times, they step out of character to challenge Kron -- no doubt a playwright's worst nightmare -- but it all works toward the central goal of finding out why a person does or doesn't feel "well."

You'll leave the show feeling pretty good yourself. It runs through April 6. Call 317-635-7529 for details and reservations.
- John Belden

Sorry about those technical difficulties with the blog. Fortunately there's still some time to see comedy "Well" at the Phoenix Theatre, in Indy, so I can give you my impression of the show.

Imagine you are a playwright. You are immersed in the ways of the theatre, and you like doing one-woman shows. You're writing a new one, but this one will let other actors playing other characters intrude. However, one of these other people is your mother, who is not a theatre person. And she has concerns about how you are presenting her on stage.

This is the dilemma that faced noted playwright Lisa Kron in performing "Well" off-Broadway. Phoenix regular Deborah Sargent is excellent as Kron's Indianapolis stand-in in the local production, on the downstairs Frank and Katrina Basile stage at 749 Park Ave. (corner of Park and St. Clair near Mass Ave.). Gayle Steigerwald brilliantly takes on her "feisty and lovable old lady" persona again as Kron's mother. The other members of the cast fall in love with her -- you will too.

And that ensemble is well-played by Danny Russel, Kai Mwaafrika, Gail Bray and Michael H. Smith. They deftly help Lisa in her "theatrical exploration" of health -- hers, her mothers, and that of the racially-mixed community where she grew up -- and dealing with the "allergies" that plague them. But at times, they step out of character to challenge Kron -- no doubt a playwright's worst nightmare -- but it all works toward the central goal of finding out why a person does or doesn't feel "well."

You'll leave the show feeling pretty good yourself. It runs through April 6. Call 317-635-7529 for details and reservations.
- John Belden

Kai Mwaafrika's performance of "Trouble in Mind" during the Phoenix Theatre's production of "Further Mo'." I used to think the song belonged to the one and only Dinah Washington. I was mistaken

- blog from team member and fan

AN ADULT EVENING OF SHEL SILVERSTEIN: Meat & Potatoes = Frenetic but Fun

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review by: Ty Stover

Meat and potatoes meat and potatoes, meat and potatoes… meat-and- po-ta-toes… and so it goes in a scene of sheer pop culture brilliance Thinking Up A New Name For The Act performed my Ganas Theatre Of Indianapolis ensemble member and co-director Dave Ruark. A near packed house at American Cabaret Theatre arrived much like myself, remembering Shel Silverstein, who passed away from a heart attack in 1999, from childhood as a prolific writer of such classic young people’s books as, “A Light In The Attic”, and “Where The Sidewalk Ends.” However, the poet was also lyricist penning the songs, “The Cover of the Rollin’ Stone” for Dr. Hook and the even bigger hit, “A Boy Named Sue” for the late Johnny Cash. What you may not know is that before all this happened in 1956, just 8 years prior to “The Giving Tree”, Silverstein started his career as a writer and cartoonist for playboy. In addition to all those accomplishments he was also a playwright, of course he was, writing such short play collections as “The Bag Plays”, “The Sign Plays”, and “The Bathroom Plays” these collections have been used as a source for AN ADULT EVENING OF SHEL SILVERSTEIN.

Here is a heads up on this piece! Get there early it starts in the lobby about 15 minutes BEFORE curtain time. That means have your ticket before that time. So you can thoroughly enjoy One Tennis Shoe featuring Sarah Froehlke and Ruark, both who have performed at Comedy Sportz, Ruark being a founding member. Then it is on to the theatre where the show has started, sort of. Once in the space the first piece is the weakest written and frenetically performed by Ganas producer and co-director Shawn Whistler, Going Once a scene about selling and “sell-outs” could have been “Gone” for my money. Bus Stop, not the William Inge play that Ganas did at City Market in 2003, but a scene in which Ruark and Kai Mwaafrika get to know one another’s “personalities’ very well. Mwaafrika uses her vocal talents valiantly caressing Silverstein’s language throughout the show, it is obvious she can sing, a pity there is no opportunity to hear it in this piece. What was your worst birthday nightmare? In The Best Daddy we get to see one unfold. Whistler and Froehlke are father and daughter celeBRATing a 13 year old’s wish for a pony and every father’s secret desire. Whister, sails through this one with his pipe gnawing dad making the audience and his daughter wonder what is under “blanket number1?” The Life Boat Is Sinking is a home run! Froehlke’s work in this scene has shades of Sarah Silverman demanding a Sopie’s Choice on her poor sad sack husband, Ruark. Wash and Dry teaches us all the value of reading the fine print and really gives Whistler a chance to “work it”. Smile did not make me, much. This scene like the opening seemed pushed. Buy One, Get One Free, entirely in verse and all with the SAME RHYME is genius writing and performances were solid and actually sexy at times.

Ganas was “formed out of the need for more paid work for the professional non-union theater artists of Indianapolis..” I believe that this has totally been accomplished here, especially with the nearly full houses. However, throughout the show I felt like they were racing with the clock. The show ran over an hour even with the first scene out in the lobby before the official start time. A man with a curmudgeonly attitude in the lobby during Tennis Shoe belched, “I hate Improv.” He hit it. The show had an energy of, “We’ve got to squeeze this in.” instead of “Welcome to an evening with Shel.” I think it would have behooved Whistler and Ruark to have taken stock of the material and cut a couple of the less solid pieces to enable a more relaxed performance experience for performer and audience.


- Ty Stover (Indiana Auditions)

"...“Kai Mwaafrika is an excellent talent with comparison to Jill Scott & Eryka Badu. Neo Soul vibe with a passion rare to find in this day of musical expression ...” - Terroll Williams (Aireez DaRychuzz of ThundaGrownd Producshuns)

One could say that Indianapolis native Kai Mwaafika was born to perform. After all, her first staged production “Jim Flyin’ High” by national award winning playwright Mari Evans took place when she was the tender age of 6.
She grew up in an atmosphere that was rich in music and that included many styles, ranging from straight-ahead jazz and reggae to traditional African music. Both of her parents were performers.
Mwaafika does not hesitate to credit the late Carol Mitchell-Leon as her mentor and the major source of encouragement and influence in her career. Mwaafika and Mitchell-Leon discovered each other at the Indiana Repertory Theatre in 1993. “She was extraordinary," says Mwaafika emotionally of Mitchell-Leon. "Anybody you would ask would agree — not just as an artist, but as a person.”
As a singer, songwriter, actor and playwright, Mwaafika now feels empowered to pursue her dream. Although she loves theater, her passion right now is making music. “I am [doing] theater singing songs. Music is the ribbon that flairs out until it turns me inside out and lets all of that pent-up thespian out…,” she says. Her music performance is in fact heavily influenced by her love of theater. "I want to succeed on a broader scale and then return to performing in regional theater in about 10 years,” says Mwaafika.
She considers herself to be an "outside the box” performer in the world of neo-soul. “I consider myself ‘eclectic afrique’ — the film noir of underground spirited music — whether it be of the urban genre or of another," she says. But Mwaafika says that her performance and style influences also include artists such as the poet Tasha Jones, Denise Williams and the Emotions.
Her first track “Single Black Mamma” was recorded in April 2008. Mwaafika’s music has been featured and streamed on several online radio stations including Kemet Music Radio, an online radio station,, Amps Magazine online station, USA4Real and Shadesradio. She has traveled all across the Midwest as either a featured artist or as a background singer. Her single “Come What May” has helped to bring her accolades such as “breaking new artist” for Urb Magazine’s Next 1000 talent search, and “breaking new Hip-Hop artist” for KRS-ONE’s Temple of Hip-Hop.
Her project “Between Awake and a Dream” is slated for official release in the winter of 2010. “Come What May” is currently available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon.com and MySpace
- Jim Vign

Kemet Music Radio's Web Site Spotlights Africa's Musical Legacy; Independent Label Promotes New Talent
Kemet Music Radio’s selects the best in contemporary, traditional and urban African music for online streaming. We aim to showcase the continent’s diverse musical heritage and explore excellence in African music. We are also pleased to launch our independent online music label, Digital Orishas.
ShareThis Email PDF Print .

.Kemet Music Radio Logo

Our radio station, featuring a sampling of quality music from Africa and the Diaspora, has been streaming music online to an international audience 24 hours a day, 7 days a week since 2007 (PRWEB) September 14, 2010

Kemet Music Radio is excited to announce the launch of its new Web site showcasing Africa’s rich legacy of cultural, urban, and traditional music. Through online streaming, our mission is to continue to bring the music of Africa in all its diverse and stylistic range to audiences around the world. We also strive to promote excellence in the field of African music and foster cultural exchanges between various African communities and other communities around the world.

Our radio station, featuring a sampling of quality music from Africa and the Diaspora, has been streaming music online to an international audience 24 hours a day, 7 days a week since 2007. We pride ourselves on selecting the very best music and encourage musical submissions from artists. We play cultural, urban and traditional music from Africa and the African Diaspora.

To be considered for airplay, artists must submit a musical press kit on www.sonicbids.com/kemetradio. Artists who submit to KMR via this site receive a two-week free trial of Sonicbids. Unlimited songs can also be submitted for a quality control fee of $5 each.

Kemet Music Radio has started it's own online label, Digital Orishas, an independent music label that promotes world class afro-centric music that is cultural, urban or traditional. We are pleased to have signed to our label, Iron Sheik, an iconic hip hop artist based in Toronto, and Kai Mwaafrika, a talented, neo-soul artist from Indianapolis. To become a fan of Iron Sheik and purchase his music please visit: http://www.reverbnation.com/label/digitalorishas#/ironsheik or visit major online retailers like iTunes.

To become a fan of Kai Mwaafrika and purchase her music, please visit:
http://www.reverbnation.com/label/digitalorishas#/kaimwaafrika or visit major online retailers like iTunes.

Iron Sheik and Kai Mwaafrika are both working on new material so stay tuned for more updates.

KMR’s other services include audio file engineering to optimize sound quality of music files,mp3 encoding, and online sales of artists’ merchandise. A full list of KMR’s services is available on our Web site: http://www.kemetmusicradio.com/.

You can also purchase Kemet Music Radio t-shirts, hats and artists’ merchandise at our merchandise store: http://www.zazzle.ca/kemetmusicradio
- PRweb

Kemet Music Radio's Web Site Spotlights Africa's Musical Legacy; Independent Label Promotes New Talent
Kemet Music Radio’s selects the best in contemporary, traditional and urban African music for online streaming. We aim to showcase the continent’s diverse musical heritage and explore excellence in African music. We are also pleased to launch our independent online music label, Digital Orishas.
ShareThis Email PDF Print .

.Kemet Music Radio Logo

Our radio station, featuring a sampling of quality music from Africa and the Diaspora, has been streaming music online to an international audience 24 hours a day, 7 days a week since 2007 (PRWEB) September 14, 2010

Kemet Music Radio is excited to announce the launch of its new Web site showcasing Africa’s rich legacy of cultural, urban, and traditional music. Through online streaming, our mission is to continue to bring the music of Africa in all its diverse and stylistic range to audiences around the world. We also strive to promote excellence in the field of African music and foster cultural exchanges between various African communities and other communities around the world.

Our radio station, featuring a sampling of quality music from Africa and the Diaspora, has been streaming music online to an international audience 24 hours a day, 7 days a week since 2007. We pride ourselves on selecting the very best music and encourage musical submissions from artists. We play cultural, urban and traditional music from Africa and the African Diaspora.

To be considered for airplay, artists must submit a musical press kit on www.sonicbids.com/kemetradio. Artists who submit to KMR via this site receive a two-week free trial of Sonicbids. Unlimited songs can also be submitted for a quality control fee of $5 each.

Kemet Music Radio has started it's own online label, Digital Orishas, an independent music label that promotes world class afro-centric music that is cultural, urban or traditional. We are pleased to have signed to our label, Iron Sheik, an iconic hip hop artist based in Toronto, and Kai Mwaafrika, a talented, neo-soul artist from Indianapolis. To become a fan of Iron Sheik and purchase his music please visit: http://www.reverbnation.com/label/digitalorishas#/ironsheik or visit major online retailers like iTunes.

To become a fan of Kai Mwaafrika and purchase her music, please visit:
http://www.reverbnation.com/label/digitalorishas#/kaimwaafrika or visit major online retailers like iTunes.

Iron Sheik and Kai Mwaafrika are both working on new material so stay tuned for more updates.

KMR’s other services include audio file engineering to optimize sound quality of music files,mp3 encoding, and online sales of artists’ merchandise. A full list of KMR’s services is available on our Web site: http://www.kemetmusicradio.com/.

You can also purchase Kemet Music Radio t-shirts, hats and artists’ merchandise at our merchandise store: http://www.zazzle.ca/kemetmusicradio
- PRweb

Featured in the Artist's Village in Detroit and the Phoenix Underground in Indianapolis, Kai Mwaafrika is a singer/songwriter who creates music about the trials of life. Her music echoes larger than life divas such as Aretha Franklin. Make no mistake, her sound is not completely vintage; It maintains a contemporary approach while carrying with it the soul from yesteryear. Check out "Come What May" for a glimpse of an artist whose music you can't help but feel. - Urb Next 1000-Jason Kordich

InterCityBeat: Indy

Sparkling Crowns

Indianapolis ­ It's partly a celebration of a unique and fascinating cultural phenomenon, partly a gospel concert, partly a series of first-person vignettes glued together with music -- and wholly jubilant from start to finish. It's Crowns, actress-playwright Regina Taylor's loving, stomping look at church-going black women and the hats with which they adorn themselves for worship. Sharon Gamble, general manager of Indy's intimate Phoenix Theatre says that the new-in-'02 show was the most frequently produced attraction in regional theaters around the country during the '03-'04 season. No wonder. It's all joy. The rousing Phoenix production continues through Nov. 21, playing Thursdays at 6:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Cincinnati theatergoers will also have a chance to see it and probably love it when it rounds out the 2004-05 subscription season on the Marx mainstage at The Playhouse in the Park. That production, mounted in harness with Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, opens a five-week stand here on April 26, 2005, after four weeks in St. Louis. Playwright Taylor is also an Emmy-nominated actress (for the role of Lilly Harper in I'll Fly Away on television), Golden Globe winner with a long list of film, Broadway and off-Broadway credits. She won the American Theatre Critics' Association's new play award for a script called Oo-Bla-Dee about black women in Jazz in the 1940s. She developed Crowns on a commission from the McCarter Theater, Princeton, N.J., basing it on a successful, same name, 2000 book of photographs by Michael Cunningham and text by Craig Marberry, who also collaborated on the stage script. In the program for the McCarter's world premiere of the piece, Taylor wrote, "I envisioned a Gospel music-driven piece, a crazy quilt of music and movement and storytelling that takes us through the rituals of a Sunday in the South with characters breaking out of the framework to deliver 'arias' and direct (remarks) to the audience that may start in the Sunday church service but jump off into memories of life experiences in different times and different places." Well, what Taylor imagined is exactly what happens when the Phoenix company of seven takes stage. There's a framing story about a teenage girl (Tiffany L. Shoemaker) who is hustled out of Brooklyn after witnessing the murder of her brother and shipped off to live with her grandmother, in safety in small town North Carolina. Naturally, she's sullen and resentful about being uprooted but soon enough catches the joyful spirit. There's a single, skillful male (Langstan Martin Smith) who is betimes a narrator, a minister and whatever fathers, brothers, husbands and sons are useful to the six women principals in relating their stories. Three times during the course of the storytelling he signifies the death of a character with a touching, evocative gesture. He hands the woman his hat. And then there are the women of the church, telling their own stories and filling in background about why "crowns" are important to the women who collect them and wear them as expressions of pride and self-respect. Though each character is only briefly explicated, the able performers lend them satisfying depth. Sherri Brown-Webster is sincerely affectionate, witty and just a whisper sly as the minister's wife. Rhoda C. Ludy is warm and winning as the grandmother who celebrates desegregation by marching in to buy herself an expensive crown at a formerly whites-only department store. Kendra N. Mitchell's performance is as bright and gleaming as the glossy feathers on her best hat. Kai Mwaafrika-Hesse takes stage with Aretha-like authority and grace, especially when singing. Brenda Williams is sleek, satiric and sensuous as a lady funeral director. Likely she'd be even more so were she to appear in a concert-biography of Lady Day. Crowns was co-directed by Phoenix founder Bryan Fonseca and Shari Lynn Himes on a set (Linda Janosko) that welds together suggestions of a rural church and an over-flowing millinery emporium. Iris Rosa choreographed the musical numbers. There are a few very minor falters in the show's pacing and an arch incantation opening devised for this production mostly gets in the way, but otherwise Crowns sparkles. - Cincinatti City Beat Arts and Entertainment Weekly

Who is Kai Mwaafrika? Born and raised in Indianapolis IN, Kai grew up in an environment full of music and culture. "My parents prided us on knowing not just our history dating back to pre-slavery in this country but world history period" Kai says. "Early exposure to the arts set the tone for who I was to become. After graduating from Broad Ripple H.S., Kai went on to Clark Atlanta University for her undergraduate studies, majoring in Speech & Theater. After completing her undergrad, she went on to Roosevelt University, Chicago IL for a graduate degree in Theater Performance. After some travels, Kai returned to Indianapolis and worked the local theater scene at the Phoenix Theater and worked as a recorded vocalist for Indiana Repertory Theater. Now ready to move forward as a solo vocalist, Kai makes her debut on The Jazz Kitchen's main stage for Old SOUL's Root Movements Live, March 4th @ 9:30pm. - Old Soul Entertainment news letter-Doug Morris