Studer Community Institute

'Our Voices are Many': Daughters of Africa

May 8, 2015
/ Reggie Dogan
/ training-development

The latest version of “Our Voices Are Many” will be performed Sunday, May 10, at Pensacola State College’s Jean & Paul Amos Performing Arts Studio. The performance titled, “Daughters of Africa,” will feature a cast of more than 60 local dramatic readers, poets, spoken-word artists, musicians, dancers and and singers, celebrating the voices and images of black women in America. The two-hour program includes the poetry of Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, Pearl Cleage, Ntozake Shange, Langston Hughes and other renowned poets. Also among the performances are Negro spirituals, and songs from the jazz of artists like Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, to the rhythm and blues of Etta James and Jill Scott. Participating groups include Dance Konnection, a group which will provide a dance tribute to mothers, and NNOA (National Naval Officers Association), a group which will provide a tribute to women in military service. Mamie Hixon, an assistant professor of English at the University of West Florida and director of UWF writing lab, wrote the script for and is artistic director of the theatrical production. Besides being entertaining, informative and education, the performance brings together and connects people from all facets of life. “I among the people Malcolm Gladwell describes in his book, “The Tipping Point,” as those who have an uncanny knack for bringing people, events, and ideas together and making connections,” Hixon said. Hixon says the event connects the community to the UWF literature courses she teaches, one of which is Black Women Writers by “staging” the course’s content. “At Our Voices Are Many performances, I acquire a local community of students and teach them African-American literature with history on the side,” she said. “In this way, I am creating my own brand of UWF student recruitment.” [sidebar] Doors open at 2:30 p.m. for the 4 p.m. show Sunday. Vendors will be available in the women’s showcase from 2:30 to 3:45 p.m. From 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., audience members will be able to watch a Mother’s Day “I’ll Always Love My Momma” slideshow that features photos of local mothers. Tickets are $10 for adults; $5 for students. PSC students are admitted free. Tickets may be purchased in PSC’s Ashmore Fine Arts Building No. 8. [/sidebar] Our Voices are Many began in 1993, with shows that featured, among other things, singing, poetry, dancing and African drums. Since then Hixon has introduced a new feature to the program. In 2013, Hixon created the Griot Chorus, an ensemble of seven women who provide sideline interpretations, singing, and poetic prose and commentary about the theme and theatrical performance similar to a classical Greek chorus. In 2014, Hixon rolled out the Sons of Africa Chorus, directed by local musician Cheryl Watson This year, the audience will be introduced to two new features: the Daughters of Africa Chorus, also directed by Watson, and the “Extras.” As Sunday is Mother’s Day, the entire event is dedicated to mothers. While Our Voices are Many is a performance, Hixon is careful to explain that it is not a play. It’s a scripted and themed, multimedia, theatrical presentation of African-American history and literature using videos, slide presentation, photos, voices, and music to portray, in this instance, the images of black women in America,” Hixon said. “It’s history, it’s literature, it’s information, it’s entertainment – it’s ‘infotainment."

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'Our Voices are Many': Daughters of Africa

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