The Wright Conversations & The Wright Performances

Joy Ann Reid | Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 @ 4:00pm

Joy-Ann Reid, is the host of the REID OUT on MSNBC.  A political analyst, and author Reid is the first female black primetime anchor ever to appear on cable television. Her appearance will highlight her most recent book Medgar & Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America.

The assassination of Medgar Evers in the carport of their home on June 12, 1963 became a catalyst for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Her appearance promises to be an engaging and thought-provoking afternoon with one of black America’s most insightful and provocative journalists.

Highlights

• Q&A session
• Book signing

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Marcus Samuelsson is the renowned chef behind many restaurants worldwide including Red Rooster Harlem and Red Rooster Overtown (Miami), MARCUS Montreal, Marcus B&P in Newark, Streetbird at Yankee Stadium, Marcus at Baha Mar Fish + Chop House in the Bahamas, Hav & Mar in Chelsea (NYC), and the recently opened Marcus Bar & Grille in Atlanta. Samuelsson was the youngest person to receive a three-star review from The New York Times and was the guest chef for the Obama Administration's first state dinner. He has won eight James Beard Foundation awards as chef, author and TV personality, most recently for his work as head judge on Top Chef: Family Style and host of On the Rise. Samuelsson recently hosted the critically acclaimed No Passport Required on PBS and has won numerous competition shows including Top Chef Masters and Chopped All-Stars. He is currently appearing as an Iron Chef on Netflix's hit Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend. Samuelsson also hosts and produces the Seat at the Table on Audible and co-hosts This Moment podcast with Swedish rapper Timbuktu on ACAST. A committed philanthropist, Samuelsson is co-chair of Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP), which focuses on helping underserved youth. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Samuelsson converted his restaurants Red Rooster Harlem and Red Rooster Overtown into community kitchens in partnership with World Central Kitchen, serving well over 280k meals to those in need. In Newark, Samuelsson's Marcus B&P partnered with Audible and World Central Kitchen to create Newark Working Kitchens, which has engaged 37 local restaurants to provide 1.5 million meals to those in need. Samuelsson also co-produces the annual Harlem EatUp! Festival, which celebrates the food, art, and culture of Harlem. He is the author of several cookbooks, the New York Times bestselling memoir Yes, Chef: A Memoir and his latest book, The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food.

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LaTosha Brown | Monday, Jan. 20, 2025 @ 10:00am 

MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY KEYNOTE

LaTosha Brown, co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund, will deliver a powerful keynote address on MLK Day Janurary 20, 2025. Her speech will explore the critical need for African Americans and all disenfranchised members of our community to exercise the right to vote as a means of achieving social justice. Her remarks will also highlight the healing power of love amidst personal grief and loss. Brown emphasizes that understanding our shared humanity requires embracing pain and compassion providing a perfect start to the Wright’s annual celebration of Martin Luther King enduring legacy.

Highlights

• Q&A session
• Insights on Black voting rights and social justice

Tickets on sale In January!

Kwame Alexander | Thursday, Apr. 9, 2025 @ 5pm

Internationally renowned poet, New York Times bestselling author of 40 books, Emmy-winning producer, and educator Kwame Alexander is on a mission to change the world one word at a time. From books about Black trailblazers to suspenseful thrillers and books for young readers Alexander comes to The Wright to discuss his newest book, This is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets and read excerpts from his many writings.

In an op-ed published last year in the Los Angeles times Alexander captured the challenges and opportunities of the present moment when he wrote so eloquently that “too many of us have lost our way, our will and our sense of historic purpose. The good and righteous in us knows what’s necessary for a renewal. For a healing. For a reclamation of the most important values that have eluded us, but still define our journey as human beings: freedom, democracy and equality of opportunity. The problem is we don’t know where to go, or we’re too afraid of how we get there."

Highlights

• Q&A session
• Book Signing

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Roger Guenveur Smith | Sept. 26-28, 2024

Internationally acclaimed actor, writer, and director Roger Guenveur Smith has created a prolific body of work for stage and screen. Known for such roles as Nate in Ridley Scott's American Gangster (2007), Rudy in Spike Lee's Malcolm X (1992), and Smiley in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing (1989), Smith has also been featured on the HBO series K Street, Oz, and in Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narrative.

He adapted his Obie Award-winning solo performance of A Huey P. Newton Story into a Peabody Award-winning telefilm, directed by his longtime colleague Spike Lee, with whom he continues to collaborate in a relationship which is unparalleled in the American cinema. During his appearance at The Wright he will be performing three one-man plays: Frederick Douglass Now, Otto Frank, and In Honor of Jean Michel Basquiat.  Each evening will showcase a facet of Smith’s distinctive history driven work for the stage which spans centuries and continents.

Performance One: Fredrick Douglass NOW

Thursday, September 26 @ 7:30 pm

Roger Guenveur Smith begins his Wright engagement with his signature solo performance FREDERICK DOUGLASS NOW. The pioneering abolitionist and feminist illuminates our present moment through Smith’s 21st Century take on Douglass’ crucial 19th Century speeches, letters, and editorials. The oldest of his solo works the play showcases the beginning of a prolific, critically acclaimed  series of historically-inspired work for the international stage.

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Performance Two: Otto FRANK

Friday, Sept. 27 @ 7:30 pm

Obie Award-winning collaborators Roger Guenveur Smith and Marc Anthony Thompson have devised a new work inspired by Otto Frank. An intimate study of the father of diarist Anne Frank, scored live by Thompson, illuminates our present moment through a rigorous interrogation of our not-so-distant past. Smith's Frank addresses his daughter beyond her time and his own, navigating his loss as the only survivor of his immediate family, and negotiating his subsequent service to the living and the dead as the steward of her work. As a caretaker of his daughter’s legacy, Frank navigated the profound loss of his daughter, the criticism of those who questioned his motivations, the authenticity of the diary, and even the Holocaust itself. How does one simultaneously serve the living and the dead, and at what cost?

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Performance Three: In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat  

Saturday, Sept. 28 @ 7:30 pm  

IN HONOR OF JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT, is an intimate meditation on the late artist’s life that was first presented on what would have been his 50th birthday.   A friend and collaborator of the late contemporary artist Guenveur Smith’s play pays tribute to Basquiat’s work and legacy through the lens of the friendship shared between the two early in their careers. 

“I never wanted my pieces to be about impersonation,” Smith says in an interview with the LA Times. Rather, he’s trying for an Impressionist portrait, where a gesture or prop evokes the character. “I think it’s a challenge for an actor to make each character organically his or her own. And you don’t do that by incessant studying of videotape.”

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Regina Carter | Nov. 15-16, 2024

Regina Carter, is a multi-GRAMMY nominee, MacArthur Fellow, Doris Duke Award recipient, and NEA Jazz Master. Trying to fit Regina Carter into a neatly defined musical category is pointless. Her repertoire includes many styles of music—jazz, R&B, Latin, classical, blues, country, pop, African, and the list goes on and on. In each, she explores the power of music through the voice of the violin. A native Detroiter, Carter, has been widely hailed for her mastery of her instrument and her drive to expand its possibilities.   
 
Under the masterful musical direction of Regina Carter: NEA Jazz Master, MacArthur “Genius” and jazz violin virtuoso Gone in a Phrase of Air takes the audience on a journey through America’s vibrant Black neighborhoods that were demolished in the name of urban renewal. With original as well as historical music, spoken word poetry and visuals, the performance revisits vanished communities like Black Bottom and Paradise Valley in Carter’s hometown of Detroit; Mill Creek Valley in St. Louis; the Hayti district in Durham, North Carolina; and Chicago’s Bronzeville.

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A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham | Mar. 27-28, 2024 @ 7:30 pm

A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham will perform a mixed repertory program of intimate works staged especially for The Wright drawn from the company’s extensive repertoire of critically acclaimed works.

Led by MacArthur Award winning choreographer Kyle Abraham, the exquisite company of world class dancers has created a body of dance-based work that is galvanized by Black culture and history and features the rich tapestry of Black and Queer stories. The work, informed by and made in conjunction with artists across a range of disciplines, entwines a sensual and provocative vocabulary with a strong emphasis on music, text, video, and visual art.

"Kyle Abraham has a mission — and it’s bigger than himself. He likes to spread the love with his company, A.I.M., and, in doing so, broaden the viewer’s experience of what a dance concert by a choreographer-led company can be." - Gia Kourlas, The New York Times

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