Friday, during We the People First Friday, an initiative by The Arts at Millersville to feature community centered performances and exhibits. The Ware Center hosted a performance of, “Becoming OTHELLO: A Black Girl’s Journey,” and opened a new art exhibit, “Ain’t I A Woman?”
The art exhibit, by local artist group, Wanawake, headed by spoken word artist Thunda Khatt, featured Khatt’s poetry through visual mediums, including paintings and mirrors with excerpts from her poems painted on them. Additionally, one of Khatts poems was displayed on the back window of the art gallery.
“I feel very lucky,” Thunda Khatt said, “These days it’s hard for artists that aren’t established by the art community’s means of “established” to get in a gallery at all, let alone for free.”
The Ware Center provided Wanawake with the Regitz Gallery for free. The exhibit will be up for two months, which according to Khatt is a first for the space, as previous exhibits were on display for one month. Most of the works on display are available for purchase with all proceeds going to the artists. Wanawake’s placement at the Ware Center gives the group more exposure. While open to potentially making more exhibitions, Wanawake currently has no plans for further work.
Award-winning Shakespearean actress Debra Ann Byrd led a performance of her own life titled “Becoming Othello: A Black Woman’s Journey.” Born and raised in Harlem, New York, Byrd became well-known for her role as Othello in performances of the eponymous play by Shakespeare. Byrd broke barriers as Othello, who traditionally is a role cast for male actors.
Byrd said it was a dream of hers to perform in a solo show and to share a memoir of her life. “But even greater than that, I wanted the people to be able to look at their own lives and feel all the feelings and look inward.”
Byrd began her performance with a call to her ancestors, who hail from across the world, from Africa, Portugal, and Puerto Rico. Her words, powerful enough to be heard from the stage even when her microphone failed, weaved together scenes from “Othello” as well as traditional spirituals.
When Byrd was told by her teachers that she would not find a career as a Black woman in classical theater she started her own company, Take Wing and Soar, as well as the Harlem Shakespeare Festival. She first got the role of Othello in an all-female performance of the play. Byrd said she became something larger than herself.
Byrd originally planned to be a reverend but her life took many twists and turns, including nearly losing her daughter Martha to illness, which led her to theater school. She states in her performance that she finds Shakespeare’s words to be rhythmically similar to the King James Bible.
“It is important to me because I know that others have experienced a lot of the same things that I have experienced… I wanted people to know that trouble don’t last always.”
(Editors Notes: This article was written by One United Intern Jamie Hughes. Hughes, a Lancaster resident who currently attends Millersville University, he got his start in journalism by joining the university newspaper “The Snapper.” Hughes has a personal fascination with the history of the Lancaster area as well as the natural beauty of the county. He frequently visits locations around the county to photograph natural scenery as well as locations in Lancaster City.)
