NEW IBERIA, La. -
-- The Shadows-on-the-Teche and the Telling the Full History Community Writing Workshop, along with The Iberia African American Historical Society, invite you to a free matinee performance of “First Light.”
"First Light" is a dramatic work focused on African American experiences in New Iberia from its African, Native American, and European roots to the Civil Rights Movement.
The performance is a preview of the full-length original production that will showcase the traditions, cultural impact, and history of New Iberia’s black neighborhoods and families to be presented in September 2020 at the Shadows.
It premiered to a packed house at the Shadows Visitor Center in November 2019 and will receive encore treatment at the Sliman Theatre for the Performing Arts on Fri., Feb. 7
.
The second reading will take place on Sat., Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. at the MLK Community Center in West End Park (1200 Field St., New Iberia) and will be performed by workshop participants and writers: Mary Maragret Bell, Elton J. Broussard, Jr., Rose Susan Eugenia Dorsey, Norma Ne'Shara Hardmon, Phebe Hayes, Jamaya L. Johnny, Hon. Lori A. Landry, Charles L. Porter, (Ret), Kelly D. Porter, and Jackie Reedom.
Lead artist for “First Light” is Ifa Bayeza, award-winning creator of
Bunk Johnson Out of the Shadows!
This program is sponsored in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Trust for Historic Preservation's African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.
About the Shadows-on-the-Teche:
The Shadows-on-the-Teche, a site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, opened to the public in 1961 with the mission to preserve the buildings, landscape, collections, and historical integrity of the site; to research and interpret through education programs a 19th century southern Louisiana plantation economy and community and their evolution; and to encourage an appreciation of and interest in historic preservation. The National Trust, which owns and operates the Shadows, is a private, non-profit organization. The Shadows does not receive funding from federal, state, parish, or city government. The site supports itself through admissions, special programs and events, and donations to the Friends of the Shadows. For more information, visit
ShadowsOnTheTeche.org.
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