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Speaker 1: From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England

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Speaker 1: Weekend where each and every week right here we come

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Speaker 1: together we talk about all the topics important to you

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Speaker 1: and the place where you live. Great to have you

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Speaker 1: back with us this week. I'm Nicole Davis. The story

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Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ's birth in Bethlehem's portrayed in so many

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Speaker 1: different ways on stage and screen, and a lot of

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Speaker 1: people are watching it this time of year. Of course,

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Speaker 1: here in Boston for fifty five years now, at the

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Speaker 1: National Center of Afro American Artists, they've been telling that

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Speaker 1: story in a very unique way. They're doing it by

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Speaker 1: channeling the vision of one of America's most revered Black

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Speaker 1: poets and authors, Langston Hughes. We're talking about Black Nativity.

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Speaker 1: This is an adaptation of the Nativity story told from

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Speaker 1: an African American perspective. It's set in the early twentieth century,

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Speaker 1: and it's infused with gospel, r and b hope, prayer, goodwill,

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Speaker 1: and so much more. Audiences have been packing theaters for years,

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Speaker 1: and that includes this year over at the Emerson Colonial

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Speaker 1: Theater in Boston. Akiba Abaka is the newly appointed executive

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Speaker 1: director of the Center. She's here with us now, Akiba.

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Speaker 1: Before we get into that discussion, I want to talk

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Speaker 1: about the Center because for so many decades now it's

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Speaker 1: been a mainstay in Boston for Black art. You are

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Speaker 1: taking over as a new leader there, the interim executive director.

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Speaker 1: Tell me what it means to you to take over

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Speaker 1: this new role.

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Speaker 2: Stewardship in the arts is extremely important to me because

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Speaker 2: I started out as a maker. I'm an artist myself, yep.

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Speaker 2: And while sustaining my artistic practice, I started to do

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Speaker 2: administrative work and developed a career path in producing and

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Speaker 2: arts administration. So the opportunity to then take this career

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Speaker 2: trajectory into leadership and to be able to steward a

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Speaker 2: fifty eight year old artistic leg is seen in the

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Speaker 2: city of Boston, seated in the neighborhood of Roxbury. It

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Speaker 2: is a tremendous opportunity and it is important that we're

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Speaker 2: able to preserve and advance our cultural institutions. And the

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Speaker 2: National Center of Afro American Artists is a pillar of

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Speaker 2: Black arts and culture, not only in Greater Boston and

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Speaker 2: Greater Boston, but in New England, and we also have

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Speaker 2: a global imprint.

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Speaker 1: You have big shoes to fill From the research I've done,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I know that mister Gaither's been there a

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Speaker 1: long time. What a genuinely wonderful human being, and all

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Speaker 1: the work he's done, I mean, just incredible stuff. What's

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Speaker 1: your vision for the Center as you take over here?

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Speaker 2: Our vision for the Center is a connection of narratives.

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Speaker 2: Miss Lewis, mister Geither, Johnna and Drew Ross, our predecessors

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Speaker 2: created the Center as a place.

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Speaker 3: For children, adults, and community to root.

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Speaker 2: And to grow in a time when the narratives around

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Speaker 2: black people were in the United States, particularly where being

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Speaker 2: we were there were still being formed in the sense

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Speaker 2: of where who we were as a people, say per

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Speaker 2: se right, there were different groups of people coming from

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Speaker 2: different parts of the world and living here in Boston,

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Speaker 2: from the American South, from the Caribbean, from continental Africa.

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Speaker 2: When we talk about this notion of black and black

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Speaker 2: as a race. The arts was an opportunity for us

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Speaker 2: to explore that. The National Center was a place for

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Speaker 2: us to explore that, to learn principles of dance and

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Speaker 2: fine arts and theater and presentation of art, but to

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Speaker 2: explore who we were as a people through this particular discipline.

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Speaker 2: And so the National Center of Afro American Artists in

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Speaker 2: his first fifty eight years created really strong roots. Now

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Speaker 2: we have generations that are in this time that are

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Speaker 2: expanding at that and so I'd like to see the

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Speaker 2: Center be able to foster these different groups in different generations,

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Speaker 2: so that the who are we as a people today?

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Speaker 3: Who are we as a people? Sixty?

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Speaker 2: The Missus Lewis's school, the Nalen of the elm Luis

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Speaker 2: School of Fine Arts was founded in nineteen fifty. So

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Speaker 2: we're at seventy five years. Wow, what is our story today?

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Speaker 2: We're seven? We're about seven generations present. We look at

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Speaker 2: Black Nativity, we have seven generations and that fast incredible represented.

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Speaker 2: And so what is the connection of narrative of Black

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Speaker 2: art and culture within each generation from the infant who

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Speaker 2: plays the Baby Jesus to one of the singers who

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Speaker 2: parade in on the gotell and on the mountain fan fare?

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Speaker 2: What is their narrative? What is their narrative thread? How

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Speaker 2: do we know each other? And so that is part

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Speaker 2: of the artistic storytelling. Operationally, structurally it is really to

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Speaker 2: help right size the organization and to build capacity at

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Speaker 2: the organization. So that it can support the quality art

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Speaker 2: that is burgeoning from its it's it's artists, it's young people,

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Speaker 2: and you know the.

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Speaker 3: When you say what is the vision that I have?

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Speaker 2: First, it's a matter of taking it to scale and building, Okay,

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Speaker 2: to continue to ask questions about our existence, who we are,

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Speaker 2: what is our story? And also when I think about this,

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Speaker 2: this is this is a big part of what miss

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Speaker 2: Lewis did in her time and mister Gather what they

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Speaker 2: what they did, it was not a narrative of black

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Speaker 2: art and black life in isolation. It was within the

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Speaker 2: continuum of humanity. So we look at the specific to

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Speaker 2: understand the universal. We have to build the business different

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Speaker 2: structure and the capacity for us to be able to

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Speaker 2: ask questions and present them artistically. So a little is

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Speaker 2: a philosophical, a little business, little artsy, all of that.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I think that's a really good combination for

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Speaker 1: really any venture. So it's not it's it's a it's

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Speaker 1: a really comprehensive vision and one that is really deeply

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Speaker 1: rooted in history, as is black nativity. I mean, this

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Speaker 1: is a Langston Hughes classic. It's been around now fifty

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Speaker 1: five years that you all have been putting this on

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Speaker 1: and it's really just absolutely incredible to me how this

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Speaker 1: just continues to become more and more popular and beloved

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Speaker 1: each year. You know, this is a production that many

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Speaker 1: people may not know about, but I find it to

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Speaker 1: be very powerful and very moving. Tell me a little

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Speaker 1: bit for people who may not be familiar with Black Nativity,

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Speaker 1: a little bit about how it's Tell me I guess

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Speaker 1: a little bit about its perspective on the story of

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Speaker 1: the Gospel.

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Speaker 2: Black Nativity is the story of the Gospel, taking from

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Speaker 2: the Book of Luke, and when Langston Hughes, our great

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Speaker 2: American poet, wrote the work. He the music in the

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Speaker 2: actual script are Christmas scals, but it's songs from the

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Speaker 2: cadence of the Black church, particularly urban storefront churches in

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Speaker 2: northern urban areas where where from from from Cleveland to Harlem.

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Speaker 2: Some would say BC is not northern, but you know

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Speaker 2: it was where mister, It was where Langston Hughes really.

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Speaker 3: Traveled and.

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Speaker 2: When he when he was writing this play. This is

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Speaker 2: actually one thing that some people may know about Black Nativity.

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Speaker 2: It's a part of a triptych of plays, and one

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Speaker 2: of those places at least called Tambourines to Glory. So

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Speaker 2: there was Tambourines to Glory, Black Nativity, and a third

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Speaker 2: piece that I can't recall at the moment, and and

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Speaker 2: it was looking at the notion of city life for

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Speaker 2: the common work class black person. And one thing that

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Speaker 2: Leangston Hughs observed is that the church was always center

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Speaker 2: to the narrative, okay, and no matter what happened with

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Speaker 2: the character's life, there was some connection to the church.

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Speaker 2: And so when Black Native when he wrote Black Nativity,

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Speaker 2: the play was originally called Mighty Day, and so there's

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Speaker 2: actually a song in there called Wasn't It a Mighty Day?

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Speaker 2: That talks about the day that Jesus Christ was born,

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Speaker 2: and then he eventually changed the name of the play

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Speaker 2: to Black Nativity. What the play allows Leangston Hughes to

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Speaker 2: do is to central to take the story of the

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Speaker 2: birth of Christ, which is at the time known as

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Speaker 2: a very eular centric story, right, and to center that

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Speaker 2: into the narrative of this bursoning black culture that is

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Speaker 2: happening in America, you know, in the fifties, in the sixties,

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Speaker 2: and saying, when when I think of Black Nativity, it's

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Speaker 2: not just a performance it's a statement on our fullness

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Speaker 2: and our presence that we can tell the story of

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Speaker 2: the of of Christ, of Jesus Christ's birth.

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Speaker 3: And here's how we're gonna tell it.

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Speaker 2: And we're gonna tell it with gospel, and we're gonna

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Speaker 2: tell her with dance, and we're gonna tell her with drumming.

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Speaker 2: And the poetry is going to have this type of

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Speaker 2: sound and it's good, you know. So one of the

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Speaker 2: things I love about it. I love the music, but

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Speaker 2: I actually love the poetry. I love the way that

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Speaker 2: len Stain Hughes writes the actual the text or the

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Speaker 2: lines with people call it the libretto, in the in

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Speaker 2: the play, in the musical, And.

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Speaker 3: What's special.

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Speaker 2: About our black nativity because we are one of the first.

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Speaker 3: So when he this play was first produced on off

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Speaker 3: broadlak In.

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Speaker 2: Around nineteen sixty two, somewhere in that area, and that

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Speaker 2: production he did not like. Really Langston Hughes was angry.

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Speaker 2: And it's saying this is well known. He had a

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Speaker 2: hard time with Broadway. He really did not. He felt

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Speaker 2: that Broadway could never tell the story of He actually,

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Speaker 2: in one of his essays, wrote that black writers should

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Speaker 2: stay away from Broadway that they could not tell the

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Speaker 2: African American story, and he wrote.

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Speaker 3: It in bold. It was like Broadway should stay out

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Speaker 3: of black people's lives.

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Speaker 2: Legston Hughes was happy, and one of the times when

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Speaker 2: he was the most unhappy was the opening production of

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Speaker 2: Black Nativity off Broadway. And so the story goes, and

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Speaker 2: this is why we Boston's Black Nativity is so important.

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Speaker 2: The story goes that John Andrew Ross, who was the

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Speaker 2: musical director of the National Center of Afro American Artists

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Speaker 2: and the Alma Luis School, he was the son of

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Speaker 2: Langston Use, his roommate, and so Leangston Hughes when he

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Speaker 2: came to Boston.

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Speaker 3: He stayed in Roxbury, just around the corner from the.

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Speaker 2: Museum, and so he had access to Langston Hughes and

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Speaker 2: you know, they he would talk to him, and he

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Speaker 2: John Ross learned that, you know, Langsy Hughes was not happy.

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Speaker 2: And John Ross said, you know, let me take a

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Speaker 2: shot at it. Think I know what to do with this.

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Speaker 2: I think I could do some thing with the music

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Speaker 2: that would represent your vision. And so he actually consulted

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Speaker 2: with Legston Hughes as he created the score. So our

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Speaker 2: composition of that music is sanctioned by mister Hughes's estate,

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Speaker 2: and it was done with consultation with Leangston Hughes. And

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Speaker 2: so when you see Black Nativity, when you listen, when

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Speaker 2: you encounter, when you experience it, you what you are

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Speaker 2: experiencing is the majestic statement of Black people's contribution to

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Speaker 2: earthly life, that we can exist in any narrative and

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Speaker 2: tell it on a scale that is mighty and grand.

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Speaker 2: That's what the play was called, Wasn't a Mighty Day?

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Speaker 3: And it is.

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Speaker 2: You hear the gospel sounds, you hear the spiritual sounds,

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Speaker 2: you hear the R and B and then.

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Speaker 3: What's also special about our production.

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Speaker 2: The percussions were created by Michael Babatunde Olotunji, who was

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Speaker 2: the first West African percussionist to win a Grammy and

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Speaker 2: to bring that type of drumming to the United States,

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Speaker 2: and the NC Triple A was one of the first

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Speaker 2: arts institutions.

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Speaker 3: That he came through. And so that music is retained

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Speaker 3: in our work.

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Speaker 2: The score of John Andrew Uss untouched, unchanged the score

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Speaker 2: the percussions of babatund Olo Tunji, Michael babatun De olotune

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Speaker 2: and the dance, George Howard's incredible ballet of Mary the

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Speaker 2: Virgin Mary giving birth to the Savior of the world.

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Speaker 2: It is an incredible piece to behold that ballet. And

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Speaker 2: so why is this important? You have to remember this

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Speaker 2: is civil rights America. We have the images of black

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Speaker 2: folks marching with that. I am a man, so where

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Speaker 2: we show up in story and then kind of twenty

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Speaker 2: first when you look twenty first century mismaking, right, black

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Speaker 2: nativity is a part of that cannon.

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Speaker 3: And that's what's special about this work.

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Speaker 2: And when you see it in Boston, you are seeing

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Speaker 2: it at a scale that it was meant to be,

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Speaker 2: always meant to be.

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Speaker 1: It's the truest form I feel that you can see

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Speaker 1: these days of Langston Hughes's vision because, like you said,

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Speaker 1: this is sanctioned by him. This was he really had

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Speaker 1: a direct hand in this. What is it like behind

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Speaker 1: the scenes pulling something like this together?

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Speaker 2: Oh my god, reverence, Yeah, I have never I've been

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Speaker 2: on I've been in this. I've been in the theater

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Speaker 2: since I was twelve years old, from being from being

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Speaker 2: at the Boston Children's Theater when that organization existed, where

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Speaker 2: I learned musical theater. And so I've been a kid

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Speaker 2: on the stage, I've ran the stage, I've done everything

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Speaker 2: you do in the theater. I have never seen this

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Speaker 2: much reverence in the theater. You feel like you are

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Speaker 2: in a holy, sacred place when you're at a Black

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Speaker 2: Nativity rehearsal.

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Speaker 3: You have a multi generational cast.

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Speaker 2: There are, as I said, I think the youngest person

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Speaker 2: in the cast other than the baby Jesus is probably

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Speaker 2: first grade. And then there are members of our senior community.

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Speaker 2: And I've never seen such well behaved And then you know,

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Speaker 2: and no one's telling them to behave They know their cues,

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Speaker 2: they are completely in sync, they know their choreography.

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Speaker 3: I'm just like wow.

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Speaker 2: And and you would think it, oh, their their parents

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Speaker 2: are here. No, it's a reverence and it's an an

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Speaker 2: appreciation for this presence of Black art and culture that

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Speaker 2: they hold. They all understand it. One of the things

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Speaker 2: that I love observing is my first year working inside

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Speaker 2: of the institution.

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Speaker 3: But I've seen faces in.

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Speaker 2: That production that were the first grade faced and now

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Speaker 2: they are the person dancing the lead. Mary.

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Speaker 3: I've seen you know.

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Speaker 2: I remember there was one young person who was the

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Speaker 2: child at the end, and I saw him in rehearsals

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Speaker 2: the other day and I.

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Speaker 3: Was like, oh that your face has checked. Oh you

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Speaker 3: are now, Oh that you see them grow up?

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Speaker 2: And they have. There is a very clear reverence. But

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Speaker 2: what this work is artistically, what it means to community.

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Speaker 2: The other thing that I want to say about experiencing

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Speaker 2: it behind the scenes, past and crew, all that reverence,

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Speaker 2: the sound people, the lighting people, the producing company, the

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Speaker 2: production folks at Emerson. It is treated with high esteem,

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Speaker 2: and there is a reverence. There is a very very

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Speaker 2: clear sense of this is work we're doing for the community.

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Speaker 2: This is work we're doing for the greater good. This

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Speaker 2: is and you really get a sense of all people

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Speaker 2: come in together to give a gift to the city

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Speaker 2: of Boston. From the people you meet at the box

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Speaker 2: office when you come to buy your tickets to the

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Speaker 2: child who sings the final closing.

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Speaker 3: Piece at the end of the play. It's a beautiful

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Speaker 3: thing to experience.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, that's why I It really stuck out

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Speaker 1: to me on your website that it says Black Nativity

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Speaker 1: is Boston's Black community holiday card to the world. This

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Speaker 1: is your expression of hope, this is your expression of

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Speaker 1: joy and everything that you want to wish for the

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Speaker 1: world and in the world we're living in right now

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Speaker 1: with so much despair and so much divisiveness. I mean,

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Speaker 1: we need a message like this more than ever.

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Speaker 3: If you ask me, you remember that this world, in

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Speaker 3: this world, there is joy.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: In this world, peace can be something to behold. In

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Speaker 2: this world, there is harmony literally a figuratives.

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Speaker 3: In this world, there is love. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: In this world, I am not only my brother and

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Speaker 2: sisters keeper, I am my brother and sister in this world.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I am a part of the beloved community. Feel it.

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Speaker 2: It is amazing the hair, you know, and the thing

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Speaker 2: I love about Black Nativity one, you'll never see the

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Speaker 2: same performance twice. We've been running consecutively for fifty five years, unbroken.

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Speaker 2: You've never canceled the show, so you'll never see the

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Speaker 2: same show twice. It's live theater.

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Speaker 3: But I'm always amazed.

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Speaker 2: At the fact that the hair still stands up on

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Speaker 2: the back of my arm every like, how do they

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Speaker 2: do that? I cute Goude. It's amazing, the goose bumps,

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Speaker 2: the sense of this advancement. It get you move from

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Speaker 2: the cerebral experience and there's a point where you're you're

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Speaker 2: in the play, you're watching it, and then you just.

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Speaker 3: Sense your humanity and you sense that we can all

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Speaker 3: be all right. We can all be all right.

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Speaker 1: We can be all right together, and that's what we need.

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Speaker 3: I'll tell you that, especially now.

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Speaker 2: And we've always done it, and we've always, to quote

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Speaker 2: Kendrick Lamar, we've all we're gonna be alright. And you

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Speaker 2: want that when you watch, when you come and experience

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Speaker 2: Black Nativity.

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Speaker 1: Well, where and how then can people take this in?

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about that.

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Speaker 2: We are at the Emerson Paramount Center inside of the

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Speaker 2: rob Orchard Stage in the Historical Theater District. We are

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Speaker 2: running from December fifth, that's this Friday to December twenty.

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Speaker 2: First performances are Friday Thursday. We have two Thursday nights,

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Speaker 2: but there Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Thursday nights at seven thirty,

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Speaker 2: Friday nights at eight, Saturday at two thirty and seven thirty,

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Speaker 2: and Sundays at three thirty.

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Speaker 3: Ooh tickets range. They're very affordable.

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Speaker 2: This is the best price going in the holiday market,

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Speaker 2: from fifty five dollars to one hundred dollars. But here's

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Speaker 2: what's great about us group rates start with only four people,

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Speaker 2: because I always say, if I bring myself and my

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Speaker 2: family and my niece and nephews, we're a group.

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Speaker 3: Why shouldn't I get a discount? So group rates start

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Speaker 3: with only four people.

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Speaker 2: We have small group rates, medium group rates, nonprofit group rates,

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Speaker 2: large groups. You come.

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Speaker 3: You know where two or more are gathered, there's a group,

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Speaker 3: four or more are gathered.

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Speaker 2: There is a group. So group rates start at four more.

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Speaker 2: And it's a very very affordable show and a great

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Speaker 2: great use of your time this holiday season.

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Speaker 1: Well, we have no doubt, no doubt? And where can

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Speaker 1: people find out more if they want to learn more

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Speaker 1: about the story before they go check out? You've got

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Speaker 1: a lot of great stuff on the website. Where can

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Speaker 1: they find that?

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Speaker 2: So you'll find us at Black Nativity dot org. Or

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Speaker 2: you can find us on Facebook, Black Nativity Boston, Boston,

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Speaker 2: Black Nativity, and on Instagram and on YouTube, So look

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Speaker 2: for a Black Nativity Boston and all the socials beautiful.

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Speaker 1: And then what about the center? Where can people find

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Speaker 1: out more about your vision and your work there?

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Speaker 2: So you can find us at n C triplea dot org.

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Speaker 2: That is our website, in our social media handle and

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Speaker 2: C Triple A and we are housed in in our

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Speaker 2: property at three hundred Walnut Avenue in Roxbury, the Museum

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Speaker 2: of the National Center of Afro American Artists. We own

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Speaker 2: and operate a nineteenth century Neo Gothic mansion that we

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Speaker 2: renovated and turned into a museum, and we'll be advancing

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Speaker 2: renovations on that space throughout the next year into you know,

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Speaker 2: future years.

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Speaker 3: So you can visit us at the museum or visit

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Speaker 3: us online.

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Speaker 2: You can see museum ours online, ww dot and c

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Speaker 2: Triple A dot org.

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Speaker 1: Okay, you know, Akiva, I am so excited for you

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Speaker 1: for this upcoming production. There's so much love, so much

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Speaker 1: past put into it. And thank you for taking the

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Speaker 1: time to come on the show talking with me about

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Speaker 1: your vision. It's really good to have you here.

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Speaker 3: Yes, thank you so much for having us. We're very excited.

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Speaker 1: Have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join us again

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Speaker 1: next week for another edition of the show. I'm Nicole

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Speaker 1: Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.