The Alabama Center for the Arts (ACA) will welcome artists from the Core Ensemble to perform the chamber music theatre work Of Ebony Embers: Vignettes of the Harlem Renaissance in recognition of Black History Month. The event is free and open to the public and will be held on Thursday, February 20 at 2:00 p.m. in the Recital Hall of the Performing Arts Center.

Actor Dracyn Blount portrays multiple characters; pianist Byron Burford-Phearse provides the musical soundscape.

Celebrating the music and poetry of the Harlem Renaissance era in New York City, Of Ebony Embers examines the lives of three outstanding but very different African American poets – Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Claude McKay – as seen through the eyes of the great painter and muralist Aaron Douglas.  The script was written by Akin Babatunde.

The show includes music by African American composers ranging from jazz greats Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, and Charles Mingus to concert music composers Jeffrey Mumford and George Walker.

Since 1993, Core Ensemble productions have toured nationally to every region of the United States and internationally to England, Russia, the Ukraine, Australia, and the British Virgin Islands. The Ensemble was the recipient of the Eugene McDermott Award for Excellence in the Arts awarded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has received support from the State of Florida Department of Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New England Foundation for the Arts, the Palm Beach County Cultural Council, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, and the Virgil Thomson Foundation.

“The ACA Foundation is pleased to support a diverse range of programming that enhances the educational and community outreach mission of the center. We are dedicated to actively promoting the ACA to attract students and visitors from every corner of our fast growing region,” commented Philip Mann, Executive Director of External Affairs at the Alabama Center for the Arts. Faculty, staff and students from Calhoun and Athens State are encouraged to attend this event.

Due to the generosity of the ACA Foundation, the production will be free and open to the public. For more information, please contact the Alabama Center for the Arts at 256-260-4293.