{"id":105681,"date":"2021-03-08T14:27:20","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T19:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=105681"},"modified":"2021-03-08T14:28:10","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T19:28:10","slug":"muhlenberg-theatre-dance-celebrates-black-girl-magic-with-world-premiere-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=105681","title":{"rendered":"Muhlenberg Theatre & Dance celebrates Black Girl Magic with world premiere \u2018Magic\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Featured Image: ‘Magic’ creator and director Kiyaana Cox Jones rehearses on Zoom with the cast of the show.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Opening March 18, Kiyaana Cox Jones\u2019 play takes<\/span><\/strong>
\na Restorative Theater approach to the story <\/span><\/strong>
\nof a young woman on a quest to find her magic<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Allentown, Pa. (March 8, 2021) \u2014 The Muhlenberg College Theatre & Dance Department returns to the (virtual) stage after a year-long hiatus with the world premiere of \u201cMagic,\u201d a Restorative Theater production written and directed by Kiyaana Cox Jones, with original choreography by Randall Anthony Smith, assistant professor of Black dance and choreography. Opening March 18, the show kicks off Muhlenberg\u2019s semester-long Mnemonic Theatre Festival.<\/p>\n

Magic, a young Black woman, wakes up after an accident, unable to remember what makes her magical. With the help of Griots \u2014 Black women who tell their ancestral stories \u2014 and her own ancestors, Magic undergoes a quest to find her magic.<\/p>\n

The play runs March 18-21, and admission is free. The show will be performed live and transmitted in webinar format. Patrons can register to attend at\u00a0muhlenberg.edu\/seeashow<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Krystal Hall, a senior theater major at Muhlenberg College, is playing the title character of Magic. Hall says she sees parallels between Magic\u2019s story and her own.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s really persevered through all of her trauma,\u201d Hall says. \u201cShe has forgotten how special she is and she is on a journey to get that back. It made me want to bring her to life and tell her story for those that are also in a similar place in their life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hall likens working with Jones to going to a wonderful therapy session.<\/p>\n

\u201cKiyaana does an excellent job of making sure the actor is doing well before we dive into the character and the world of the play,\u201d Hall says. \u201cShe makes sure we are okay as actors so that we can be our best selves to portray the characters. It\u2019s a very healthy environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones says that prioritizing the emotional and mental health of the performers is integral to the practice of Restorative Theatre. She is currently studying at the International Institute of Restorative Practice, in Bethlehem, and she says her studies there have informed her approach to the rehearsal process. She says she believes theatre can and should be a spiritual conduit for healing, and describes the rehearsal process for \u201cMagic\u201d as restorative and spiritual.<\/p>\n

\u201cRestorative Practice repairs harm done to a community,\u201d Jones says. \u201cInstead of just repairing the harm, there are steps in place to prevent the harm from happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of this process, Jones asks the actors to undertake \u201cself-character analysis,\u201d in which the actors focus on discovering their characters\u2019 wants and needs and examining how they intersect with their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have built a creative space understanding that something more than just reading the words is required,\u201d Jones says. \u201cThere has to be a part of you in everything, even if you are playing an antagonist. You need to find the good in them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The production will feature choreography by Randall Anthony Smith, assistant professor of dance at Muhlenberg.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese artists are amazing,\u201d Smith says. \u201cIt\u2019s so important for me as a Black Queer cis-gendered male choreographer to acknowledge that I am being invited to a table that I didn\u2019t build. This production is their domain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith says he is honored to be collaborating with Jones.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is so talented,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t know how I am so blessed to be working with her to this extent. We\u2019ve been partners in creation for the last few years. She has graciously opened up her heart to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The choreography for the play will showcase Black modern dance and contemporary dance, Smith says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not centralizing the dance to one style or genre,\u201d he says. \u201cThe work that I do is different. I like to speak to the bodies in the room and what they are capable of.\u201d<\/p>\n

The play features videography by junior Jill Smith and costume design by resident designer Alexis Gurst. The piece will utilize multi-media elements to tell the story, including clips from news stories and the actors\u2019 own personal videos reflecting on the process.<\/p>\n

Jones has integrated a lot of popular music into the play, including music by Aretha Franklin, Lil Kim, and Megan Thee Stallion.<\/p>\n

\u201cGriots are Black storytellers. They spread their ancestor\u2019s history,\u201d Jones says. \u201cThese singers are Griots. This cast is also Griots, sharing empowerment with anyone ready to access their own magic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Jones and Smith say that they believe the play will resonate with a broad audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe play is centralized around the Black female experience, but that is not to say that this encapsulates every female Black woman,\u201d Smith says. \u201cI know that there are a lot of Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous people \u2014 marginalized people \u2014 that will see themselves in \u2018Magic.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMagic\u201d is the first production in the mostly virtual Mnemonic Theatre Festival at Muhlenberg, running through May. Information on all seven productions in the festival can be found at\u00a0muhlenberg.edu\/seesashow<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMagic\u201d runs Friday, March 19, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, March 20, at 3 p.m.; and Sunday, March 21, at 3 p.m. Patrons can register to see the show at\u00a0muhlenberg.edu\/seeashow<\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg is a highly selective, private, four-year residential, liberal arts college located in Allentown, Pa., approximately 90 miles west of New York City. With an undergraduate enrollment of approximately 2,200 students, Muhlenberg College is dedicated to shaping creative, compassionate, collaborative leaders through rigorous academic programs in the arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences as well as selected pre-professional programs, including accounting, business, education and public health. A member of the Centennial Conference, Muhlenberg competes in 22 varsity sports. Muhlenberg is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.<\/i><\/div>\n

\nMuhlenberg offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in theater and dance. The Princeton Review ranked Muhlenberg\u2019s theater program in the top twelve in the nation for eight years in a row, and Fiske Guide to Colleges lists both the theater and dance programs among the top small college programs in the United States. Muhlenberg is one of only eight colleges to be listed in Fiske for both theater and dance. The department was founded in 1983; the theater major was established in 1978, and the dance major was established in 1993.<\/i><\/div>\n

Information Provided By:
\nScott Snyder
\nMarketing & Development Manager
\nMuhlenberg College Department of Theatre & Dance<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Featured Image: ‘Magic’ creator and director Kiyaana Cox Jones rehearses on Zoom with the cast of the show. Opening March 18, Kiyaana Cox Jones\u2019 play takes a Restorative Theater approach … Continue reading Muhlenberg Theatre & Dance celebrates Black Girl Magic with world premiere \u2018Magic\u2019<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105682,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Kiyaana-Cox-Jones.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105681"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/105682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}