Read on for some recent theatre headlines and videos you may have missed.
Billy Porter, Christopher Jackson, More Featured in "I Have a Right to Vote" Video
Tony winner Billy Porter and Hamilton Tony nominee Christopher Jackson are among those featured in the new "I Have a Right to Vote" video, seen above. The anthem, written by Nolan Williams Jr., is from his and Dale A. Mott's stage show Stirring the Waters Across America, which closed days after its launch due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Filmed in more than 18 locations across the U.S., the nonpartisan video highlights momentous events in U.S. history around voter rights. Also featured are tennis great Billie Jean King, chef Carla Hall, Hill Harper, Ebony Jo-Ann, and Ryan Jamaal Swain, who recite the words of voting rights icons John Lewis, Frederick Douglass, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
20 Arts Organizations Receive "Treasure" Grants
Twenty arts organizations from across the country will receive grants as one of "America's Cultural Treasures." The new program from The Ford Foundation and five additional philanthropic donors will provide $156 million in funding, with grants ranging from $1 million to $6 million going to Alaska Native Heritage Center, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Apollo Theater, Arab American National Museum, Ballet Hispanico, Charles H. Wright Museum, Dance Theater of Harlem, East West Players, El Museo del Barrio, Japanese American National Museum, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, Museum of Chinese in the Americas, Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, National Museum of Mexican Art, Penumbra Theatre, Project Row Houses, Studio Museum in Harlem, Urban Bush Women, and Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience. Additionally, a series of regional grants of up to $100,000 each will go to various local programs in early 2021.
Metropolitan Opera Concerts Rescheduled
Following new COVID cases and restrictions, the Metropolitan Opera has postponed some upcoming live streamed events as part of its Met Stars Live in Concert series. The concert featuring Piotr Beczała and Sondra Radvanovsky, initially scheduled to air from Barcelona September 26, will take place at a new date and location due to travel restrictions in Spain. Additionally, Anna Netrebko's October 10 concert has been postponed until February 6, 2021, as the soprano recovers from the coronavirus herself.
Watch the Cast of Ain’t Too Proud Perform Together for the First Time in the COVID Era
Ain’t Too Proud stars James Harkness, Jawan M. Jackson, Saint Aubyn, Jelani Remy, Nik Walker, and Matt Manuel reunited in person for the first time since the Broadway theatre shutdown March 12. The sextet performed “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” including some of Sergio Trujillo’s Tony-winning dance moves. Check it out below.
