Spiritrials

4.67 (3)

Spiritrials

1 performance between May 1, 2015 and May 2, 2015
Hip-Hop/Perfromance Art
Directed by Marc Bamuthi Joseph & Sean San Jose • Written & Performed by Dahlak Brathwaite • Presented by Joan Osato & Kyla Smith of The Shortened Tongue
60mins
Dahlak 02.JPG Dahlak 05.JPG Dahlak 01.JPG Dahlak 03.JPG
In Spiritrials, addiction, religion, and the law intersect in a government funded drug rehabilitation program. A timely exploration of the American criminal justice system, this multidimensional play blurs the lines between hip-hop and dramatic performance.  Dahlak Brathwaite weaves through the autobiographical and the fictional, music and monologue, to examine his place in what appears to be a cultural rite of passage for Black Americans.



Spiritrials is made possible through the Zellerbach Family Foundation, Columbia Foundation and Ictus; a fiscally sponsored project of Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco. Youth Speaks/The Living Word Project is a NPN Partner for the National Performance Network (NPN). This project is made possible in part by the support from the NPN Creation Fund, NPN Forth Fund and the NPN Performance Residency Program. Major Contributors include the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts (A Federal Principal development support was provided by Painted Bride Arts Center (PA), Ithaca College (NY), Sonoma State University, and the Montalvo Art Center (Saratoga, CA).

Media & Reviews

Profile: Dahlak Brathwaite for Spiritrials

Audience Responses

So talented! Love Dahlak, what a genius ;P I could listen to this man's stories for days. This is the second "poetry" performance I've seen at Alexander (or anywhere for that matter) and again loved every minute. Thank you.

Niki • Attended May 1, 2015, 7 p.m.
5.0

I thought it was fantastic. My only problem was not always catching all the references and at times not quite catching words. But that is sometimes how it is for me with some US accents.