Salute To Sandra Reaves-Phillips At Dwyer In Harlem

Event

Harlem Nights, part of the Community Works public program series of events for the Opening Week of The Dwyer Cultural Center continues with a special evening that honors SANDRA REAVES-PHILLIPS, acclaimed actress and legendary blues singer. The evening includes a live performance by “Harlem’s Ladies of the Blues,” Ghanniyyah Green, Lady Cantrese and LeeOlive Tucker; a conversation with Sandra Reaves-Phillips, Professor Farah Griffin (Director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University), and blues historian/writer Gregory Thomas. 

SANDRA REAVES-PHILLIPS is an acclaimed singer and actress who has come a long way from her hometown of Mullins, South Carolina. She has been in many Broadway shows including Raisin and Stompin’ At The Savoy. She has also had memorable roles in movies including, ‘Round Midnight with Dexter Gordon, and perhaps her best known work being the role of Mrs. Powers in the film Lean On Me with Morgan Freeman. A Helen Hayes Award nominee, she also counts it an honor to have performed with Bette Davis, Michael J. Fox and Ann Margaret on Broadway and on television. Sandra created her internationally acclaimed one-woman show; The Late Great Ladies of Blues and Jazz in the early 80s while she was performing her R&B show at Harlem’s acclaimed Cotton Club. She was the featured artist in the Community Works/New Heritage Theatre Group production of Ladies Singing the Blues presented at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Symphony Space, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and the Museum of the City of New York.

PROFESSOR FARAH GRIFFIN is the author of If You Can’t Be Free Be a Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday (The Free Press, 2001) and Clawing at the Limits of Cool: Miles Davis, John Coltrane and The Greatest Jazz Collaboration Ever (Thomas Dunne, 2008). She lives and works in Harlem.

HARLEM NIGHTS is an interdisciplinary evening series for audiences of all ages, featuring live performances, interactive dialogues with local artists and historians and simultaneous events including guided exhibition tours. The inaugural DCC Opening Week Harlem Nights presentation is a special Black Music Month Salute to Jazz, Latin and Blues and also honors Craig Harris on Tuesday, June 16, and Graciela Perez-Grillo on Thursday, June 18, 2009. These three evenings coincide with the remounting of the Community Works harlem is… MUSIC exhibit. The Dwyer Cultural Center is New York City’s first multi-media arts institution devoted exclusively to the culture, tradition and history of Harlem

The newest addition to Harlem’s cultural landscape, the Dwyer Cultural Center (DCC), opens to the public with a week of activities that begin on Tuesday June 16 and continue through Monday, June 22, 2009. Opening Week events at the

Dwyer Cultural Center also include

· Saturdays @ The Dwyer – a daytime “open house” series offering a full day of simultaneous arts events and programs designed for families to experience together;

· the unveiling of the remounted harlem is …MUSIC exhibition with its new multimedia components that include a debut screening of the harlem is…MUSIC documentary directed by Jamal Joseph,

· the opening of the exhibition Harlem Sewn Up: Quilted Reflections of a Community, curated by Laura Gadson

· the presentation of the Roger Furman Reading Series @ The Dwyer, a 45^th anniversary tribute to New York City’s oldest non profit theatre, The New Heritage Theatre Group;

· the permanent installation of a new work, New Harlem Pyramid by Ademola Olugebefola

· live performances, hands-on workshops, and guided exhibition tours conducted by local Harlem legends, scholars, and artists.

All Opening Week events are free and open to the public. However, Reservations are Required and can be made at either 212 459 1854 or info@dwyercc.org