Whether you know her as Southern belle Whitney Gilbert from the NBC ’80s hit show, “A Different World,” Bonnie’s all-powerful witchy Grandmother in “Vampire Diaries” or from one of her many stage performances both on Broadway and in national tours, Jasmine Guy always delivers a powerful performance.
On Saturday, Jan. 24, the multi-talented Guy takes the stage at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts in Fairfax to perform in “Raisin’ Cane: A Harlem Renaissance Odyssey.” Joining the renowned actress in the show is the Avery Sharpe Trio, who help to pay homage to the musicians, composers, writers, poets and actors of the Harlem Renaissance.
“It’s a true odyssey of the Harlem Renaissance and I have a passion for that decade—1919-1929—because such great art came out of it,” Guy says. “A lot of money was being driven through Harlem at the time so artists were able to thrive—we’re talking writers, painters, singers, musicians—it was one of our greatest times in American history for art and the mixing of races.”
“Raisin’ Cane” weaves together text, music, movement and imagery into a panoramic experience, helping to bring to life the voices of Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. Du Bois, Jean Toomer (the author of the 1923 novel “Cane,” which inspired the work’s title) and other legendary black artists from this prolific period.
The show was written and conceived by Harry Clark with an original score by Avery Sharpe.
“Avery and I became friends more than 30 years ago—he was a renowned jazz bassist and I was a dancer—and he encouraged me to write music and put music to the poems I would write,” Guy says. “About six years ago, he asked me if I would be interested in narrating a piece he had written and we felt like there was so much potential, so we’ve been working on this show ever since; changing and evolving and seeing it go through several metamorphoses.”
For Guy, she believes the time period still resonates with many and she considers it one of the greatest things she has done.
“We talk about not just our artistic history, but about politics—Marcus Garvey, Booker T Washington—and whenever I do the show there’s always a current event happening that brings it home for me: For instance the Ferguston trial and in the piece I talk about lynching,” she says. “It’s interesting. It’s 100 years earlier and we’re still growing as a people and still have a lot of work to do. I would love this to be a healing piece and not one of pointing fingers of guilt and shame that has victimized both races in this country and tried to divide us in a way we can’t be divided because we’re still all Americans.”
Tickets for the show range from $29-$48 and youth discount tickets are half price. To purchase tickets call 888-945-2468 or visit cfa.gmu.edu.
For more information about “Raisin’ Cane: A Harlem Renaissance Odyssey,” please visit raisincanethetour.com.
