Black Liberated Arts Center, Inc. and the City of Lawton announced the 2014 tour of the production “Ralph Ellison Understood Through Charlie Christian” On January 11, 2014 at the Lawton City Hall Auditorium at 6:30 p.m. The show is a musical history of the lives of Ralph Ellison and Charlie Christian, two Oklahoma legends who became international icons. This free to the public performance is sponsored by the Oklahoma Humanities Council, Ad Astra Foundation, the City of Lawton and the Oklahoma Arts Council.
Doors will open at 6:00 p.m. The pre-performance discussion about the show, Ellison, Christian and the times will be presented by Dr. John Rhea of Lawton at 6:30 p.m. At 7:00 p.m. the show starts with Walter Taylor’s TaylorMade Jazz providing the music and James Johnson, President of the National Douglass High School Alumni Association, will narrate the story. Ellison and Christian, both renaissance men, represent some of the rich African American history that began during the early 20th Century under unusual and difficult circumstances. Tracing the history from the land run to the mid 1990’s, Dr. Rhea and Anita G. Arnold, author of Deep Deuce history, carefully weave a powerful story of these friends who with their friend, Jimmy Rushing, shared common bonds on different paths to fame.
“The show was developed as part of the centennial celebration of Ralph Ellison that ends on March 1, 2014,” Arnold stated recently. “It was first performed on June 4th at the Oklahoma History Center as part of the Charlie Christian International Music Festival at the request of the Ralph Ellison Centennial Committee. It was well received and requests for the show began coming from other cities and towns in Oklahoma and, later, developed into a seven city tour with multiple performances in some cases, she continued.” The show will be presented in Oklahoma City at Frederick A. Douglass Auditorium on January 18, February 7, 8, and 9th.
Dates of shows in Tulsa, Boley, Clearview, Langston, Taft and Vernon will be announced later.
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