Dubuque Times

University of Dubuque issued the following announcement on August 30.

If Beale Street Could Talk, performed by Literature to Life, will bring to life James Baldwin’s poignant story about abiding love in the face of injustice at the ninth annual Live at Heritage Center Performing Arts Series. Audiences will be able to watch the performance at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021, and 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 4, 2021, in John and Alice Butler Hall, Heritage Center on the University of Dubuque campus.

WHAT: If Beale Street Could Talk, Live at Heritage Center Performing Arts Series

WHEN:

3:00 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021

7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 4, 2021

WHERE: John and Alice Butler Hall, Heritage Center, University of Dubuque

TICKETS:

- General Public: $16 and up

- UD Faculty and Staff, Alumni, Parents of Current UD Students, Military, and Veterans: $11 and up

- UD Students: First ticket free. Additional tickets $5. Free UD student admission made possible by the UD Wendt Center for Character Education.

- Ticket prices increase by $5.00 at midnight the day of the event.

If Beale Street Could Talk features a dynamic solo performance told from the perspective of its young heroine, Tish, as well as Tish’s beloved, Fonny. When 19-year-old Tish discovers she is pregnant, she must first tell Fonny, who is in prison for a crime he did not commit. Racing against time, this young woman and her family fight injustice of the criminal judicial system to free Fonny and bring him home before his baby is born.

Author James Baldwin’s eloquent voice speaks of this young African American woman’s struggle against racism and how the power of a family’s love can fight injustice and the racial bias of the judicial system.

Channie Waites, who will perform the role of Fonny in If Beale Street Could Talk, is a Literature to Life company member who wears the hats of actor and teaching artist. She is an applied theater practitioner, performing and voice-over artist, educator, facilitator, and program consultant. Waites has worked and collaborated with youth, senior citizens, and social justice leadership programs in the United States, Rwanda, and South Africa. She has facilitated workshops in schools, hospital care facilities, supportive housing communities, and corrections facilities. Waites also has toured and performed professionally in the United States and abroad.

Lisa Strum, a teaching artist with If Beale Street Could Talk, is an award-winning actor/solo performer, director, playwright, producer, and educator in New York City. Recent directing projects include a virtual adaptation of Baltimore by Kirsten Greenidge (Kennedy Center Arts College Theatre Festival Selection), Flyin’ West at Five Towns College, and All Hands On Deck, a virtual play festival with Project Y. Theatre Company.

If Beale Street Could Talk will include a 10 minute pre-show interactive discussion and a 15 minute post-show interactive discussion with the audience facilitated by Strum.

Literature to Life is a performance-based literacy program that presents professionally staged verbatim adaptations of American literary classics. Its mission is to perform great books that inspire young people to read and become authors of their own lives.

If Beale Street Could Talk is one of numerous events included in UD’s new months-long Captain Robert L. Martin Black Heritage Tribute. Programming is made possible, in part, through the City of Dubuque’s Arts and Culture Special Projects grant funds.

Tickets for If Beale Street Could Talk can be purchased from of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 90 minutes prior to events at the Farber Box Office, Heritage Center, University of Dubuque, 2255 Bennett Street; by phone at 563.585.SHOW; or online at www.dbq.edu/heritagecenter.

Patrons may choose four to seven fall semester events to customize a series ticket package at a discount between five to 20 percent. Patrons may also add special events to a series ticket package at a discount. Other subscriber benefits include discounted companion tickets, priority seating, reduced fees, and payment plan options. Order forms are available online at www.dbq.edu/heritagecenter and the Farber Box Office.

To request a season brochure, please call the Farber Box Office at 563.585.SHOW.

Original source can be found here.