The Power of Women and the Spoken Word
Streams live from Ellarslie March 26 at 8pm on Facebook
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Todd Evans, Host, is a poet, author, open mic host, and director/founder of The Don Evans Players community theater group
Ivey Avery is a retired first grade teacher with a total of 32 years in education. She earned her Master’s degree in education from Central Michigan University while teaching. Prior to her work in the Trenton Public School District, she was Director of Education Programs at the Trenton Education Development Corporation under the leadership of Catherine Graham. Her extensive background in theater started with the Drama Club at Trenton High School in the 1960s. Her love for poetry also emerged as she attended Trenton Central High School. She found African American poets and read their poetry to jazz. This became a love affair with poetry and music that lasted for decades. At Spelman College in Atlanta, she performed in the Spelman-Morehouse Players and in Black Image Theater, a local theater company in the Atlanta community. Upon returning to Trenton she worked with the Players Company of Trenton founded by renowned playwright Don Evans. She has also performed in original one-woman shows portraying Harriet Tubman, Madame C. J. Walker, Hattie McDaniels, and Sojourner Truth. She enjoys producing and directing dramatic programs for youth.
Zoe Brooks founded Central Jersey Story Slam so that more neighbors could tell each other stories, and now eagerly collaborates with the African American Cultural Collaborative of Mercer County and the Arts Council of Princeton to bring a regular story and poetry event, ‘Story and Verse’ to the Mercer County community. She started telling stories at about three years old, but first sought an audience in 2017.
Julie Denny
Karen Yvette Jones is a powerful Trenton voice and blessed singer who has performed at McCarter Theatre and with many other artists and events.
Neisha “Braveheart” Kelly hails from Trenton. Her love of writing manifested at the age of five and is ever evolving with a particular preference for poetry and personal essays. She loves to learn interesting things about others but clams up when it is time to talk about herself. She earned the name Braveheart from her mentor Todd Evans because of the often difficult subject matter she chooses to tackle through her writing. She is vulnerable, honest, and uplifting. Her only hope is that others can learn from her mistakes and if they are a victim of the pitfalls of life that maybe her struggles can become their triumph. There is a test in every testimony. It is not about how many times you fall, but how you recover.
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