Daughters of the Diaspora Celebrates 10th Anniversary - P.A.W. Print

There have always been those lone beacons, those brazen vanguards like Sojourner Truth, Zora Neale Hurston, Ntozake Shange, Audre Lorde and June Jordan, who in their quest for social and political parity as Africans within American society, neither neglected nor marginalized the integral parts of who they were. They fiercely explored all facets of their being and refused to divorce themselves from their blackness and their femaleness.

Daughters of the Diaspora, a Philadelphia-based poetry collective, comprised of two transplanted gems from the Midwest, Na Tanya' Davina' Stewart and Felicia Webster, continue forward in this vein. They present their spoken-word theatre piece, Transformers, at the Arden Theatre, located on 40 North 2nd Street, on June 3 through June 4 at 8pm and June 6 at 2pm.

Cellist Monica McIntyre, who continues to garner praise as a musician, vocalist and performance artist, will provide the musical breath for Transformers. The fourth member in this collaborative project is choreographer Tamara Xavier, whose work has been featured in the Fringe Festival and PhillyDanceAfrica.

"It's a coming of age piece about being female," said Stewart. "A lot of my earlier work dealt with what it meant for me to be black in this country. Transformers is mostly about being a girl, a woman in a patriarchal society."

Daughters of the Diaspora is celebrating its 10th anniversary as an artistic entity which employs spoken word, movement and music. Over the years, it has metamorphosed into various manifestations, but the core has always been Stewart and Webster, who formed a friendship and nurtured a common artistic mission while they were students at Temple University. Their camaraderie has remained, like their artistic charge, constant. They create hard-hitting, relevant performances that empower their audiences.

Both Stewart, a native of Gary, Indiana and Webster, who hails from Omaha, Nebraska, relish the limitless boundaries the genre of spoken word offers.

"The interdisciplinary aspects of spoken word, which can incorporate theatre and music and movement, are exciting and an effective way to entertain and inform people," said Stewart, a former Arden Theatre Professional Apprentice and a teaching artist for the Philadelphia Young Playwrights Festival.

Stewart, who wrote Transformers, describes it as an "informance" art piece, a work meant to engage and educate.

Daughters of the Diaspora uses all devices necessary "to illuminate the breakdown-to-breakthrough process," who added, "This process is often painful, yet crucial to the unfolding of an individual's spiritual and political consciousness. The Transformers are ancestors, elders and an inner child who build the bridge from reality and indelible memories to childhood innocence and adult disillusionment."

The particular concerns of women and how to empower them are not new themes for the dynamic duo of Stewart and Webster, who in their daily lives have worked as social service advocates. Not only are they committed to creating and presenting insightful, pertinent performances, but they are equally dedicated to disseminating tangible information to their audiences. For example, to complement an artistic performance addressing such issues as domestic abuse, rape or AIDS, there would be a table setup at the performance venue, with information providing links to needed services.

"This is important to us," said Webster. "This is how we, as artists, can have a real impact on people's lives, on so many levels."

Webster, who is the 2001 Omaha Best Boxing champion and the founder of Info Rhythms and Poetic Fusion (two premier Omaha spoken word venues) describes her role in Daughters of the Diaspora.

"I am the soundscape," said Webster. "There is a musical aspect to making sounds and I recreate and redefine so many," she said.

Daughters of the Diaspora recently performed at the University of Pennsylvania's Kelly Writer's House. The event, Live at the Writer's House was recorded and aired on the university's radio station, WXPN, 88.5 FM. Stewart and Webster, clearly kindred spirits, convey two very distinct but complementary personas on stage.

They presented a piece called She's Strong; a forceful work about pain, discovery and transformation. It began with cellist Monica McIntyre and percussionist Josh Robinson creating and replicating that very distinct vigor imbedded in North African and Middle Eastern music. The Arts Café in the Writer's House was immediately engulfed in the appealing hypnotics of McIntyre's elongated, swirling, low string ride. It ran between Robinson's ephemeral, wonderfully uneven, rhythmic beats that enveloped every sensory organ in the room. Then without giving notice, Stewart and Webster pulled the audience out of the delicious lull spawned by string and drum.

As the writer of this piece, Stewart infused her delivery with a sense of urgency. A physical, kinetic performer, Stewart is a whirlwind that does not threaten, but compels one to listen, to reflect and to act on this inspiration.

Stewart's power to do this is not hers alone. It rests on Webster's incredible ability to emulate familiar sounds and make her own magical declarations.

Daughters of the Diaspora also held a special concert on June 5 at 8pm at The Arden Theatre, to commemorate its tenth anniversary.

For more information call (215) 386-8341 or e-mail Tanstewart@hotmail.com, Withlovefmw@hotmail.com and Cellomama@msn.com.