Arts and Lectures Series at Cheyney University presents Octavia, a performance by the Staycee Pearl dance project, on Monday, October 20
Staycee Pearl dance project (SPdp) will perform Octavia at Cheyney University’s Marian Anderson Music Center on Monday, October 20. The program, part of the 2014-2015 Arts and Lectures Series, begins at 7 pm and is open to the public free of charge.
Octavia, first performed in 2011, is based on the life of Octavia Butler, the most prominent of few African American Science Fiction writers. In 1995, after living in poverty for many years, Butler earned a $295,000 "genius grant" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. She achieved notoriety for writing adventures such as Kindred, where a 20th century black woman travels back in time to slavery, and Adulthood Rites, where humans and extraterrestrials live together experiencing mystical other-worldly situations. Finding similarities in character personalities, powers, adventures, and moods, SPdp creates a world colored by Butler's storytelling sensibilities and an interpretation of Butler's own life in its production of Octavia.
SPdp began in 2009. The company includes lead artist, Staycee R. Pearl, her husband, sound designer/engineer Herman B. Pearl, and lighting designer, Scott Nelson.
Ms. Pearl graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with honors in Studio Arts/Africana Studies. She continues to produce multimedia work with her husband, Herman 'Soy Sos' Pearl. She received her initial dance training at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and served a six-year tenure as Artistic Director of Xpressions Contemporary Dance Company, premiering numerous choreographic works and performing pieces by celebrated national artists, such as Rennie Harris, Robert Battle, and Kyle Abraham.
OCTAVIA is made possible by the generous support of the Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh fund of the Pittsburgh Foundation and the Heinz Endowments, the Heinz Small Arts Initiative, and the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater. The performance at Cheyney University is made possible through the Arts & Lectures Series which is sponsored by a grant, Strengthening Historically Black Colleges and Universities (Title III).
The 2014-2015 Schedule for the Arts and Lectures Series at Cheyney University features a variety of speakers, musicians, singers and dancers from throughout the US and abroad. All programs are held on the Cheyney University campus and are open to the public. Please note: All programs are subject to change or cancellation.
Recognized as the first institution of higher learning for African Americans, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, a liberal arts university, hosts signature programs such as the Keystone Honors Academy, the Call Me Mister teaching program, the Aquaculture Research and Teaching Laboratory and the accredited Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management program. The University offers baccalaureate and graduate degree programs at two locations, Cheyney and Philadelphia, PA – Center City. For more information, please visit the website at
http://www.cheyney.edu.
Posted By: Reginald Culpepper
Thursday, October 9th 2014 at 5:46PM
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