TUSCULUM COLLEGE
PUBLIC RELATIONS

CONTACT: CAMERON JUDD
423.636.7304
e-mail: cjudd@tusculum.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 02-08-01

CUTLINE:
Akin Babatunde leads the Core Ensemble during a performance of "Of Ebony Embers."

'Of Ebony Embers' to bring 1920s Harlem to Tusculum stage
GREENEVILLE -- The Core Ensemble, along with actor/playwright Akin Babatunde, will perform “Of Ebony Embers,” subtitled “Vignettes of the Harlem Renaissance,” on Monday, Feb. 19, at the Annie Hogan Byrd Auditorium on the Tusculum College Campus.
The event will begin at 7 p.m. Admission is $6.
The work celebrates the music and poetry of African Americans in New York City during the 1920s.
Babatunde, who wrote the script for the show, is nationally known for his regular appearances on Public Television’s children’s program ‘Wishbone.” He has been a resident member at Trinity Repertory Theater in Providence, the Alley Theater in Houston, and the Dallas Theater Center.
The presentation is sponsored by Tusculum College’s Acts, Arts, Academia and All That Stuff lecture and performance series.
“Of Ebony Embers” is a musical play for solo actor and chamber music trio. Making up the musical trio are Tahirah Whittington, cello; Hugh Hinton, piano; and Michael Parola, percussion.
The piece explores the life and times of African Americans who helped shape the Harlem Renaissance. The lives of three African American poets – Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen and Claude McKay – are examined through the eyes of the great painter and muralist Aaron Douglas.
The Core Ensemble will perform music by African American composers, including jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus and concert music composers such as Jeffrey Mumford and George Walker.
The Core Ensemble has received recognition for new chamber and multi-genre works and has been hailed by The Boston Globe as “often formidable, always intelligent, ultimately compelling.”

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