Nona Hendryx named Artistic Director for Harlem Stage Series on Afrofuturism ft. Sun Ra

ROCK GODDESS SINGER NONA HENDRYX WILL BE GUEST ARTISTIC DIRECTOR FOR HARLEM STAGE 'S 12 Month SERIES  'THE COSMIC SYNTHESIS OF SUN RA AND AFROFUTURISM "

A NEW YEAR-LONG SERIES INITATIVE FOCUSING ON SUN RA,  AFROFUTURISM & SPECULATIVE FICTION  WILL KICK-OFF SEPTEMBER 20TH, 2019, other programs will include CRAIG HARRIS AS MUSICAL DIRECTOR.

Nona Hendryx , who was the 1st performer  to be honored with the Joe’s Pub Vanguard Residency Artist Award for 2018 to curate 12 months of performances at the New York City venue, will be a year long Guest  Artistic Director for Harlem Stage's Fall Series kicking off September 20th, 2019. The evening culminates with a performance featuring rock goddess and futurist, Nona Hendryx, and Darian Dauchan of The Brobot Johnson Experience. For the next performance in the series, in partnership with the Park Avenue Armory, Nona Hendryx joins Theaster Gates, and other special guests for a special tribute to Grace Jones. For the third event in the series this season, Nona Hendryx, Moor Mother and Black Quantum Futurist, will offer Afrofuturistic performances; music, spoken word, talks and workshops, BQF’s practice is centred on a radical artistic methodology inspired by Afrofuturism, Afrodiasporan traditions of consciousness, and quantum physics. 

New this season is The Cosmic Synthesis of Sun Ra and Afrofuturism Series, a yearlong celebration of the spiritual, sonic and social impact of the Sun Ra’s work curated by Artistic Director of the series, Nona Hendryx.  Nona be the Artistic Director for an early 2020 collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum titled ’Nona Hendryx and the Disciples of Sun Ra in The Temple of Dendur' with Craig Harris as Musical Director and Composer, Carl H. Rux (Poet/Spoken Word) Francesca Harper (Choreographer) and Costumes by Virgil Ortiz. The series is commissioned and presented through Harlem Stage’s WaterWorks commissioning program. The first event in the series, Order Out of Chaos, will kick off the 2019 fall season  with a night of Afrofuturistic films and music. Film screenings are curated by filmmakers Craig T. Williams and Celia C. Peters, who will lead a post screening conversation that will examine and celebrate the genre that is flipping the script on Black narratives. Audiences can enjoy screenings of “Prototype,” where a programmer conducts a painful empathy test on lifelike androids in an attempt to win her mother's approval, and “ROXË15,” which focuses on Roxë Jones, a virtual reality programmer in a stark, near-future New York City. Hell-bent on a getting to a better life, she bets her future on technology.

For more information, check out Harlem Stage’s lineup of events (February 2020 and beyond)