The Midwest Regional Black Theatre Festival hopes to raise its profile for its third biennial festival April 3-14.

        For the first time, the festival plans to extend beyond its Arts Consortium base in the West End to include performances by a handful of out-of-town artists at Cincinnati Museum Center and the Aronoff Center's Fifth Third Bank Theater.

        Festival executive director Don Sherman, who is hoping for some out-of-town audiences, says the festival's theme, “Bringing It All Together: One Piece at a Time,” is carefully chosen.

        “We're approaching the one-year anniversary of our city's unfortunate community divide,” he says. “We want this to be a celebration of unity and collaboration.”

        A handful of small productions from out-of-town expand the event from local to regional and include:

        • I Found the Answer: Songs of Mahalia, which originated in Louisville and stars Sharron Merriweather in a one-woman show recounting the career of Mahalia Jackson. Director is Dhana Bradley-Donaldson, former Arts Consortium executive director. (April 6-7, Museum Center)

        • The Further Adventures of Gussie Mae in America, written and performed by Letitia Guillory. It's a one-woman performance work that Mr. Sherman discovered at last year's National Black Theatre Festival. (April 6-7, Arts Consortium)

        • Flava of the Month, an hour-long one-woman show by and featuring Sarah Scott that looks at the life of a restroom attendant at Los Angeles' hottest nightclub. (April 11-13, Fifth Third Bank Theater)

        • The festival opens (April 3) and closes (April 14) at Arts Consortium with Every Voice Counts, poetry by area youth responding to the racial unrest of April, 2001, presented through song, dance and hip-hop theater.

        • Several works by local writers including Carlos Edwards and Avery Hammonds, poetry slams and theater workshops are scheduled at Arts Consortium during the two-week festival.

        Brochures are available at Arts Consortium or by calling the festival at (513) 241-6060. Ticket discounts are being offered through Feb. 22.
       

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