Students
King Day Celebration Planned

“Stories Through the Microphone,” by actor and playwright Annette Daniels-Taylor, will be one of the features during a community-wide observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at 6 p.m. on January 18 on JCC’s Jamestown Campus. The program is free and open to the public.

A pre-program performance by Steel Pan Alley, an ensemble of the Infinity Performing Arts Program, will begin at 5:45. The ensemble, under the instruction of Howie Feldman, will also perform with members of the Emmanuel Baptist Church youth choir during the program.

Other program features include a recitation of one of Dr. King’s speeches by Jamestown city councilman Michael Taylor. “Thoughts on Racism,” which focuses on positive awareness through original lyrics and music, will be performed by members of the Eastside YMCA’s Rising Stars program. A step dance team from the Cassadaga Job Corps will also perform an original work.

The event also includes recognition of winning entries in the essay and video competitions coordinated by the Jamestown YWCA.

Daniels-Taylor’s program, which features original hip hop, prose, and poetry, focuses on generational wisdom, beginning with the perspective of Nancy Freeman, a former slave traveling on the Erie Canal in 1855. In 2009, Daniels-Taylor won the Emanuel Fried Award for her new play, A Little Bit of Paradise, which premiered at Road Less Traveled Productions in 2008.

Daniels-Taylor has worked on, or behind, many notable Buffalo and New York City stages, including HBO's Def Comedy Jam, MTV, Apollo Theater, Black Entertainment Television, Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo Ensemble Theatre, La Mama, and Nuyorican Poets Café.

She has also worked as a designer and stylist for Ruby Dee, Queen Latifah, Lenny Kravitz, and Russell Simmons and received an acting scholarship from the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute.

The event is coordinated by representatives of JCC, Jamestown Public Schools, Jamestown YWCA, Ebony Task Force, and Wegmans. Refreshments will be served at the conclusion of the program.

For more information, call JCC, 716.338.1047.