Langston Hughes Comes Alive

By Staff in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 2, 2012 5:00PM

What do you get when you take Harlem Renaissance literature and adapt it to a one-man stage performance? Well, here’s your chance to find out. On February 10 and the 11, actor and poet David Mills will be taking Dreamweaver: The Works of Langston Hughes to the unique space of the Poetry Foundation. Langston Hughes was one of the most influential African-American writers and political activists during the Harlem Renaissance; he is credited as being the Grandfather of jazz poetry.

Mills will be melting Hughes’s poetry and short stories together into a concoction highlighting his better known characters with a touch of works that might not be as familiar. This is quite a complex task to take on considering the breadth of Hughes’s work. Rest assured, however, that Mills has done his homework. The actor did his studies in Yale, and has his own book of poetry to boot. Plus, Mills was the writer in residence at Langston Hughes’s house. Frankly, there isn’t much more intimacy to achieve with Hughes than to live in the man’s house.

Admission is free and reservations can be made on the Poetry Foundation’s website. (Ed. Note: As of post time, there are only standby seats available one hour before the shows, but readers interested in attending should absolutely make the effort. — CS)

Performances on Feb. 10 at 7 p.m., and Feb. 11 at 3 p.m.

Post By: Margaret Hellwig