Alva Rogers

Alva Rogers (born 1959) is an American playwright, composer, actor, vocalist, and arts educator.[1] She is known for the use of dolls and puppetry in interdisciplinary work. Rogers performed in the role of Eula Peazant in Julie Dash's 1991 film Daughters of the Dust.[2] and was a vocalist in the New York City alternative rock band Band of Susans.[3]

Alva Rogers
Born1959 (age 60–61)
New York City, New York U.S.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationWriter
Performer
Actress
Notable work
Daughters of the Dust
School Daze
''The Doll Plays''
Band of Susans
Alva Rodgers Journal, from Black Radical Women at the Brooklyn Museum
Alva Rogers, Doll Plays

Early life

Rogers was born and raised in New York City, where she graduated with a concentration in vocal music from The High School of Music & Art. She has a Bachelor's degree in American History from Marietta College. In 1995, she received a Master of Fine Arts in Musical Theater Writing from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.[4] In 1998, she received a Master of Fine Arts in Literary Arts from Brown University, and in 2013, she received a Master of Arts in Teaching with a focus on History from Bard College.[5]

Personal life

Rogers lives and works in Manhattan.

Career

Art

Rodeo Caldonia

Rogers has been a part of numerous notable artist collaborations. From 1985 to 1989, she was a founding member of Rodeo Caldonia, a black women's art collective formed in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Fort Greene that included fellow artists Lorna Simpson, Chakaia Booker and Sandye Wilson among others.[6][7][8][9] With Lisa Jones, also a member of Rodeo Caldonia, she wrote a series of radio plays--Aunt Aida's Hand (1989), Stained (1991), and Ethnic Cleansing (1993)--for New American Radio on National Public Radio. In 2015 Greg Tate facilitated a panel discussion with Rogers and Lisa Jones about Rodeo Caldonia in the 2011 film Brooklyn Boheme.[10]

Alva Rogers and her work with Rodeo Caldonia was included in the 2017 Brooklyn Museum exhibition We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–1985 curated by Rujeko Hockley and Catherine Morris.[11][12][13][14]

During Robert Colescott's 1989 exhibition at the New Museum Rogers was featured in Black to the Future: Alva Rogers in Performance, a public program that unpacked the issues in Colescott's work. The program was curated by Kellie Jones.[15]

Puppetry

With puppeteer Heather Henson and the composer Bruce Monroe, she created three musicals: nightbathing, mermaid, and Sunday (performed Off-Off-Broadway as part of the New Works Now! series at the Public Theater.[16][17] Rogers also created audio recordings for Whitfield Lovell's work Whispers from the Walls.[18]

Other work

Rogers appeared on the cover of Essence Magazine's beauty issue in January 1993.[19] She has been photographed by photographer Lyle Ashton Harris and Dawoud Bey.[20][21]

She was a writer in residence at Hedgebrook Women Playwright retreat on Whidbey Island, Washington in 2011 that culminated in a reading of her work at ACT Theater.[22]

Acting

School Daze

In 1988 Rogers played Doris Witherspoon in Spike Lee's film, School Daze about intra-racial prejudice in HBCU academia. It was an early film for most of the actors and most of the stars and crew were African American. The film co-starred Lawrence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, Tisha Campbell, Ossie Davis and Kadeem Hardison amongst others.[23]

Daughters of the Dust

In 1991 Rogers appeared in Julie Dash's film Daughters of the Dust. The film took place in 1902 about a matriarchal family during the Great Migration. Eula, Rogers' character, is raped by a white man and the fear of lynching gives her family no recourse to investigate her pregnancy.[24] The film has been noted to have influenced Beyonce's 2016 album Lemonade.[25][26][27]

“Daughters was a major aesthetic leap forward for black cinema in that it did not mimic Hollywood storytelling but drew on European art house films, African traditions and created its own idiosyncratic style,” said Nelson George, filmmaker.[28]

The cinematographer for Daughters of the Dust was Arthur Jafa.[29]

Other films

Rogers appeared as herself in the film Brooklyn Boheme (2011), which documented the New Black Arts Movement in Fort Greene in the 1980s and 1990s. She is featured in Kerry James Marshall's film The Doppler Incident (1997)[30] and was a frequent subject in the photographs of Lorna Simpson.[12]

Filmography
  • 1988: School Daze – as Doris Witherspoon
  • 1991: Daughters of the Dust – as Eula Peazant
  • 1994: Fresh Kill – as Cello player in locker
  • 2005: The Flooded Playground (Video short) – as The Singing Tree
  • 2010: Window on Your Present – as Girl On Shoulders
  • 2011: Spirits of Rebellion: Black Film at UCLA (Documentary) – as Eula Peazant
  • 2012: Brooklyn Boheme (Documentary) – as herself

Publications

Rogers's works as a playwright include The Bride Who Became Frightened When She Saw Life Open, The Doll Plays,[31] and Scooping the Darkness Empty.[32]

Awards

Rogers has won grants from the Jim Henson Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Playwriting in 2004, and the Rockefeller Foundation.[32][33]

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References
  1. "Alva Rogers". www.sequentialartforkids.org. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  2. "Daughters of the Dust". IMDB. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  3. "Band of Susans pictures ("now look at the little hand puppet and SMILE!")". robertposs.com. Retrieved 2017-07-08.
  4. Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris. (1998). The bride who became frightened when she saw life open : a dream narrative in seven voices / by Alva Rogers [brochure]. Frances Mulhall Achilles Library Whitney Museum of American Art. Whitney Museum of American Art.
  5. "Alva Rogers - Curriculum Vitae". Alva Rogers' World.
  6. Trouillot, Terence (2017-04-28). "'We Wanted A Revolution' at the Brooklyn Museum". artnet News. Retrieved 2017-07-08.
  7. "Members of '80s Theater Collective Reunite for the First Time". DNAinfo New York. Archived from the original on 2017-11-10. Retrieved 2017-07-03.
  8. Jones, Lisa (2010-12-22). Bulletproof Diva. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 9780307773814.
  9. "Montalvo Arts Center | Alva Rogers". montalvoarts.org. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  10. "Black Artstory - Remembering Rodeo Caldonia | Lisa Jones + Alva Rogers in conversation with Culture Critic Greg Tate - Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership". Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership. Retrieved 2017-07-08.
  11. Lynne, Jessica (2017-05-11). "These Radical Black Women Changed the Art World". Aperture Foundation NY. Retrieved 2017-07-08.
  12. "Brooklyn Museum". www.brooklynmuseum.org. Retrieved 2017-07-04.
  13. Dazed (2017-05-07). "These radical black artists stood against white feminism". Dazed. Retrieved 2017-07-08.
  14. Choi, Connie H.; Hermo, Carmen; Hockley, Rujeko; Morris, Catherine; Weissberg, Stephanie (2017). Morris, Catherine; Hockley, Rujeko (eds.). We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85 / A Sourcebook (Exhibition catalog). Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum. ISBN 978-0-872-73183-7. OCLC 964698467.
  15. "New Museum - Digital Archive". archive.newmuseum.org. Retrieved 2017-07-08.
  16. "Public's New Work Now! Series, April 10–30, Features Parks, Stuart, Corthron". Playbill. 2000-04-10. Retrieved 2017-07-03.
  17. Berson, Misha (2011-05-12). "Free readings by Hedgebrook playwrights". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2017-07-03.
  18. Lovell, Whitfield; Lippard, Lucy R. (2003). The Art of Whitfield Lovell: Whispers from the Walls. Pomegranate. p. 38. ISBN 9780764924477. Whitfield Lovell alva rogers.
  19. "Beauty Issue: Hair". Essence Magazine. January 1993.
  20. "Accra Shepp and Alva Rogers by DawoudBey". www.artnet.com. Retrieved 2017-07-08.
  21. Divalocity (2011-12-03). "Afrolistas and the City™: Defining Fabulous: Actress and Model Alva Rogers". Afrolistas and the City™. Retrieved 2017-07-08.
  22. Banwell, Katherine (2011-05-15). "Whidbey Island retreat provides solitude for women writers". KNKX. Retrieved 2017-07-08.
  23. Murphy, Keith (Feb 2008). "Back in the Daze". Vibe Magazine: 102.
  24. Bradshaw, Peter (2017-05-31). "Daughters of the Dust review – the dreamlike film that inspired Beyoncé's Lemonade". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-07-08.
  25. Anderson, Melissa (2017-04-04). "Julie Dash's Epochal Feature, Daughters of the Dust, Embraces Realities and Reveries". Miami New Times. Retrieved 2017-07-08.
  26. Brady, Tara (2017-06-01). "Daughters of the Dust: the film that inspired Beyoncé's Lemonade". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2017-07-08.
  27. Gyarkye, Lovia (2017-05-31). "The Women Who Wanted A Revolution". New Republic. Retrieved 2017-07-08.
  28. Johnson, Martin (2016-11-16). "Why You Should Be Glad We're Getting a 2nd Chance to Show Some Love to Daughters of the Dust". The Root. Retrieved 2017-07-08.
  29. Brody, Richard (2016-11-18). "The Return of Julie Dash's Historic 'Daughters of the Dust'". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2017-07-08.
  30. "Doppler Incident - M HKA Ensembles". ensembles.org. 1997. Retrieved 2017-07-04.
  31. "Atlanta's Express Premieres doll plays in Rep w/ Bee Luther-Hatchee Jan. 10-March 16". Playbill. 2001-12-21. Retrieved 2017-07-03.
  32. Hill, Anthony D. and Douglas Q. Barnett (2009). The A to Z of African American Theater. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press/Rowman and Littlefield Publishing. p. 424. ISBN 978-0810868984.
  33. "Franklin Furnace Artists teaching SEQuential ART for KIDS at PS217K, PS20K, and PS185K". Rubin Foundation. 2016-07-07. Archived from the original on 2017-06-07. Retrieved 2017-07-08.
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