I AM

I Am ART Hustler

I AM ARTist Entrepreneur

I am still Lady Terror (a kinder, gentler Lady Terror but still pissed at poverty)

I AM a Do it Yourself advocate 

Empowered by GOD (Liberation Theology gets me jazzed)

I AM Bout that Artist Life

I like contracts when you book me for a show

Folks still talking bout the Lady Terror Experience they had

I Ain't scared of much.

I tear down stages. The  STREETS are my Stage

I have a reason for my ART

Bring me to your university departments as an guest artist or to create a community art project 

My one woman shows have HIP HOP, poetry, crowd participation, ranting and a bullhorn

I AM ART

Now booking for 2013! Email me ladyterroreducation@gmail.com

 

The video so nice, I had to post it twice!

 

I loved you 2012!

 

 

As the New Year approaches I am excited for all that 2013 will hold for me. I love going back through the last year and creating a list of highlights. I had a wonderful year and as far as I am concerned, any year that I get through alive and healthy is a winner for me. I am so winning. For 2013 I am recommiting myself to doing all the things that bring me joy and going hard on branding Lady Terror and creating new theater and performance opportunities.

I have no vision board created for the New Year! I usually create one but want to shake things up and wing it. Instead, I plan to stay connected to my joy and be grateful for every single thing that comes my way. I believe that joy and meditation breed happiness and if you follow your bliss all that you ever could want or need will come to you.

Here are some highlights of 2012:

Moved to a new house - about to move into another one - riding the waves!

 Taught puppetry to over 1,000 kids- in one weekend for the National Black Arts Festival!

 Attended two amazing lectures at the Candler School of Theology.

 Started my application to the Candler School of Theology – will complete it next week.

 Sold items at a Flea Market.

 Ditched my car three days a week and took public transportation for fitness.

 Applied to present my work at program called “Breaking Dawn” at the Theater School at Emory University. I will present a rewrite of my one woman show called “I Will Not Calm Down" on Jan. 28, 2013.

 Was a guest artist for a week at DePaul University Theater School in Chicago for MFA students. Taught a class on hustling, puppetry and creating artist statements.

 Taught poetry to high school students.

 Fulfilled my foodie obsession by working at two award winning, world class southern food spots.

 Created my handmade collage art biz called TerrorChic Designs and made over $500 in sales with little to no marketing.

 Filmed a short poetry video to promote my Lady Terror brand.

 Applied for a $1,000 Idea Capital Grant for my Poetic Therapy Performance Art Stunt. I even got the application in 1 month earlier. Bye bye procrastination.

 Began writing and developing a new piece of theater called “Love: Its All the Rage.”

 Reconnected with my faith and now pray and meditate regularly. Fell back in love with spirituality and religion.

Refined my hustle skills and no longer scared of losing a job.

 

 

What are some highlights of your 2012? What are you looking forward to for 2013?

 

 

 

Love: Its All the Rage!!

My newest theater piece is being developed and written right now.
It is set to premeire in Atlanta on Valentines Day 2013
Rants, Musings, Liberation Theology, Modern Dance, Motown and Amy Winehouse love songs inspire the work.

                                "LOVE: Its All The Rage"

An experimental performance art piece that blends spoken word and modern dance. With all the hate why not art inspired by love in all its glory and gore?

Excerpt from the work:

For your love:

I will modern interpretative dance

To every Amy Winehouse song ever made

While crying and holding a glass of rum

The spirit of hilarious drunk auntie

At every black family reunion

Will embody my physical form

I care nothing about being graceful

For your love I become love clown

I will kiss every part of your body

Yes, there too and the other place you are thinking

I will do it on pay per view right now

I am a sad country song mixed with a powerful blues joint

I will rent a car for you so you can use it to stunt

I encourage the fronting if it makes you happy

Love me is my only requirement

 

-Lady Terror 2012

                                           Stay tuned for how you can be apart of the work!!

I will always be grateful! (The Mantra this month)

I grew up in a fire and brimstone
Tent revivals in summer
Church on Tuesday, Friday and all day Sunday
Shut ins over Easter weekend - we spent the night at church
New Years Watch Service
You are handed a real pillow during prayer
So you could get on your knees for 20 minutes straight
My daddy singing and preaching about redemption
He created a bible study in front of the local liquor store once
Sunshine Choir
Youth Choir
Adult Choir rehearsals
Prayer warriors
Holy ghost speaking in tongues energy

I remember watching the saints give a testimony and then take off running up and down the aisle with  hands raised and screaming, "Thank you!" Up and down the aisle fast in tears from gratefulness. As a child I never really understand what sparked this entire dramatic scene.

                                     I finally get it!

Being grateful is hypnotic. So powerful to be grateful and feel what mercy feels like.

What are you grateful for today?

Liberation is my new word!

What I am reading and using as I write essays for my graduate school application and think about new work for Lady Terror theater projects:

Strength to Love by Martin Luther King Jr. - I adore the writing of MLK Jr. So empowering, radical and lovely. I recommend any of his work for reading.

Chanting Down Babylon: A Reader: - This is am amazing collection of articles and essays about Rastafarian ism. I am always hyped by liberation theology and movements. This is a fascinating book that is the end all text for study on this movement.

Peace: Quotes by Gandhi -  A gorgeously put together book on the quotes of Gandhi. I love quotes and these are very thought provoking and real truth.

What are you reading and being inspired from? Share your titles below!!

Marinate on this...

 

 

 

"In spirit the Arts are gods: They heal, revolutionize, fullfill, perfect.

 

-Peter Schumann

 

 

I love to collect quotes. I am inspired by the power of words to touch a nerve, to jolt, to wake up and to make you think. Do you have a favorite quote? Share it with me below. Let's celebrate them.

 



Collaboration brings me JOY

It is essential to collaborate as an artist. Many of my artistic highs have come at the hands of a group of individuals. I feel pushed and invigorated when I work with other artists who share the same vision. Art comes alive when it gains the involvement of more than one mind. My entire professional life has consisted of collaborations. Its truly the only way I thrive. Even when writing a solo piece of theater, it gained true momentum once I began the technical process of producing it. As I worked with the lighting designer on my cues and the overall feeling I wanted to achieve through lights, I felt the scenes really take life and form.

My greatest collaborators have been the children and young people I have been blessed to encounter. I started my career as a poetry writing teacher and book group leader for teen mothers. This lead to a career in Chicago for over 10 years where I have taught blues poetry to kindergartners, taught Zora Neale Hurston at alternative schools and public aide offices, taught hip hop yoga to 5th graders and lead a residency with 8th graders that ended with a 4 hour poetry reading  marathon on a bullhorn. I have worked with every grade starting from kindergarten all the way through college. I have been stretched, tested and inspired by the natural creative abilities of children. I have said a mouth full. But, to keep it short and sweet: I need others to reach my highest potential as an artist.

Over the past 15 years I have collaborated on poetry, writing, theater and social justice inspired projects with the following:

Center for Puppetry Arts                                   
Chicago Public Schools                                  
City of East Point Summer Programs                            
Columbia College Chicago                             
DePaul University Theatre School                 
Literature for All of Us                                
Literature for Life                                         
Northwestern University                              
United States Peace Corps                             

I would love to take you out for coffee to discuss your needs. My areas of expertise include:

• After School Programming for K -12

• Summer School Programming for K-12

• Extended Learning/Extracurricular Programming for K-12

• Artist Residencies for Theater, Performance Art, Sociology and African American Studies Departments at College and Universities

• Black History Programming

• Workshops for Not for Profit Organizations with a mission to empower youth and under served communities

Do you have a dream project or topic you would like to infuse with art for your students or organization?