New York Premiere of Rha Goddess’ Theater Piece Takes Place
at Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts, June 8-10

Brooklyn, N.Y.—Rha Goddess, a renowned pioneering performance and recording artist known for her unique blend of soulful melody, spoken-word consciousness and hip-hop energy, will appear at the Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus.

The artist and social activist will perform her play, “LOW: Meditations Trilogy Part 1,” Thursday-Saturday, June 8-10, at 8 p.m. The Kumble Theater is located at the Brooklyn Campus at the corner of Flatbush and DeKalb avenues. Tickets are $25 and $20.  

The program, presented by 651 ARTS, a top producer of contemporary African-American cultural programming, was created by Rha Goddess, directed by Chay Yew, choreographed by Rennie Harris and composed by Darrin Ross, Marcel Wierckx and Baba Israel.

Part manifesto, family history and spiritual evocation, LOW explores issues of power, identity, class and wellness, and is developed inside the emerging genre of “Future Aesthetics,” the convergence of hip hop and contemporary performance.  In this powerful 75-minute narrative work, Rha Goddess depicts the dark but very human tragedy of mental illness in contemporary culture. Her vivid language combines poetry, rap and prose, offering up an equal dose of laughter and compassion.

Goddess exploded on the scene in 1997 with My Pen on Eargasms, and has collaborated with the late jazz master, Weldon Irvine, The Last Poets, Angelique Kidjo, Public Enemy and others.  She has been a featured artist in national and international festivals: BAM’s Next Wave/Next Next Festival, Russell Simmons Def Poetry and Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monlogues’ Vday Gathering, to name a few. In 2000, Essence Magazine recognized her as one of “30 Women to Watch.”

To purchase tickets, call the Kumble Theater box office at (718) 488-1624.For more information, call 651 ARTS at (718) 636-4181, x2229, or visit www.651arts.org. 

Long Island University opened its Brooklyn Campus in 1926, welcoming a diverse population at a time when other major universities enforced quota systems against racial and ethnic minorities. More than 13,000 students are enrolled at the Brooklyn Campus. Located at the corner of Flatbush Avenue Extension and DeKalb Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, the Campus is accessible to all major bus and subway routes and the Long Island Rail Road.