Street to the Stage Katrina : A Whole Lotta Water
Hurricane Katrina has changed life as we know it for everybody, but in a strange way it brought people together in a healing environment. Emmitt Thrower and Tiara Mone't King share a lot in common. Both African Americans, both are performance artists and both are healing themselves and this country with a new off Broadway Play; Katrina: A Whole Lotta Water that opened in New York in November 2006 and now travels to Baltimore, Maryland. Thrower told me that the play explores the emotional, psychological, human rights, race, class, and gender issues affecting hurricane Katrina survivors. This play is also a multi-media hip-hop musical composed by a social conscious activist\artist, Shakka", who wrote the lyrics and performs all the songs in the play. Several of the songs has music produced by Thrower and his company Wabi Sabi productions. They include Hell, Reasons and Wasn’t we human. Shakka’s website, www.shakkamusic.com informed me that he is an advocate raising awareness and to stop child abuse. He even wrote a song about child abuse, Not One More. Both Thrower and Tiara traveled a hard road that brought them together for this play.
Emmitt Thrower was a cop on the streets of Harlem and Brooklyn NY. in 1973 but after a car accident at work, being shot by a drug dealer coming home from work in 1983 he was forced to retire in 1988 after an unsuccessful attempt to return to full duty. Emmitt turned to acting, stand up comedy in 1989 and fell in love with it. However in August 2001 Emmitt had a brain stem Stroke that left him unable to speak, unable to eat, unable to walk or stand up or even sit up due to his affected balance. He was unable to see the world clearly any longer due to double vision. His life as a performer or involvement in the Arts seemed over. Thrower has become totally blind in his left eye and regained his 20/20 vision in his right eye, relearned to talk, walk again and is now a Producer/Writer/Director/Actor and is the owner and president of Wabi Sabi Productions Inc. a Not For profit Theatrical and Video/Film company . Katrina: A Whole Lotta Water is directed and written by Thrower.
Tiara Mone't King shares Thrower’s pains, love of performance art and the need to get the stories of hurricane Katrina’s survivors to the stage. King is a wheelchair user, double survivor of domestic violence in which she was brutally shot twice in 2004 resulting in a spinal cord injury that left her paralyzed from the upper waist down. One year later in 2005 she had to deal with the hurricane Katrina disaster and the lack of proper government response to it. Ordered to evacuate her home, she and her mother Cynthia were forced to separate from her father and her son Isaiah and resigned to live in shelters in Baton Rogue till they finally were able to get out and be reunited in Baltimore.
According to Thrower, Ms. King is a long time dancer and was thriving to get back on stage after her disability. King attended the Baltimore School for the Arts and did a summer stint at New York City's Alvin Ailey Summer Institute. So these two disabled African American performance artists with the crew of Katrina: A Whole Lotta Water is healing the wounds that Katrina and the late responds from our government inflicted on the residents of the Gulf Coast.
Katrina: A Whole Lotta Water is touring in Baltimore from January 19th To January 21st at the Rognel Heights Cultural Center located at 1200 Wicklow Road. Baltimore, Maryland. This might be the first play dealing with Hurricane Katrina that has a strong present of African Americans with disabilities as the director and actress! I asked Thrower was this his first time working with a performance artist with a disability. Although this was his first time casting an artist with a disability, he remembers his experience when he became disabled and getting back into the artistic arena professionally. Thrower’s company, Wabi Sabi Productions Inc, main objective is to create jobs and a performance venue for Youth and Adult Artist and Technicians of all disciplines, so they can provide information and outreach services to various underserved persons, cultures and communities, helping them to deal with social and health issues that are impacting on their lives in negative ways. In this vision, Ms. King was welcomed and has an avenue to express not only her artistic talents but her personal experiences as a Katrina survivor with a disability. Her story of survival in the face of a natural disaster and institutional (government) racism has been express by many Black and disabled Katrina survivors but haven’t been on stage with other survivors in an artistic venue until now.
Thrower hopes Katrina: A Whole Lotta Water will keep the survivors in the spotlight as this human drama continues to unfold in the gulf coast area. He told me that the response has been tremendous. He goes on to say that the music is off the hook, the song So Much Water is also in the play and the Dancing is Hot. Thrower informed me that they did a FREE Show for the NYC-NJ area survivors before they opened to get their reaction. He stated how they loved it with its message of hope and joyous music. Many people told Thrower that they had seen some other Katrina plays but nothing even close to this one. After comments like these, Thrower knew he had accomplished what he wanted from the play, and that was to help people heal and move forward.
The play brings it all home straight to the heart. If you are in Baltimore, Maryland, between now and January 21st, you must take some time and see this play. The show times are 1/19/07 Friday 8 PM, 1/20/07 Saturday 1 PM "Special Youth show" reduced cost tickets for under 18, 1/20/07 Saturday 8 PM 1/21/07 Sunday 4 PM Special Dinner Theater/Fundraiser Tickets $50. Tickets can be purchased at www.theatermania.com or by calling 866-811-4111. For more information about Wabi Sabi Productions call Emmitt Thrower at (718) 716-6635 or go to their website www.wabisabiproductions.com
On a side note related to Hurricane Katrina, hip-hop and what African Americans with disabilities are doing to support people affected by the hurricane, Preechman, a hip-hop artist with a disabilities is shooting his musical video for the song Black Queens. This song looks at the contributions that have been made by Black women in the past to the present and ask our future Black Queens to take their thrones. The release of this video will officially be out by February for Black History Month. A portion of the sale of the video will go to organizations in the Gulf Coast to help in the rebuilding process especially for people with disabilities. For more information of this video go to
2 Tha Point Contact Associates: Sheila J (914) 309-0614 Jsheila68@aol.com Da Brain - 2Thapointent@gmail.com 914-619-7157 or www.myspace.com/preechman
By Leroy F Moore Jr.
