MIXED BLOOD THEATRE BRINGS  DAUGHTERS OF AFRICA TO IOWA LAKES

Iowa Lakes Community College is bringing Mixed Blood Theatre’s Daughters of Africa to the Estherville campus gym on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at 9 a.m., and to the Emmetsburg campus gym at 1 p.m.  The play is a music-driven history of African American women.

Written for Mixed Blood by award-winning playwright Syl Jones, Daughters of Africa is a commemoration of the triumph of pride, determination, and courage.  It features music made famous by Ma Rainey, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, and others in a rousing celebration of famous and unheralded African American women.

The women portrayed range from slave ship survivors to stars of the silver screen.  They include Harriet Tubman, the conductor of hundreds to freedom via the Underground Railroad; Elizabeth Freeman, whose legal struggle abolished slavery in Massachusetts; Madame C.J. Walker, America’s first black millionaires; Lena Horne, Ethel Waters, Rosa Parks, Oprah Winfrey and many others.

The show features Thomasina Taylor Petrus and is directed by Warren C. Bowles.  It is one of six programs toured nationally by Mixed Blood this year.

The performance is open to the public and is free of charge.  For more information, please contact Brian Radtke at (712) 362-8367 or bradtke@iowalakes.edu.