It's Juneteenth Jamboree time
EGERTON JUDITH
STAFF

Judith Egerton
jegerton@courier-journal.com

The Courier-Journal

Two bright stars who left this world in the past year will be celebrated in this year's sixth annual Juneteenth Jamboree, which begins tonight at Actors Theatre of Louisville.

The music of Ray Charles and scenes from plays favored by actor Ossie Davis, including "A Raisin in the Sun," are among the significant events scheduled during the three consecutive weekends of the Jamboree.

The programs are presented by the Juneteenth Legacy Theatre, an African-American theater company based in Louisville and headed by founder and producing director Lorna Littleway. She has dedicated this year's Jamboree to Charles, who died in June 2004, and Davis, who died in February.

The activities take place at Actors Theatre and include two workshops. One will offer audition tips for actors and singers from Broadway theater director Sue Lawless; the other provides advice on writing musicals and will be taught by Grenoldo Frazier, an award-winning musical director who composed works for the Dance Theatre of Harlem and who appeared on Broadway in "Hello, Dolly!" with Pearl Bailey.

Here's a quick look at the Jamboree programs:

8 tonight and tomorrow - Guest artist Frazier will play piano and perform the music of Ray Charles in "The Genius of Ray Pt. 1" and "The Genius of Ray Pt. 2."

7 p.m. Sunday - "Juneteenth@ Apollo," a community talent showcase, will see participants of all ages competing before a panel of judges for cash prizes.

8 p.m. June 10 - "BrotherHOODs" by Alan Sharpe , founding director of the African-American Collective Theater (ACT) in Washington, D.C. The play concerns the beating of a gay student at a black college.

8 p.m. June 11 - "Mother's Day" by the Southern Illinois actor and dramatist J.E. Robinson. In this new work, an ambitious black Republican congressman campaigns on a theme of family values, but infidelity threatens his career plans.

7 p.m. June 12 - "Juneteenth@ Apollo" continued.

8 p.m. June 17 - "Till" by Ifa Bayeza and "A Member of the Family" by Patricia Ramsey. Bayeza, whose work has been performed at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, received a fellowship from Brown University to develop this jazz play about the 14-year-old Chicago youth who suffered a tortuous death at the hands of Southern racists after whistling at a white woman. The play marks the 50th anniversary of the young man's murder. A full production will be staged at the Providence Black Repertory Theatre next February.

Ramsey's play, "A Member of the Family," concerns a grandmother who faces the challenge of finding the money to send the grandchild she has reared to college. Ramsey, a Louisville therapist and poet, is retired from Indiana University Southeast, where she was coordinator of the Student Development Center.

5:30 p.m. June 18 - Workshop on auditioning with Lawless, who has directed nearly 500 plays and musicals at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Goodspeed Opera House and others.

8 p.m. June 18 - "Remembering Ossie," a compilation of monologues, scenes and songs from Broadway shows.

7 p.m. June 19 - The conclusion of the "Juneteenth@Apollo" showcase of talent.