A Rockford art gallery is showcasing works from several Black female authors in its upcoming theatrical performance.
Dorothy Paige-Turner is a singer and former music educator. She and other performers will bring the words of Maya Angelou, Zora Neale Hurston, Nikki Giovanni and a few others to life at Inscape Collective.
Ruth Jackson is the cocreator of the gallery. Jackson said she was impressed with prior work Paige-Turner did at her organization.
“I asked her to come to our listening room to do the Underground Railroad. And it was quite wonderful,” she said. “And we had a large crowd. And so, we talked after that. And she mentioned that she had done these readers theaters for JustGoods and was wondering if we were interested in her starting that up again.”
Jackson said if all goes well, these readings will be something the collective continues. The collective usually closes at 4 p.m. but on the day of the event it will open back up at 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. Visitors will have the opportunity to shop.
“We're a collective with wonderful artists’ works from jewelry to pottery, to paintings,” she added, “and we have about 34 artisans at this time, and most of them are local.”
The theatric readings, "She Speaks," will take place from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday Oct. 21 at Inscape Collective.
