ALEXIS CAMARENA
Staff Writer

To commemorate Black History Month and celebrate African-American influence in poetry, music and literature, students gathered in the Bottle Hill Room on Feb. 18 for an Open Mic event.
Students were invited to share either a piece of poetry, a reading selection or even a song.
Professor Katie Singer, who runs the African-American studies minor at FDU, organized the event for the third consecutive year.
Singer started the event with her African-American literature class, believing that a diverse group of students reading poetry and expressing themselves was an excellent way to not only honor Black History, but foster artistic expression.
“I’m a writer, and words are very important to me, as well as the students’ voice,” said Singer. “It can be heard through these readings.”
At the event, a packed room of students enjoyed refreshments and food, while listening to several readings from their peers, as well as from a few professors, such as Monifa Mulraine.
In addition to traditional readings, graduate student and aspiring comic Gordon Baker-Bone discussed his love for black comedy, telling jokes from his favorite black comedians.
Sophomore Kristin Ippolito read two pieces, a verse from Tupac Shakur’s song “Changes,” and a verse from India Arie’s “I Am Not My Hair.” She felt both pieces illustrated black culture and were important to share.
“For me, I feel that racism is a very prevalent issue still; being able to come and support Black History Month was something I really wanted to do,” Ippolito said.
The event drew in many students, and seemed to be a success among those who attended.
“I really felt like I got something out of it,” said freshman Patricia Jones. “Ms. Singer spoke to us about the importance of an event like this, and encouraged anyone and everyone in the room to just come up and speak their mind.”

MELANIE ANZIDEI and KAYLA HASTRUP
Staff Writers

For the College at Florham, the “Eyewitness News This Morning” announcement of six more weeks of winter was not the top news of the day on Feb. 2. FDU’s Association of Black Collegians was more concerned with their first event of the semester, the opening ceremony of Black History Month.
On Groundhog Day, while Lori Stokes of WABC gave Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction, Association of Black Collegians’ President Tashon Thompson prepared for Stokes’ arrival on campus.
“I was nervous the entire day,” Thompson said. “That no one was going to show and it was just going to be me and her.”
When 2 p.m. rolled around, Thompson had nothing to be nervous about anymore as Lenfell Hall was slowly filling.
Stokes, anchor for “Eyewitness News This Morning” and “Eyewitness News at Noon,” spoke to FDU students and faculty about her life, experiences and her familiarity with social restraints and movements.
Throughout her career, Stokes has covered everything from her first-ever story about opening day for deer hunting season, to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. She also went undercover as a homeless person for three days in Baltimore and covered the election of Barack Obama.
Along the way, Stokes has received a variety of awards, including an Emmy, for her reporting.
“I don’t think I would have wanted anyone else to come in and speak,” Thompson said, following Stokes’ speech.
The ceremony started with Thompson, who has been ABC’s president since May of last year, introducing the other members of the club. Following him, freshman ABC member Kadi Cisse, kicked off the ceremony with a reading. Cisse gripped the microphone in her left hand as she read a powerful poem called, “Million Man March.” Kristin Fulton, vice president of ABC, then welcomed Stokes to the stage.
“I was excited,” Fulton said later. “I love Lori Stokes.”
Stokes told the audience about her experiences as a daughter of the first black American to represent the state of Ohio in the House of Representatives. She said she saw herself as “a kid who grew up with a dad that paved the way for a black president.”
Stokes also spoke about her life, from campaigning with her father at the age of six, to arriving at her first crime scene. As she progressed, she discussed just how far we’ve come from the days of segregation, and how far we still need to go.
“We are all beautiful people when we appreciate everything that we each bring to the table,” Stokes said. She recalled the Greensboro sit-ins, the Million Man March, and the most recent presidential election.
“My grandmother always told me you have to know where you came from to know where you are going,” she said.
Stokes also spoke of the conflicts she has had to face as a black woman. At one point earlier in her career, she said, she was called into her manager’s office with her then-boyfriend, NBC’s Brian Thompson, and was told, “You should stick with your own kind.” She then told the FDU audience, “I couldn’t believe it, but I had to accept his ignorance and left his office.”
Stokes went on to quote President Obama saying that “race is an issue that cannot be ignored.”
“Let’s hope that as we move forward as a nation and celebrating Black History Month, we realize we are all on this earth together,” Stokes said.
Thompson, on behalf of ABC, thanked Stokes with FDU-themed gifts of a university t-shirt, keychain and mug.
“She was great,” Thompson said. “She e-mailed me after about how much she loved the campus.”
Stokes told Thompson that she gave the t-shirt to her co-anchor, Ken Rosato, and the mug to senior meteorologist Bill Evans, while she kept the keychain. She also mentioned FDU on-air before and after the event, Thompson said.
“We had a great turnout,” Thompson said.
For ABC, this was just the first of many events for Black History Month and the rest of the semester.
Upcoming events include panel discussions, a bad romance party, a taking over of the cafeteria, the annual fashion show, and a Black History Month closing ceremony on Feb. 26.

ELYSE FETHERMAN
Entertainment Editor

The Maxwell Becton College of Arts and Sciences and the theater arts program at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s College at Florham is presenting its first Black History Month production, appropriately titled “Black History, Black Voices: A Celebration of African American Theatre.” With two scheduled performances on Feb. 25 and Feb. 26, the production features FDU’s first all-black student cast.
Stage manager James Michaelson has expressed his excitement about working with the first all-black student cast. “It’s great that [the theater students] are moving away from doing strictly main stage performances,” said Michaelson. “This is a way of blending cultural experiences and expanding the program even more.”
While the inaugural performance will certainly be ground-breaking, its roots and inception are of a humbler caliber. Angelica Herndon, the assistant director and a cast member, can be credited with the origin of the production. A freshman theater major, Herndon had always been surrounded by theater at home in Flossmoor, Ill. According to Herndon, her mother, a playwright and producer, originally introduced Herndon to the theater through performances at church.
Herndon’s parents, who graduated from Northwestern University, often talked about a “black theater initiation” they experienced their freshman year of college. Herndon was inspired by her parents’ experience and decided to attend the Black History Month committee meetings at FDU. After sitting through the meeting, Herndon felt dismayed as the committee had planned nothing for the theater. So she took matters into her own hands. Herndon’s plan was to put on a performance to honor and celebrate blacks as part of Black History Month.
After speaking with her fellow students, Herndon felt confident that there was enough student interest to present the idea to the theater department. Herndon pitched her idea to Stacie Lents, assistant theater professor, who was “extremely excited and supportive,” according to Herndon.
Lents, who is in her second semester of teaching at FDU, immediately gravitated towards Herndon’s proposal. “I was so inspired by her excitement and interest,” said Lents.
Featuring three renowned African American writers - August Wilson, Nikki Giovanni and George C. Wolfe - and six different pieces, the production will present a sampling of each of the writers’ works. Lents selected the individual pieces and adapted them for the performance’s purposes.
“We aren’t just working with conventional texts,” said Lents. “We are using poetry from Nikki Giovanni, for example, and adapting the poetry for dialogue.”
When selecting which works to perform, Lents laid down a few limitations. “The works had to fit two criteria,” said Lents. “One: They were works by African American writers who contributed to the black theater canon. Two: the subject matter honored black achievement.”
Through the combination of the chosen pieces, Lents has given the cast an opportunity “to be in dialogue with black history.” Lents believes that everyone can relate to the chosen pieces. She also believes each piece is important to each artist in a different way. “The point is to honor history, not to exclude anyone,” said Lents.
The largely freshman cast has also been asked by Lents to keep small reflection journals to document their process. The cast and crew are also seeking to create a documentary of their process, according to stage manager Michaelson.
“Actors will get a chance to explain their experience,” said Michaelson. “The audience will get a backstage view and see how the production impacts the cast and crew.”
Michaelson also said that the cast and crew intends on putting the reflection journals on display in the Barn where the performances will be held. “Audiences will get to peruse before and after and get to see the cast’s process,” said Michaelson.
Herndon believes that the documentary and journals are a great way to see the evolution of the actors, how the production came to be and how each actor relates to his or her characters.
Rehearsals, which have been ongoing since last week, have kept the cast busy. According to Lents, Herndon and Michaelson, scheduling has been extremely tricky. Sandwiched between the auditions for the two main stage productions, the cast and crew of the Black History Month performance have had to juggle multiple tasks. Michaelson said that many of the cast and crew also have been cast in the productions “Sweet Charity” and “Whose Life is it Anyway?”
Herndon, who is cast in both “Sweet Charity” and the Black History Month production, described her experience as “living in a constant limbo.” And because she can’t attend every rehearsal for the Black History Month production, she depends heavily on Lents, Michaelson and Chaelee Chaput, the assistant stage manager. As for the rehearsals she has taken a part of, Herndon said. “It is good! When we ran through it, it all really came together.”
Lents remained equally optimistic. “This is just a strong example of what is possible in an educational environment.”
But with any production comes challenges. “We have taken on something ambitious,” said Lents, in reference to the short amount of rehearsal time and the limited resources available. Lents described the production as being presented in a “workshop style” format with few production values.
According to Lents, the cast are pulling their costumes and settings from what either the department or the cast already has available. Despite limited production values, Lents, the cast and crew are taking advantage of the situation.
“With the workshop format, the focus is on the artistry, the writing and the process of the performance,” said Lents. Michaelson believes it is harder with fewer production values.
“We have to use what we already have and adapt,” said Michaelson. “What lacks in ornate setting is made up with great acting.”
Herndon also appreciated the value of a workshop format. “We wanted to keep that abstract feel to it. Sometimes plays are all about the set. This is raw. We take away the distractions so your focus is on the actors and the messages.”
And that message, according to Herndon, is love. “I believe the overall theme is love but not just in a relationship sense,” said Herndon. “It is love for your self, love of others. It is making a connection. It’s love that ties us all together.”
Lents, Herndon and Michaelson all hope to continue a Black History Month production in the years to follow.
Lents believes the production is “charting new territory” and hopes to continue this project.
Michaelson looks forward to potentially continuing as stage manager and hopes to help build a “five-year plan” for future Black History Month productions.
Herndon also wishes to see it grow in flourish in the up and coming years. “Words cannot describe how emotional and inspiring this whole process has been for me,” said Herndon.
Herndon, whose family is flying in from Illinois to see the production, says she is so grateful for the help of the cast and crew.
“It is amazing to be able to cross this off my list at only 19,” laughed Herndon. “Everyone has been so committed.”
The cast of “Black History, Black Voices: A Celebration of African American Theatre” includes Candyce Atkins, Laymah Cisco, Kadi Cisse, Kristin Fulton, Garry Jones, Ra’John Raeford, Kier “KJ” Thompson and Angelica Herndon.
Performances will be held on Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m. with a reception at 6:30 p.m. and Feb. 26 at 4:00 p.m. in the newly renovated Barn Theatre. Admission is free.