Mama’z Muezz : The Festival

Mama’z Muezz was first presented during CD Forum’s Creation Project in 2014, and was directed by Valerie Curtis Newton. The April 29, 2020 event will be followed by a May 9, 2020 live stream with new excerpts for the work; Both events are intended to generate audience feedback for Franklin in real time. Franklin will present a final version of Mama’z Muezz in CD Forum’s 2020/2021 season. 

The work will be live streamed for free over Youtube Live. Though the live stream is free, CD Forum strongly encourages participants to support the work and the artist by donating to Monique Franklin directly. 

A note: the second session at 6PM Pacific Time will be recorded for archival purposes and won’t be shared publicly. 

“Covid has encouraged CD Forum to think beyond in-person live performance and put methods in place to finish projects we already had on the table on virtual platforms,” says Executive Director Sharon Nyree Williams. 

In response to the pandemic, CD Forum’s response has been three-fold. According to Williams those three things are to, “One: Continue to serve the mission of the organization and keep sharing stories from the Black community because it’s a rarity in our society. Two: To do Monique’s show in a fashion where we collaborated with the artist to make sure how Mama’z Muezz is presented is what’s best for Monique. And three: Covid has challenged us as a team to learn, listen, and bring together the power of our minds to work out what’s best for Monique to get feedback for, revise, and present her work in a different way.”

Mama'z Muezz is a one woman play featuring spoken word artist Monique Franklin that explores the theme of African-American motherhood glimpsed from present day and historical vantage points of mother’s of African descent. This show is culled from a cross-section of realities, dreams and nightmares illuminating and intimately exploring artifacts of a collective condition. In examining the experiences of African-American mothers we will uncover what it means to be an individual beneath the hat of motherhood, learn what children teach their mothers (the truth), the rub of society against the fabric of their families (the struggles) and what nurtures and inspires their spirits (love, the living, and the ancestors).

“Mama’z Muezz is a meditation, a study, it is an acknowledgement, an expression of one’s purpose and for me a mechanism for personal and professional evolution. I hope that sharing my creative ideas and process with a digital audience will help inform and lift the final presentation of this piece to a universal level such that anyone who experiences Mama’z Muezz will be transformed, will feel seen and see themselves in these scenes, and be touched and moved in positive ways by the collective and unique experiences of Black Women who are mothers.”  - Monique Franklin (Verbal Oasis)

About Monique Franklin

Monique Franklin (Verbal Oasis), is an activist, poet, performer, scientist, and mother from Rainier Valley, Seattle. She has been referred to as “The unofficial poet laureate of South Seattle,” “The Billie Holiday of Spoken Word,” as well as “the Verbal Manifestation of Nina Simone’s Soul.” Monique is a 10+ year member of African American Writer’s Alliance and has self-published two volumes of poetry entitled Acoustic Accolades and Erotic Annals of a Poet. She has released two spoken word albums Acoustic Accolades Volume 1 and Hot Summer Nights both available on soundcloud. She currently co-host and co-produces Afrodisiac Erotic Poetry Show celebrating the diversity and sexuality of people of color. Her poetry gives voice to social issues, human relationships, tributes to her many influences, and self-discovery. As a performer you can find her poetry commingling with musicians, vocalist and dancers.  The subject matter of her poetry stems from the rich spectrum of her life experiences. This woman is a creative soul.

For more information about this artist: https://artisttrust.org/artists/monique-franklin/ or

email: poet.verbaloasis@gmail.com 

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For mothers of African descent who would like to interact with the Artist Monique Franklin to witness and inform her creation of Mama'z Muezz

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For community members who would like to interact with the Artist Monique Franklin to witness and inform her creation of Mama'z Muezz

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