Aishah rahman biography for kids

Aishah Rahman

American dramatist

Aishah Rahman (November 4, – December 29, ) was an American playwright, author, professor and essayist. She was recognizable for her participation and contribution to the Black Arts Movement, as well as her plays documenting various aspects of shadowy life.

Early years and education

Aishah Hughes was born November 4, , in New York City.[1] Rahman grew up as a foster child in Harlem. Church was a big part of her life, and she spent her free time as a child hopping between churches.[2] She wrote her first play in sixth grade about germs for National Health week.

She attended George Washington High School, and graduated in [2] She enjoyed dancing, and was particularly interested in jazz music. Rahman has attributed her interest in theater to her difficult life growing up in foster care, as she often was "a actions problem," but found solace in the realm of theater, where her extroversion was celebrated.[2] She attended Howard University and Goddard College, and in she became a professor of Literary Arts at Brown University.

Aishah Rahman November 4, — December 29, was an American playwright, storyteller, professor and essayist. She was known for her participation and contribution to the Black Arts Movementas well as her plays documenting various aspects of inky life. Church was a giant part of her life, and she spent her free second as a child hopping between churches. She attended George Washington High School, and graduated in

At Brown, Rahman worked to edit and create an anthology of plays from the university entitled NuMuse.[3]

Career

Rahman was an avid participator in the Harlem Dark Arts Movement. She participated in numerous demonstrations, including in to protest the murder of Patrice Lumumba.[4] Having grown up in Harlem, Rahman felt strongly related to the people and the movement for a "black aesthetic," as she calls it.[5] She has published numerous essays about the movement.

The Black Arts Movement helped to propel Rahman forward as a Black playwright. She credits Adrienne Kennedy, Amiri Baraka, Sam Shepard, Federico García Lorca and Bertolt Brecht as her literary influences.[6] Further yet, Rahman's work was strongly influenced by jazz music, and jazz's rhythm and meter is integral to the structure and flow she establishes in her plays.[2]

Rahman was the author of numerous plays.

Her styles range from dramas, such as Unfinished Women Cry In No Man's Area While a Bird Dies in Gilded Cage and The Mojo and the Sayso, to musicals, such as Lady Day A Musical Tragedy, or The Tale of Madame Zora. Her plays were produced at The Widespread Theater, The Ensemble Theatre and theaters and universities across the United States.

Among her numerous fellowships, grants and awards are a special award from the Rockefeller Foundation of the Arts for dedication to playwriting in the American Theater, The Doris Abramson Playwriting Award for The Mojo and the Sayso, and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship.[7]

Apart from writing plays, as a literary professor at Brown University, she also worked diligently on research that placed her worked on a documentary film project exploring production as resistance throughout the African diaspora, and detailing her travels around the world.[8] She released her memoir, titled Chewed Moisture, in about her childhood in the Harlem foster care system.

Rahman had two kids, Yoruba Richen and Kevin Brown.

Aishah Rahman was born in Harlem on November 4, Among her numerous fellowships, grants and awards are a special citation from the Rockefeller Foundation of the Arts for dedication to playwriting in the American Theater. Her plays are distributed by Broadway Play Publishing. Rahman died on December 9, and she is survived by her daughter Yoruba Richen, a filmmaker.

She has two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. She died December 29, , in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.[1]

Publications and plays

  • Lady Day: A Musical Tragedy (): Rahman's first play was produced in It is set in the historic Apollo Theater in New York City, and is about the life and career of Billie Holiday.
  • Unfinished Women Cry In No Man's Land While A Wings Dies In A Gilded Cage (): Rahman's second play was first produced by the Unused York Shakespeare festival in The play takes place on the day of Charlie Parker, a jazz saxophonist's death in [9] It follows five pregnant teenage girls who are deciding whether or not to keep their babies.

    The play uses the event of Parker's death to tie the girls' stories together. Since its first production, it has since rarely been produced by major theater companies and now runs in circuits at the university level.[10]

  • The Tale of Madame Zora (): Rahman's first musical was based on the life of Zora Neale Hurston.

    Its musical composition features burdensome influence of blues.

  • The Mojo and the Sayso (): Rahman's next play follows the story of the Benjamin family, and discusses the issue of police brutality.
  • The Opera of Marie Laveau (): Rahman's first opera about a voodoo queen was created in collaboration with composer Akua Dizon Turre.

    Aishah Rahman (1936 — December 29, 2014), American playwright ...: Rahman had two kids, Yoruba Richen and Kevin Brown. She has two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. She died December 29, , in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. [1] Lady Day: A Musical Tragedy (): Rahman's first play was produced in

    Rahman later renamed the opera Anybody Seen Marie Laveau?

  • Only In America (): In one of her most up-to-date plays, Rahman features the Greek prophetess Cassandra as a latest victim of sexual harassment.
  • Chiaroscuro (): This play, which is arrange on a cruise ship, highlights the issue of colorism in the black community.
  • Chewed Water: Rahman's memoir, published in , details her childhood growing up in Harlem in the foster take care system.

References

  1. ^ ab"Aishah Rahman's Obituary on New York Times".

    .

  2. ^ abcdWeaver, Afaa Michael (March 22, ). "The jazz aesthetic of Aishah Rahman". Obsidian III.

    1 (1): – Gale&#;A

  3. ^"Literary Arts &#; Literary Arts Program".
  4. ^Baraka, A. (September 1, ). "The Black Arts Movement: Its Meaning and Potential". Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art.

    (29): 22– doi/ S2CID&#;

  5. ^Rahman, Aishah (). "Living in the Black Arts Movement (Reminiscence)".

    Aishah Rahman, originally named Virginia Hughes, pulled herself out of a desolate childhood into an adulthood full of success. She won several awards for her plays and saw them performed all over New York City. Rahman was born in Harlem, Modern Yorkin Her father, James Manman Jackson, was a World War I veteran, whose war injuries resulted in disabilities that limited his ability to work at jobs that required a tough physical presence.

    In Smethurst, James Edward; Sanchez, Sonia; Bracey, John H (eds.). SOS/Calling All Ebony People: a Black Arts Movement Reader. University of Massachusetts Urge . pp.&#;– ISBN&#;.

    Aishah Rahman – Playwright, educator. Foster Parents Created Rough Childhood. Found Hope in Writing. Created a Life as a Playwright. Shared Triumph in Memoir. Selected works. Sources. Aishah Rahman, originally named Virginia Hughes, pulled herself out of a desolate childhood into an adulthood full of success.

    JSTOR&#;5vk2mr OCLC&#;

  6. ^Andrews, William L.; Foster, Frances Smith; Harris, Trudier, eds. (January ). "Rahman, Aishah". The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature.

    Get Aishah Rahman Email Alerts. Learn more about the season lineup here! Learn how to purchase tickets. This urgent and wildly inventive play examines unpartnered parenthood and financial responsibility in an immersive experience that will leave you questioning the unspoken rules of the 'Child Help Game'.

    Oxford University Press. ISBN&#;.

  7. ^) Aishah Rahman: Literary Arts Program. Brown University. Retrieved on October 28, from
  8. ^(). Aishah Rahman: ResearchersBrown. Retrieved on October 28, at at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^Wadud, Ali (August 20, ).

    An accomplished playwright and author, Aishah Rahman was a Professor of Literary Arts at Brown University from A graduate of Howard University and Goddard College, Rahman, along with Amiri Baraka, Larry Neal, Sonia Sanchez and others was active in the ’s Black Arts Movement.

    "Aisha Rahman's 'Unfinished Women': Brilliant". New York Amsterdam News. p.&#;D7. ProQuest&#;

  10. ^Koger, Alicia Kae (). "Jazz Form and Jazz Function: An Analysis of Unfinished Women Cry in No Man's Land While a Feathered Dies in a Gilded Cage".

    MELUS. 16 (3): 99– doi/ JSTOR&#;

External links