Artistic Statement
The Black Aesthetic is the powering function of my work as a playwright, writer, educator, and cultural preservationist. Through the intense study of all disciplines from an African-centered perspective, my aim is to deconstruct white supremacist ideologies that have established the tone for melanated lifestyles and work towards reconfiguring cultural and social codes for African Americans, initially, and then the Diaspora. The work embraces Blackness that is authentic and driven by the elite standards set by the ancestors and cultural architects from previous eras. In some sense, this is dreamwork from conception to execution. My ultimate purpose is to create with the same soulful and intellectual depth as the icons before me such as Alice Childress, August Wilson, Ntozake Shange, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Sonia Sanchez, and Amiri Baraka.
With theatre being a predominately Eurocentric controlled space, the significance of a thriving Black theatre is critical to the cultivation of evolving Black narratives. Since its onset, Black theatre has allowed a specifically bold narrative to develop and exist. Despite some advances in the film industry for Black stories, there is still a reluctance to allow such audacity in Blackness, which is present in many Black stage productions, to be fully expressed. Therefore, Black theatre, along with Black music, continues to be the best revolutionary weapons of upending the diasporic frustration of marginalization within a white supremacist structure. This is but a brief summary of my research involving the utilization of Black theatre as a sociocultural phenomenon.
Specifically, my research has discovered the rather muted and marginalized voices of Black women Southern playwrights. While there have been quite a few Black women playwrights hailing from the South, many of them relocated to points northward and their works embraced a more urban persona. For instance, acclaimed author Zora Neale Hurston and Harlem Renaissance poet, Georgia Douglas Johnson, wrote several plays that never saw the light of day on stage. Considering the breadth and profundity of their work as novelists, essayists, and poets, generations of audiences have missed the sound of their artistic voices and social commentary.
As a Black woman who was born, raised, and continues to reside in the South, I deem it as a definite part of my calling to craft artistic renderings of Black Southern life that is not prevalent in the society at large, specifically reshaping how my home state of Mississippi exists in the societal imagination and cultural reality of this country. Using an interdisciplinary approach, my stage works and writings are crafted to fully present the richness and soul of being Black, woman, and Southern. As another perception, Black and Mississippi-rooted requires a reconfiguration which allows for certain cultural technologies to take shape and project the future. The South, unfortunately, continues to be haunted by the haints of the past, however, a prosperous and enriching future, specifically a Black future, is possible and necessary and I believe that rich, intellectually sanctioned, complex, defiant and beautiful Black storytelling can be the driving force.
Bio
Chandra Kamaria is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Harkins House Productions. As a playwright, essayist, educator, and cultural preservationist, Chandra's vision is to expand the body of work involving African Americans and preserve the richness of the Black Experience. Understanding that this is a monumental task, it is her sincerest hope that through her efforts, it will spark a chain reaction, encouraging other artists to explore the various options to showcase their work and make definitive statements that will span across generations. This Mississippi native has been deeply engrossed in Black literature for well over 25 years, boasting of an extensive collection of works by several Black authors. This unquenchable interest in Black literature eventually led Chandra to Black theatre. In 1994, while a student at the University of Memphis, the Black Student Association sponsored a production of Ntozake Shange's 'For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf'. This production ignited a passion for theatre and from that point, Chandra became an avid theatre patron and later a volunteer & extra at Hattiloo Black Repertory Theatre in Memphis TN before striking out on her own. Through a continual process of self-study and honing the craft of playwriting, Chandra launched Harkins House Productions in March 2010 and, in November of that same year, debuted its first original stage play, FOUR WOMEN, at the Evergreen Theatre in Memphis. The show ran for one weekend with nearly three sold out audiences. Chandra wrote and directed this play as well as the second HHP production, The Man Store, which debuted with rave reviews in May 2013 and an encore weekend in November of the same year.
Original Productions
FOUR WOMEN Original Stageplay
Works in Progress
Magnolia Women Original Stageplay (Work in Progress)
Feminine Finesse Original Stageplay (Work in Progress)
Conjure Original Stageplay (Work in Progress)
Negro Sunshine Original Stageplay (Work in Progress)
CottonSack Divas Original Stageplay (Work in Progress)
Hang Up Alley Way Original Stageplay (Work in Progress)
Sweet Sounds of July Original Stageplay (Work in Progress)
You’re On Mute Original Stageplay (Work in Progress)
Plus One Screenplay (Work in Progress)
Kutlass Screenplay (Work in Progress)
Events & Projects
The Beautiful People Party
A social gathering that featured original works of art, a themed cultural presentation, special guests, and music.
Crosstown Arts, Memphis TN
Womanish: A Tribute to African American Women Artists
Crosstown Arts, Memphis TN June 23, 2016
Literary Lightworker
A special project that will feature social commentary and artistic critique of specific literary pieces, both fiction and nonfiction with a specific focus on African and African-American works. The project will provide written pieces as well as a podcast.
Kulture Teach Liberation Arts Academy (In Development)
The purpose of Kulture Teach Liberation Arts is to provide literacy growth strategies and youth empowerment through cultural education and artistic development. In partnership with parents, youth organizations, and school districts, KTLAA will work to enhance literacy skills through rigorous, culturally-relevant content to improve underserved student academic outcomes, thus improving their overall confidence and building identity.
The Black Aesthetic is the powering function of my work as a playwright, writer, educator, and cultural preservationist. Through the intense study of all disciplines from an African-centered perspective, my aim is to deconstruct white supremacist ideologies that have established the tone for melanated lifestyles and work towards reconfiguring cultural and social codes for African Americans, initially, and then the Diaspora. The work embraces Blackness that is authentic and driven by the elite standards set by the ancestors and cultural architects from previous eras. In some sense, this is dreamwork from conception to execution. My ultimate purpose is to create with the same soulful and intellectual depth as the icons before me such as Alice Childress, August Wilson, Ntozake Shange, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Sonia Sanchez, and Amiri Baraka.
With theatre being a predominately Eurocentric controlled space, the significance of a thriving Black theatre is critical to the cultivation of evolving Black narratives. Since its onset, Black theatre has allowed a specifically bold narrative to develop and exist. Despite some advances in the film industry for Black stories, there is still a reluctance to allow such audacity in Blackness, which is present in many Black stage productions, to be fully expressed. Therefore, Black theatre, along with Black music, continues to be the best revolutionary weapons of upending the diasporic frustration of marginalization within a white supremacist structure. This is but a brief summary of my research involving the utilization of Black theatre as a sociocultural phenomenon.
Specifically, my research has discovered the rather muted and marginalized voices of Black women Southern playwrights. While there have been quite a few Black women playwrights hailing from the South, many of them relocated to points northward and their works embraced a more urban persona. For instance, acclaimed author Zora Neale Hurston and Harlem Renaissance poet, Georgia Douglas Johnson, wrote several plays that never saw the light of day on stage. Considering the breadth and profundity of their work as novelists, essayists, and poets, generations of audiences have missed the sound of their artistic voices and social commentary.
As a Black woman who was born, raised, and continues to reside in the South, I deem it as a definite part of my calling to craft artistic renderings of Black Southern life that is not prevalent in the society at large, specifically reshaping how my home state of Mississippi exists in the societal imagination and cultural reality of this country. Using an interdisciplinary approach, my stage works and writings are crafted to fully present the richness and soul of being Black, woman, and Southern. As another perception, Black and Mississippi-rooted requires a reconfiguration which allows for certain cultural technologies to take shape and project the future. The South, unfortunately, continues to be haunted by the haints of the past, however, a prosperous and enriching future, specifically a Black future, is possible and necessary and I believe that rich, intellectually sanctioned, complex, defiant and beautiful Black storytelling can be the driving force.
Bio
Chandra Kamaria is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Harkins House Productions. As a playwright, essayist, educator, and cultural preservationist, Chandra's vision is to expand the body of work involving African Americans and preserve the richness of the Black Experience. Understanding that this is a monumental task, it is her sincerest hope that through her efforts, it will spark a chain reaction, encouraging other artists to explore the various options to showcase their work and make definitive statements that will span across generations. This Mississippi native has been deeply engrossed in Black literature for well over 25 years, boasting of an extensive collection of works by several Black authors. This unquenchable interest in Black literature eventually led Chandra to Black theatre. In 1994, while a student at the University of Memphis, the Black Student Association sponsored a production of Ntozake Shange's 'For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf'. This production ignited a passion for theatre and from that point, Chandra became an avid theatre patron and later a volunteer & extra at Hattiloo Black Repertory Theatre in Memphis TN before striking out on her own. Through a continual process of self-study and honing the craft of playwriting, Chandra launched Harkins House Productions in March 2010 and, in November of that same year, debuted its first original stage play, FOUR WOMEN, at the Evergreen Theatre in Memphis. The show ran for one weekend with nearly three sold out audiences. Chandra wrote and directed this play as well as the second HHP production, The Man Store, which debuted with rave reviews in May 2013 and an encore weekend in November of the same year.
Original Productions
FOUR WOMEN Original Stageplay
- Evergreen Theatre, Memphis TN, November 5-7, 2010 Writer/Producer/Director (Debut Production)
- Evergreen Theatre, Memphis TN, August 24-25, 2012 Writer/Producer/Director (Second Run)
- TheatreWorks, Memphis, TN, May 17-19 & May 24-26, 2013 (Debut) Writer/Producer/Director
- TheatreWorks, Memphis, TN November 22-24, 2013 (Second Run) Writer/Producer/Director
- Crosstown Concourse, Memphis, TN August 24, 2019 Writer/Host/Director
Works in Progress
Magnolia Women Original Stageplay (Work in Progress)
Feminine Finesse Original Stageplay (Work in Progress)
Conjure Original Stageplay (Work in Progress)
Negro Sunshine Original Stageplay (Work in Progress)
CottonSack Divas Original Stageplay (Work in Progress)
Hang Up Alley Way Original Stageplay (Work in Progress)
Sweet Sounds of July Original Stageplay (Work in Progress)
You’re On Mute Original Stageplay (Work in Progress)
Plus One Screenplay (Work in Progress)
Kutlass Screenplay (Work in Progress)
Events & Projects
The Beautiful People Party
A social gathering that featured original works of art, a themed cultural presentation, special guests, and music.
Crosstown Arts, Memphis TN
- January 31, 2014
- February 28, 2014
- August 30, 2014
- October 25, 2014
- June 13, 2015
- April 13, 2017
Womanish: A Tribute to African American Women Artists
Crosstown Arts, Memphis TN June 23, 2016
Literary Lightworker
A special project that will feature social commentary and artistic critique of specific literary pieces, both fiction and nonfiction with a specific focus on African and African-American works. The project will provide written pieces as well as a podcast.
Kulture Teach Liberation Arts Academy (In Development)
The purpose of Kulture Teach Liberation Arts is to provide literacy growth strategies and youth empowerment through cultural education and artistic development. In partnership with parents, youth organizations, and school districts, KTLAA will work to enhance literacy skills through rigorous, culturally-relevant content to improve underserved student academic outcomes, thus improving their overall confidence and building identity.
