*Harlen Avenue Girl: Becoming Kenya is written and performed by Kenya E. Williams, Ed.D. It’s a beautifully detailed cultural narrative of a young woman’s evolution from student to artist, to teacher, to a philosophical thespian.
Although Dr. Kenya Williams is currently a middle school principal, her one woman show reflects on when she was a little brown girl from California who aspired to thrive in Hollywood’s glistening industry.
She encounters and endures the typical roadblocks of massive competition and outdated expectations of what a starlet should and should not be.
It’s a familiar tale that is as old as show business itself. One must be brave to aspire for the bright lights of the stage and screen. In her solo performance, Kenya invites the audience on her charming and whimsical journey.
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Kenya is an award-winning actress, dancer, singer, poet, yoga practitioner/teacher, and educational advocate. She has already won an NAACP Award for best performance by a youth for her role as “Addaperle” in The Wiz. She has guest starred on Moesha, The Parkers, The Shield, Touched by an Angel and she recurred on Disney’s Even Stevens.
Harlan Avenue Girl: Becoming Kenya weaves heartfelt tales of her parents’ encouragement, her own resilience and realization that she has not chosen an easy road, but nevertheless, she persisted. Kenya’s vibrance is reminiscent of the cultural nuances in Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls” and Anna Devere Smith’s “Twilight Los Angeles.” Miss Williams’ show is both refreshing and sobering in the fact that new voices are emerging to tell their truth and the truth is that show business is still on the slow burner for inclusion, although many strides have been made.
Triple threats are always applauded because they forge more than one pathway to recognition and opportunity. Kenya displays dancing and dramatic skills that are worthy of Broadway, Hollywood and beyond. She endeared the audience with candid insights into her mother and father’s relationship, where their united front as parents overshadowed life’s bearings on their many years of matrimony.
Becoming Kenya is brilliantly directed by NAACP Theater Award nominee Erma Elzy. Her credits include Jamal Williams’ ‘Yesterday Came Too Soon…The Dorothy Dandridge Story and Hattiloo Theatre’s productions of August Wilson’s ‘King Hedley II’, Seven Guitars and Lydia Diamond’s ‘Stick Fly’ in Memphis, TN. Becoming Kenya is produced by Dr. Kenya Williams and Zna Portlock Houston, of Manifested Entertainment.
This production was previously presented at the Highways Performing Arts Center in Santa Monica, California earlier in the year. A command performance was hosted in honor of Women’s History Month.
It stands as an entertaining theatrical history lesson worthy of a residency at colleges, universities, local theatres and is perfect for private and public bookings by women’s groups and civic organizations.
Bravo to the talent and the team responsible for Harlan Avenue Girl: Becoming Kenya. For future bookings of the show or for more information contact manifestedent.com
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