ALGARIN'S MONGO AFFAIR
Saturday, August 21 & Sunday, August 22, 2004
Joe's Pub at The Public Theater
425 Lafayette St., Manhattan, NYC
Tickets available at The Public Theater box office or Telecharge (212) 239-6200

Algarin’s MONGO AFFAIR is a poetic and musical journey with legendary Nuyorican poet Miguel Algarin. It’s about chemical-electrical, physical breakdowns. It’s about Sunday afternoons. It’s about the love and hate for the tar and concrete jungle of Manhattan. Titled after his groundbreaking first book of poetry MONGO AFFAIR published in 1978, this performance showcase captures the excitement of the historical literary work through the infusion of performance poetry with live Jazz and Salsa music, tap dance, and Caribbean and African DJ tracks. The featured Mongo Affair Players include Miguel Algarin, Carl Hancock Rux (featured on August 21), Kayo (featured on August 22), Emanuel Xavier, La Bruja, Reg E. Gaines, DJ Sabine, Calvin Gaines, Maya Smullyan-Jenkins, Alexandria Bradley and Sergio Rivera y Grupo Caribe.



THE MONGO AFFAIR PLAYERS
Miguel Algarin
Puerto Rican scholar Miguel Algarin is one of the most prolific, creative and influential literary figures in the United States and Latin America. Through his writings and the founding of the Nuyorican Poets Café, Algarin became a leading figure of the Nuyorican movement of the 1970s, which created a literature of Puerto Rican identity and fostered its entrance into the larger world of American avant-garde poetic. His mission for the Café was to create a multicultural venue that both nurtures artists and exhibits a variety of artistic works to both enlighten and empower the underclass. Today, the Café is an internationally renowned cultural haven drenched with great artistic intensity, and its mission has remained true to this day. Algarin has received three American Book Awards and he is the sole translator of Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda’s SONG OF PROTEST.

Alexandria Bradley
Alexandria Bradley is a tap dancer and choreographer who has performed at various venues across the country as a lead performer in Savion Glover’s critically acclaimed dance company, Ti Pii. Bradley has choreographed for Tap Extravaganza 2000 at The Town Hall and performed at the 2003 House Dance Conference in New York. Her most recent work includes George Faison’s HARLEM HOT AND SASSY and APOLLO TURNS 70: A HOT NIGHT IN HARLEM.

La Bruja
La Bruja (a.k.a. Caridad De La Luz) is a multifaceted performer and writer, known for her mesmerizing poetry and characterizations. She was featured on HBO’s DEF POETRY, in the film BAMBOOZLED and on Hot 97’s STREET SOLDIERS. She was even a featured dancer for Chayanne's music video for the movie DANCE WITH ME.

Calvin Gaines
Record producer, composer and musician Calvin Gaines has worked with several top R&B recording artists. Gaines was part of the songwriting team for Destiny’s Child’s SURVIVOR album released in 2001. His production credits include R&B legend Keith Washington’s KW album released in 1998.

Reg E. Gaines
Reg E. Gaines is an internationally renowned playwright, poet and writer. He is the writer of the Broadway musical BRING IN DA NOISE BRING IN DA FUNK, which garnered him a Grammy and two Tony Award nominations. Currently, he is director and co-founder of Scratch DJ Academy and the artistic director of 2004 DOWNTOWN URBAN THEATER FESTIVAL.

Kayo
Brooklyn-born Kraal “Kayo” Charles is a Nuyorican Poets Cafe’s Grand Slam Champion and one of the initial poets on HBO’s DEF POETRY. Kayo has been featured on television in “Hughes Dreams Harlem” (a tribute to Langston Hughes) on The Black Starz Network and “Bone Bristle - A Spoken Word Documentary,” as well as at various venues, colleges and universities across the nation. He has traveled abroad to perform in Portugal and Austria as part of the first European Poetry Exposition.

Carl Hancock Rux
Carl Hancock Rux is a multidisciplinary artist who combines poetry, music, theatre and dance. He was a resident artist with Mabou Mines; The Ebenezor Experimental Theater in Lulea, Sweden; and the University of Ghana at Legon. He is the author of numerous plays, including TALK, which ran at The Public Theater in 2002, and has been commissioned to write poetry/prose for the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater and Urban Bush Women. His debut album, RUX REVUE on Sony Records, was named one of the top alternative music CDs of 1999. His second CD, "Apothecary Rx, " is to be released by Giant Step this year. He is the author of PAGAN OPERETTA, a book of poems, and his first novel, ASPHALT, has been signed by Simon & Schuster.

DJ Sabine
DJ Sabine spins House, Afrobeat, Haitian Roots music and African diasporic tunes. Her ear for music soothes the innate part of herself and others that honors the sounds of drums, the power of words, and the healing affect of conjuring up pure positive feeling and emotion. DJ Sabine has spun for NYC venues and grassroots organizations such as The Remote Lounge, Karma and The Black Out Arts Collective.

Sergio Rivera y Grupo Caribe
Led by composer and pianist Sergio Rivera, Grupo Caribe has been electrifying clubs all over the New York area with its Big Band Mambo and Salsa music. This nine-member band plays original compositions from their hit albums RITMO NATIVO, UN CONGO ME DIO LA LETRA and SON DE MELAZA mixed with classic songs made popular by legends such as Tito Puente and Johnny Pacheco. UN CONGO ME DIO LA LETRA, which was released last year, has been described as “arguably the hottest salsa album released at the beginning of 2003.”

Maya Smullyan-Jenkins
Tap sensation Maya Smullyan-Jenkins is a key member of Savion Glover’s dance company, Ti Pii. In between tour dates with Savion Glover, she performed a sizzling tap dancing solo on the song BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY for blues singer James Blood Ulmer’s critically acclaimed album NO ESCAPE FROM THE BLUES (THE ELECTRIC LADY SESSIONS). Other performance engagements include the Cannes Film Festival, Jerry Lewis Telethon and Beacon Theater.

Emanuel Xavier
Emanuel Xavier is author of the poetry collections, PIER QUEEN and AMERICANO, and the Lambda Literary Award-nominated novel, CHRIST-LIKE. Xavier is a two-time Grand Poetry Slam winner at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe.