January 21, 2003
Contact: Susan Gwynne
(805) 893-2098
e-mail: gwynne-s@sa.ucsb.edu

Award-winning actor and playwright Sarah Jones presents the humorous and moving Waking the American Dream at UCSB Campbell Hall

Summary Facts:

• Sarah Jones
• Waking the American Dream
• Award-winning hip-hop poet, actor and playwright
• Acclaimed for her one-woman show Surface Transit
• Thursday, February 27 / 8 pm
• UCSB Campbell Hall
• General: $25 and $22, UCSB students: $19 and $16
• Tickets/information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at 893-3535

Hip-hop poet, playwright, actor and activist Sarah Jones will perform her funny and thought-provoking one-woman show Waking the American Dream on Thursday, February 27 at 8 pm in UCSB Campbell Hall. Waking the American Dream, a moving collage of the hopes and struggles of ten diverse immigrants to the U.S., powerfully explores the complex nature of identity and freedom as Jones presents the obstacles facing newcomers to our country. In a one-woman tour-de-force Jones portrays ten different characters who have come to a spoken word festival, where each tells his or her tale in clever performance poetry. This eclectic group includes a Pakistani master of ceremonies, a Chinese mother grappling with her daughter’s lesbianism, and a Mexican-American man confronting the tragic deaths of friends at the border. This play re-confirms why The New York Times calls Jones a “high-voltage performance artist” and Variety says she is “exhilarating to watch.”

Sarah Jones is acclaimed for her performances that move from character to character with ease and believability. She has created two previous solo shows: Surface Transit, which won a Drama Desk Award nomination and the Best One-Person Show Award at HBO’s Aspen Comedy Festival, and Women Can’t Wait, which premiered at the United Nations’ International Conference on Women’s Rights. Jones conceived Surface Transit by shaping and combining previous poems and monologues she had written, including some works that helped her win the 1997 Nuyorican Poets Café’s Poetry Slam. Women Can’t Wait, which features Jones playing eight female characters whose lives reflect gender inequities in the laws of their societies, was commissioned by Equality Now, a women’s rights organization. In an interview Jones claimed, “There are so many stories of so many rich and beautiful lives that are being lived and layers of human experience that aren’t valued by mainstream media. I am interested in those.”

Jones grew up in urban areas like Washington D.C., Boston and New York, and her own biracial background was nurtured in an even more diverse melting pot when she went to the United Nations International School. After attending Bryn Mawr College, she took to writing and performing in the New York hip-hop and spoken word communities. She has performed in such diverse settings as Lincoln Center, The Apollo Theater, Riker’s Island, The Public Theater and the 92nd Street Y, and alongside such luminaries as Charles Dutton, Danny Hoch, Susan Sarandon and Meryl Streep.

In early 2002 Jones filed suit against the Federal Communications Commission, charging that it violated her First Amendment rights when it fined an Oregon radio station for playing her song “Your Revolution (Will Not Happen between These Thighs).” The song, which protests the degradation of women in mainstream hip-hop lyrics, uses sexually explicit language to point out the misogyny prevalent in rap. The as-yet unresolved case is Jones’ way both to fight censorship and criticize the too frequently sexist world of rap.

The audience is invited to remain after the performance to take part in a Meet-the-Artist discussion. In Arts & Lectures’ on-going effort to make our events accessible to all who wish to enjoy them, Waking the American Dream will be a signed performance. Sign language interpretation is made possible by the California Arts Council in collaboration with the National Arts and Disability Center and by the Santa Barbara Foundation’s Access Theatre Endowment Fund.

Sarah Jones is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and sponsored by K-LITE and Hotel Oceano. Tickets are $25 and $22 for the general public and $19 and $16 for UCSB students.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
Susan Gwynne at (805) 893-2098.