Poets Wanted!

The Fair Housing Partnership is looking for poets to compete in the fourth annual Fair Housing Pittsburgh Poetry Slam. First prize of $500, Second Prize $250, Third Prize $100.

Event Date & Time: Thursday, April 8, 2010 | 8 PM
Place: Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, 5941 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Theme: From Words to Actions: Remaking Communities for Everyone
Performance Requirements: Submissions should be between 3 and 5 minutes in length. They should be family friendly (PG rating). The written poem will need to be submitted via e-mail as a word document or as a pdf.
Deadline for Consideration: Please submit your poem to Megan Hammond at megan@pittsburghfairhousing.org by March 19 or call 412-391-2535 x 203.

Celebrate Billy Strayhorn!

Suite Life: A Billy Strayhorn Birthday Bash

Saturday, November 28 | 8 PM | Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, 5941 Penn Avenue

$15 Advance | $20 Door | $10 zipcode 15206 | $5 Students & Artists

Give thanks for jazz on Thanksgiving weekend! Celebrate the birthday of Billy Strayhorn - a native of Pittsburgh, a great composer and pianist, and the man responsible for many of Duke Ellington’s most famous jazz numbers, including “Take the A Train.” Performances of Strayhorn’s finest music come from Pittsburgh’s finest performers - The Pittsburgh Gospel Choir; Spoken Word Artist Vanessa German; Trumpeter Sean Jones Quintet, with guest steelpan artist Phil Solomon. Join us in celebration of an American treasure - Billy Strayhorn.

$2 Classics

The Kelly Strayhorn Theater has introduced a new film series called $2 Classics.

The admission price of $2 includes a mixer before the film, with concessions, music by DJ Omar-Abdul, and film admission. With DJ, host, and audience permitted, even encouraged, to talk back to the screen, this is a film project sure to liven up your summer!

Be sure to mark your calendar for July 21, to see a very young Laurence Fishburne make his film debut in Cornbread, Earl and Me (see left). The film is about an ambitious basketball player on his way to being the first in his community to attend college, when police mistake “Cornbread” as a criminal. The results impact his family and the whole community. Mixer starts at 6:30 p.m., with the screening at 8:00 p.m.

Last in the series of $2 Classics Film Series is Coffy on August 11, which stars Pam Grier in her first leading role, as a nurse fed up with the narcotics that have penetrated the inner city. A classic blaxploitation film - this is one you can’t miss! Mixer at 6:30 p.m., screening at 8:00 p.m.

$2 Classics Film Series presented by the Kelly Strayhorn Theater aims to shape a new cannon of classic American cinema and provide entertainment for a diverse audience at a low cost. For only $2, come mingle, dance, and see great films of the 1970s.

Contact: Janera Solomon, Executive Director, 412-363-3000 ext. 101; or visit www.kelly-strayhorn.org.

Motivational Youth Event in East Liberty

The Greater Pittsburgh Afterschool Peer Network (GPAPN) in conjunction with the Allegheny Department of Human Services is having a motivational youth leadership event entitled "Its a Great Day, You Can Do It," designed for middle and high school students, on Tuesday, May 19, 2009, from 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, 5941 Penn Avenue, in East Liberty. Some members of GPAPN have already secured seats for their youths and chaperones. However, there are approximately 115 seats still available that will be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis. If you are interested in bringing middle school or high school youths from your afterschool program, please respond to Twilia Simmons-Walker via twila.simmons-walker@alcosan.org by Friday, May 8th.