The Actors Fund Arts Center is an ultra-modern performing space that serves as a resource for Brooklyn-based artists and arts groups, to aid in the development and sharing of their work.
As such, the 160 Schermerhorn St., (Smith and Hoyt) venue will be the centerpiece of live entertainment when it welcomes the first ever Guyanese Kweh Kweh play on Saturday, June 22 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Titled “ Welcome To The Kweh Kweh” and sponsored by Mama Nyaah of Kosmic Enterprise, the play, written by Guyana’s preeminent cultural ambassador Menes DeGroit, will entertain and educate its audience about the wedding tradition that is steeped in the African culture, and still practiced in Guyana and the Diaspora.
Under the direction of musician Rashid Thorne, the tempo of the Shanto Group will penetrate the walls of the center as the beating of African drum by Menes DeGroit, tells the story of how a family celebrates the night before a wedding ceremony.
Menes explained that Kweh Kweh is a coming together of families, and the entire community that plays a big part in the celebration.
The play is based on two young people who met in college and decided they will be married after their graduation. As graduation approaches, they begin to make wedding preparations that would include bachelor and bachelorette parties. However, because of their Guyanese roots, their parents intervened to remind them that they should instead celebrate with a kweh kweh ceremony to engage their Guyanese heritage.
Baba Mpo aka Menes DeGroit, Guyana’s top master drummer was awarded a grant from the non-profit Actors Fund Arts Center, to write the play in keeping with the Center’s aim to serve the diverse and rapidly evolving Downtown Brooklyn community.
The two-hour event, which will include dance, music, drumming and storytelling, will accept a donation of $25.00. For more information, call 718-342-6257.
Photo courtesy of Menes DeGroit
