Harlem on My Mind

Cast members

by Phelicia Francis

As the frigid February wind blew outside, the small but well-kept theater in the basement of the Bronx Library Center was bustling with activity as patrons prepared to share in a celebration of Black History Month.

The production, called Harlem on My Mind, is a series of plays, songs and poems reminiscing about the Harlem Renaissance. Manhattan-based Xoregos Performing Company put on the performance, with support from the New York Library Service.

“Every year, the New York Library Service seizes the opportunity to celebrate Black History Month,” said Jean Harripersaud, director at the Bronx Library Center. “This was the third of three shows scheduled for this year.”

The pounding rhythm and blues music set the mood as the patrons who had gathered outside the theater began to file in. The seats were soon filled with the female-dominated audience.

The 70-minute program features works from mostly African American writers such as Langston Hughes, Angelina Weld Grimke, Jessie Redmon Fauset, Ade Ademola, Dave De Christopher and Kimberly Shelby-Szzyszko, all of whom were associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Also featured are the works of George Gershwin, the legendary composer and pianist who wrote memorable compositions such as Rhapsody in Blue and an American in Paris.

The plays and the songs were entertaining, and the poems were thought-provoking, taking the audience on a journey into the past. The cast was given a resounding reception at the end of the show.

“This was a great show, I enjoyed every moment of it,” said one elderly patron as she was leaving. “The only thing is that it was too short.”