A totally amazing totally online production of WONDERFUL FLIGHT TO THE MUSHROOM PLANET, the great story of two children and their chicken who fly to the Mushroom Planet to save it from destruction. This original musical, composed by Prof. Penny Prince of the Music Program, with a script written by the cast, is based on a play by Jeffrey Beer and the much loved science fiction book of the same name by Eleanor Cameron. There are 10 songs, dances, laughter, and love.

Suitable for ages 2 to 120. 

The cast and crew are current Lehman students, alumni, and community members. 

Technical Director: Eduardo Resendiz-Gomez (alum);
Recording Engineer: Steven Buonanotte (Lehman Multimedia Center);
Animator: Brandon Marcano (alum)
Choreographer: Colette Ambo (alum)

Premiering Tuesday, September 22, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. as a livestream on YouTube, and thereafter available on YouTube.

Length: Approximately one hour.

Link to Premier on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/IbwgYh2b_KA_

The Trouble with My Name examines the issues of language, race, and social justice in an eye-opening performance where Ávila engages the audience as he tells the story of his life and reads poetry that illustrates what it means to be the American of the future. Ávila’s show breaks barriers and embraces the diversity of a nation whose history is rich and colorful. The message transcends boundaries of race, ethnicity, and geography.

Andrés Gómez is a Colombian American poet, speaker, actor, and author of Fractures, winner of the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry, Hijito, winner of the Broken River Prize and a #1 SPD bestseller, and the memoir Man Up: Reimagining Modern Manhood, released by Penguin Random House. A star of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, TV One’s Verses and Flow, and Spike Lee’s #1 box office movie Inside Man with Denzel Washington, Carlos is widely known for his viral poems, “Where are you really from?” and “What Latino Looks Like,” which have garnered millions of views online. Winner of the Atlanta Review International Poetry Prize and the Sandy Crimmins National Prize for Poetry, he partnered with John Legend on Senior Orientation, a program to counteract bullying and champion inclusive masculinity among high school students. Carlos is a proud Latinx and father. 

In his book Sounds of Crossing: Music, Migration, and the Aural Poetics of Huapango Arribeño (Duke 2017), guest lecturer Dr. Alex E. Chávez of the University of Notre Dame, explores the contemporary politics of Mexican migrant cultural expression manifest in the sounds and aural poetics of huapango arribeño, a musical genre originating from north-central Mexico. In this presentation, he draws on this work to address how Mexican migrants voice desires of recognition and connection through performance, and the politics such desires attain amidst the transnational context of migrant deportability.

This event is cosponsored by the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies; the Department of Music, Multimedia, Theatre, and Dance; the Mexican Studies Institute; and the Leonard Lief Library. The book discussion will be preceded at 11:00am by a lecture/recital by Dr. Chávez entitled “Huapango Arribeño: Aural Poetics of North-Central Mexico.”