43 min listen
Tony Award Winner Kenny Leon on His Work & the Importance of Preserving African American Classics
FromStrange Fruit
Tony Award Winner Kenny Leon on His Work & the Importance of Preserving African American Classics
FromStrange Fruit
ratings:
Length:
9 minutes
Released:
Jun 10, 2014
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Atlanta native Kenny Leon already had an impressive resume—and after Sunday night, he can add Tony Award winner. He took home the award for best direction for his work on "A Raisin in the Sun." (which also won for best revival of a play). Leon was a guest on WFPL's Strange Fruit last year, and told us he hadn't always planned on a career in the arts. "Basically when you grow up poor in the South, your parents are itching for you to do something that they know something about," he explained. "My choice was to be a teacher, a preacher, a doctor or lawyer, something like that—and being the first person in my family to go to college." He headed to Atlanta, where his involvement in the Atlanta University Center introduced him to people like Spike Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, and LaTanya Richardson. Soon he was teaching theatre workshops in the prison system and nursing homes, and working with and for the homeless in Atlanta. "That really rewarded me," he said. "I thought God had put me here to have a life in the arts."Photo: kennyleon.com
Released:
Jun 10, 2014
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Strange Fruit #31: Urmi Basu of New Light India; Kaitlyn Hunt, Statutory Rape & Queer Relationships: Activism runs in Urmi Basu's family; her grandfather was a doctor who set up a school for _dalit_ children (India's untouchable caste) in his own home. Urmi says her family "always challenged everything that's traditional in India." Thirteen years ago, she combined her passion for gender equality and her background and education in social work—along with 10,000 rupees, or $200—to found [New Light India](http://www.newlightindia.org/). New Light is non-profit organization based in the red light district of Calcutta, intended to help victims of sex trafficking and provide healthcare to people living with HIV/AIDS. With an estimated 40,000 new trafficked sex workers in the city each year, it's no small task. But Urmi is a woman of great determination. She was in Louisville recently and she sat down to talk with us about her work, and how sex trafficking in India is part of the larger globa by Strange Fruit