KOLA: An Afro Diasporic Remix of the Nutcracker

2150 Livingston Street,Oakland CA 94606

15 December, 2022

Description

Join Oakland for a beautiful holiday experience with KOLA ! This new Holiday classic returns to Bay Area December 15-18, 2022 “Kola is the story of the rights of passage for a young girl…It is a pleasure to revise & make relevant this traditional show with the pantheon of greats that represent the Bay Area youth arts scene.” - Artist, RyanNicole Next month, local Oakland non-profit The People’s Conservatory (TPC), in collaboration with renowned local artists such as Jennifer Johns, Ryan Nicole, Kev Choice, and the OSA Concert Choir, will bring back the theatrical hit Kola: An Afro Diasporic Remix of The Nutcracker for a four day run December 15-18, 2022. This inspiring, joy-filled, and moving professional production has received rave reviews and is being hailed as “the new holiday classic.” Kola: An Afro Diasporic Remix of The Nutcracker is a re-envisioned version of The Nutcracker through the lens of African and Afro-Latinx music, dance, theater, and culture reflecting the lives of Black and Brown children socially, politically, and spiritually, set in modern-day Oakland. The KOLA creative team, comprised of TPC founder Rozz Nash and beloved local artists Jennifer Johns as the lead, Grammy nominated Ryan Nicole as book author and lead and Kev Choice as the composer, rewrote this narrative with a team of Bay Area’s most renowned composers, choreographers, costume designers, and visual artists, Kola offers new music compositions representing Jazz, Gospel, Afro-Caribbean, Hip Hop, R&B, and re-mixed Tchaikovsky. Show Dates: December 15-18 General Admission $20 / Door $25 Opening Night VIP Reception December 15th (Tickets are for December 15th ONLY) Purchase VIP Opening Night Reception Tickets Here It is with great pleasure that we invite you to the opening night VIP reception for The People’s Conservatory’s 2022 production for KOLA: An Afro Diasporic Remix of the Nutcracker. Please join us at 6 pm, December 15th for champagne, hors d’oeuvres, premium seating before the general audience, and momentos. We are thrilled at the work that has been poured into this outstanding production and look forward to sharing this extremely special event with you! Tickets for the reception are only $75. Your generosity sustains this organization and allows over 5,000 Bay Area youth access to free and sliding-scale professional level arts training year-round. We first premiered this theatrical production in 2019, filling the community's hearts with joy and unity. It was an energy-filled community affair with an eight-show run and a final sold-out show. 500+ students from over a dozen Oakland and other East Bay schools were involved as performers, composers and costume/set designers. The play re-envisions a version of The Nutcracker through the lens of African and Afro-Latinx music, dance, theater, and culture, reflecting the lives of Black and Brown children socially, politically, and spiritually in modern-day Oakland. We've heard the calls loud and clear from the community three years later—it's time to bring KOLA back!