By Nadia Taha
In the middle of dreary New York winters, when a walk to the subway leaves one’s extremities numb with cold, lies the hope of February. The month brings with it Valentine’s Day, warming people’s hearts, and Black History Month, reminding the city to celebrate its heritage. What better time to appreciate love and diversity? Appreciating diverse understandings of love in an erotic sense is precisely the aim of an upcoming panel discussion at Long Island University’s Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts. The panel, called “The Erotic as Power: A Re-defining of Love and Sex/uality,” will feature a broad group of speakers and a handful of performances addressing the deeper issues behind modern sexuality. “In the month of February, which is traditionally a month when there are conversations about diversity, we wanted to have a conversation about sexuality and kind of frame it from a standpoint of diversity,” explained April Silver, a co-producer of the event. The panelists represent a varied range of backgrounds in their ages, races, and sexual orientations in order to present an extensive understanding of love and sex. Sonia Sanchez, a central figure in the Black Arts Movement, Dr. Belisa Vranich, sex columnist for the Daily News, and Byron Hurt, a filmmaker and gender equality activist form the panel. Poet activist Mo Beasley will moderate the discussion. The academic forum will serve as a companion piece to Mo Beasley’s UrbanErotika, a set of monthly performances, which will be at the Kumble Theater on February 23 at 8 pm. The event includes different performers presenting works of poetry, spoken word, theater, music, and dance, all relating to topics surrounding erotica beyond pornography. Beasley sees such active engagement from regular attendees of the event that he decided to hold a multilateral dialogue with experts and the audience to complement the performances. “The panel discussion we’re doing first so we expand the conversation beyond just a piece of performance,” Beasley said. “This is a way for me to actually show it literally that we need to have a more honest and open conversation about our sexuality and eroticism versus pornography.” “Being that the Kumble Theater is an academic institution we wanted to have an academic discussion about sexuality and the power around it and diversity because everyone relates to the issues around it,” added Rodney Hurley, managing director of Kumble Theater. “We’re looking for young people and people from across generations to come in and have an enlightening discussion about eroticism outside of the realm of pornography.” Beasley and Silver say they have found in New York an audience receptive to that message at the Kumble Theater. They credit the sexual and ethnic diversity of the city with creating a tolerant atmosphere in which eroticism can be openly discussed. “If you’re going be courageous about your sexuality, New York is the place to do it, because you’re going to be more embraced than in other communities that are more narrow-minded,” said Silver. “It really is the melting pot. We have so many, all of the races are here, and so many ethnicities are here. So it’s an ideal place to talk about like an expanded view of humanity, not just white people, not just black people. People are mixed up in New York.” Moreover, according to Beasley, a large portion of UrbanErotika’s regular audience comes from Brooklyn. Moving the performance from Manhattan to Brooklyn eventually seemed like a natural progression. “The folks that were crossing the river for the last five or six years are now coming to see us closer to home,” he said. Beasley himself has lived in Brooklyn for the last eight years. Originally from Boston, he studied theater arts with a concentration in acting at Howard University before moving to New York fifteen years ago. To him, the diversity of the city is the very foundation of his work. “You have all these expressions in one city so we have to have them in the room,” he explained. “And if we have those different groups in the room they start to get enlightened about each other.” Having representatives from such disparate groups was Beasley’s goal in selecting panelists for the discussion. “That mix may seem strange but for me UrbanErotika is about all the cultures in New York City,” he said. “That goes beyond racial cultures to cultures of sexual preference and cultures of class and what have you to have this conversation from their perspectives.” The location and the venue alone might draw newcomers to the events, according to Beasley. He hopes hosting The Erotic as Power and UrbanErotika at the Kumble Theater will help contribute to the diversity within the audience. “I think Brooklyn has a more diverse black population, as well as other folks. I’m looking for a larger Caribbean audience than we’ve had in the past,” he explained. Hurley also sees an opportunity for the community surrounding Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus. “Let’s talk sex in a free and open way, about the power that surrounds it,” he said. “The Erotic as Power: A Re-defining of Love and Sex/uality” will be at 8 pm on February 23 at Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts, Flatbush and DeKalb Avenues in Brooklyn; call 718-488-1624 or visit www.kumbletheater.org. Admission is $10 in advance, $15 at the door.
