What happens when a performing artist survives a near-fatal car accident and collides with the oncoming traffic of Hip Hop culture? Part documentary, part music, part poetic autobiography, Yo Miss! looks back on Judith’s twenty years of teaching in prisons, immigration high schools, and universities. In this sometimes funny, sometimes sad, always truth-seeking performance, Sloan breaks down assumptions that divide teacher and student, student and student, one sub-culture from another, and residents of a polyglot city who live in close proximity but come from conflicting worlds. Through poetry, vivid character portrayals and music, she brings their tales to life along with her own stories revealing the ripple effects of the Holocaust on her family. In addition to her work as an educator, Judith Sloan is an award-winning character actress, oral historian, and radio producer. Fusing the art of theatre and radio, Yo Miss is an eye- and ear-witness account of one artist navigating a maze of miscommunications, memory, and cross-generational dialogues as she finds resilience in the face of tragedy.

A play with music
Conceived and written by Judith Sloan
Directed by Michael Dinwiddie
Music direction Frank London
Performed by Judith Sloan
with Adam Hill and MiWi LaLupa
Live Sound Engineer Luke Santy
Sound direction and design Judith Sloan
Editor at large Warren Lehrer

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View the video about the project on youtube

Warren Lehrer and Judith Sloan’s Crossing the BLVD traveling exhibition of photographs, sounds, and stories create a multimedia experience documenting the lives of new immigrants and refugees in the most polyglot locality in the United States—the borough of Queens, New York. Ninety photographic portraits by Warren Lehrer portray the pride, beauty, struggle and colorful humanity of individuals who have crossed through war zones, borders, oceans, and cultural divides.  Audio sound stations produced by Judith Sloan enable visitors to hear the voices, sounds and music of those portrayed in the exhibition. An ambient soundscape of people praying, voices on the streets, found and composed music, bring visitors into this crossroad of the world upon entering the exhibition. The Crossing the BLVD exhibition premiered at the Queens Museum of Art in 2004 and has since traveled to over 14 locations in the United States including MICA in Baltimore Maryland, Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase New York, The Hudson Museum in Orono Maine, Art Museum of the University of Memphis Tennessee, Weber State University in Utah, Urban Arts Space/University of Ohio in Columbus Ohio.

“Crossing the BLVD is a powerful social record… Most of the subjects live in Queens, but their stories resonate far beyond the borders of this multicultural New York borough. What often gets lost in the national debate on immigration is the human dimension, an understanding of the lives of those people who give up everything to come here... Extraordinary people, extraordinary lives… A living work of art.” The New York Times Benjamin Genocchio

“Crossing the BLVD—a multi-media installation of photography, text, and sounds  is more akin to watching a movie, because the narratives take time to unfold, and there is an inherent drama in the real life personal accounts… Crossing the BLVD offers an object lesson in the new aesthetic—how it looks, how it generates its meanings—as well as a window on the lives of people who, mostly unnoticed by the rest of us, are steadily enlarging the concept of what it means to be an American.” The Baltimore Sun Glenn McNatt

As immigration policy is hotly debated around the country in terms of national and cultural security, Crossing the BLVD: strangers, neighbors, aliens in a new America presents the very human stories of why immigrants and refugees have migrated to the US and what their experiences have been since they came here pre- and post-9/11. Based on Warren Lehrer and Judith Sloan’s critically acclaimed book, actor/writer Judith Sloan “channels” many of the people that the couple interviewed on their three-year journey around the world through the borough of Queens. The performance is illuminated by projections of Lehrer’s stunning photographs along with an original soundtrack of music, sounds and voices, including Sloan’s audio mixes, music by Scott Johnson and Gogol Bordello.

Winner 2004 Brendan Gill Prize Municipal Art Society of NY

“Crossing the BLVD is a whirlwind tour and love poem of what has often been called the most racially and ethnically diverse county in America. In the tradition of the playwright Anna Deavere Smith, Ms. Sloan performs “Crossing the BLVD” adopting the personae (and respectfully mimicking the accents) of the varied immigrants whose stories are in the book… The New York Times, City Room Blog, Sewell Chan

“Crossing the BLVD boldly carries the tradition of oral history into the 21st Century. Electrifying!”Eve Ensler, author The Vagina Monologues

Monday July 11 @7:30pm, 2011 New York Institute of Technology
Auditorium, 1871 Broadway beween 61st and 62nd Streets New York, NY 10023
$10 General Admission, $5 Students
for info call: 212.261.1529

BUY THE BOOK NOW

Buy THE CD and LISTEN TO CUTS

Performances for Human Rights and Youth Leadership
Hosted by Judith Sloan
At the Spanish Repertory Theatre
138 East 27th Street, NYC, between Lexington and Third Avenues.
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Saturday June 11 performances by:
Judith Sloan presents an excerpt from Yo Miss!, and La Bruja, with opening acts by Youth from EarSay’s Theatre workshop and Bridget Kelso. Post show talk back with the artists hosted by Martha Diaz from Hip Hop Education Center, with guests Abran Maldonado and Hasan Salaam.

Judith Sloan’s Anecdotal Evidence: Notes from An Evolutionary Activist.

Performance of character monologues, music, poetry turning life on its side, anger into song, pain into hilarity. Part concert, part stories, looking at the world through the eyes of someone who has reported on stories of immigrants, refugees, and human rights for the past 20 years. Judith Sloan, Frank London and band.

Judith Sloan’s Anecdotal Evidence was made possible with a theatre commission individual artist grant from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) through a sponsored grant through City Lore.

Created for public radio broadcast and live performance. Dayenu is a poetic narrative that intimately looks at the Jewish holiday of Passover. In questioning the meaning of Dayenu, producer, writer Judith Sloan asks when we will have had enough torture, war, fear, hatred and what it means to look at the ideas of slavery in our contemporary lives, and to question the futility of ongoing war and enemy states. Written, edited, produced, arranged and performed by Judith Sloan. Music by Frank London and Judith Sloan. Recording Engineer and additional arrangement Taylor Rivelli. Mixed by Ryan West.

Dayenu won First Place in the Missouri Review National Audio Competition, May 2009.

Listen:

The School of Education is excited to host an Immigration and Education Conference on Saturday, March 19, 2011. There is no better place to look carefully at immigration, in its broadest sense, than here in the city referred to as “The Crossroads of the World”, and especially at City College, an institution that has been educating immigrant students for over 100 years. The conference will bring together students, faculty, educators, community members and politicians from NYC and beyond to address this timely and important topic.

An evening of monologues, dance, hip hop, music and poetry.
Performances by:
Universes, Carl Hancock Rux, Judith Sloan, Warren Lehrer, Elise Knudson. Musical guests: Jie-Song Zhang and Krussia of the Stone Forest Ensemble and MiWi LaLupa.

Also actors reading excerpts from Crossing the BLVD including: Bridget Kelso, Chris Kamau, Justin Hudson, Catherine Hanna, Bridgit Antoinette Evans, Vaimoana Niumeitolu, Prerana Reddy, and Jonathan Stuart (from Viper Records), and a special performance by high school students from EarSay’s Transforming Trauma Into Art theatre project.

Read about Judith Sloan’s work with immigrant teenagers in the New York Times.

View video trailer of EarSay Arts and Activism Workshops for Youth.

EarSay Arts and Activism Workshops for Youth Founded by Judith Sloan from EarSay Inc on Vimeo.

Crossing the Cultural Divide
curated and hosted by Judith Sloan
featuring Parul Shah, NYCSubwayGirl, and Abran “Aronic” Maldonado

For BAX’s 20th Birthday Season, alumni, faculty, current and former resident artists provide a striking curatorial dynamism. They have pulled from their experiences and interests at and beyond BAX. As a group they represent BAX’s past, present and future. Crossing the Cultural Divide brings together artists from disparate ethnic and cultural backgrounds and performance genres.

Tickets:
In advance $12 General 
$7 Low-Income
Half-hour before show (at the box office) $15 General
$8 Low-Income

Warren Lehrer and Judith Sloan’s Crossing the BLVD traveling exhibition of photographs, sounds, and stories create a multimedia experience documenting the lives of new immigrants and refugees in the most polyglot locality in the United States—the borough of Queens, New York. Ninety photographic portraits by Warren Lehrer portray the pride, beauty, struggle and colorful humanity of individuals who have crossed through war zones, borders, oceans, and cultural divides.  Audio sound stations produced by Judith Sloan enable visitors to hear the voices, sounds and music of those portrayed in the exhibition. An ambient soundscape of people praying, voices on the streets, found and composed music, bring visitors into this crossroad of the world upon entering the exhibition.  The Crossing the BLVD exhibition premiered at the Queens Museum of Art in 2004 and has since traveled to over 11 locations in the United States including MICA in Baltimore Maryland, Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase New York, The Hudson Museum in Orono Maine, Art Museum of the University of Memphis Tennessee, Weber State University in Utah. Details on performances and lectures to follow.

“Crossing the BLVD is a powerful social record… Most of the subjects live in Queens, but their stories resonate far beyond the borders of this multicultural New York borough. What often gets lost in the national debate on immigration is the human dimension, an understanding of the lives of those people who give up everything to come here... Extraordinary people, extraordinary lives… A living work of art.” The New York Times Benjamin Genocchio

“Crossing the BLVD—a multi-media installation of photography, text, and sounds  is more akin to watching a movie, because the narratives take time to unfold, and there is an inherent drama in the real life personal accounts… Crossing the BLVD offers an object lesson in the new aesthetic—how it looks, how it generates its meanings—as well as a window on the lives of people who, mostly unnoticed by the rest of us, are steadily enlarging the concept of what it means to be an American.” The Baltimore Sun Glenn McNatt

This panel seeks common ground among voices that weave together art and social change strategies in their engagement with immigrant communities. At this intersection, we bring together dynamic figures from the fields of art and culture, social justice, human rights, and grantmaking to discuss how they connect, support, and collaborate. By encouraging each panelist to share challenges, lessons learned and best practices, we hope to build on diverse strengths for collaboration in the future. The panel will be followed by a lively reception.

Moderated by: Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, Director of the Culture, Creativity and Communities Program, Urban Institute

Performance by: Judith Sloan, Co-creator with Warren Lehrer of Crossing the BLVD: strangers, neighbors, aliens in a new America and Co-founder of EarSay

Presenting: Heidi Boisvert, Multi-Media Manager, Breakthrough / Christine Gaspar, Executive Director, Center for Urban Pedagogy with collaborator Sean Basinski, Director, Street Vendor Project./ Carlos A. Martinez, Colombian-born Artist and Activist / Iris Morales, Executive Director, Union Square Awards

Performance to support Arts and Activism workshops for immigrant teenagers. Hosted by actress/radio producer/co-creator of Crossing the BLVD Judith Sloan, whose multi-character performances combine humor, pathos and a love of the absurd. Featured performers: Lemon Andersen, Tony-award winning Brooklyn-based renaissance and hip-hop artist, creator of the critically acclaimed one man show County of Kings* in which Lemon recounts his troubled childhood and eventual arrival on Broadway as part of Def Poetry Jam; Mahina Movement, a trio of three voices and one guitar mixing folk, rock and rhymes in English, Spanish, and Tongan simmered with indigenous roots and culture; Elise Knudson, cross-disciplinary dance-maker; AKIR, hip-hop educator/producer performing social commentary to an uplifting score and Hasan Salaam, hip hop artist, humanitarian/speaker whose music paints vivid pictures of the commonalities that bind us. A special appearance by a Michael Legaspi, a student from EarSay’s Arts workshops and Justin Hudson, recent Hunter College High School graduate.

Proceeds go to EarSay’s Youth Arts Programs and directly to the performing artists.

$14 Early Bird Special through Sept. 22/$16 after the 22nd /$20 at the door.
Sponsor tickets $30 and help teenagers attend the show!

This event is supported in part by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The International High School at LaGuardia Community College, and Viper Records.

* Lemon Andersen’s County of Kings was first presented at the Public Theater in association with Under the Radar and the Culture Project

Earsay’s Youth Arts programs is a partnership with the International High School at LaGuardia Community College supported in part by the office of New York City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center and with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Earsay’s Youth Arts programs is a partnership with the International High School at LaGuardia Community College supported in part by LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, the office of New York City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, with public  funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and Viper Records.

2011

November 22, Crossing the BLVD lecture and performance at Peace and Conflict Studies, John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

November 3, 4, 5, 6 Judith Sloan’s Yo Miss! at Nuyorican Poets Cafe, NYC

September 14 and 15 Crossing the BLVD performances at Waterman Theatre, Tyler Hall, SUNY Oswego.

August 29 Crossing the BLVD exhibition opens at Tyler Art Gallery, SUNY Oswego.

July 11 Crossing the BLVD performance, with Judith Sloan at the New York Institute of Technology.

June 10 and 11 Performances at the Spanish Repertory Theater. NY, NY.

April 9- Benefit Performance hosted by Brian Lehrer at New York Society for Ethical Culture, to support EarSay’s Transforming Trauma Into Art Youth program for immigrant teenagers. Performances by Judith Sloan, Carl Hancock Rux, Universes, Warren Lehrer, honoring Deb Margolin and Ninotchka Rosca.

March 26 and April 6- Crossing the BLVD exhibition closes at Ohio State University, Urban Arts Space, and Paul Robeson Galleries, Rutgers University, Newark NJ.

March 19: Judith Sloan and EarSay team for Transforming Trauma Into Art at CCNY Immigration and Education Conference. Panel with Judith Sloan, Robert Winn, Jen Blier, and Percy Lujan.

March 3: Warren Lehrer and Judith Sloan at SUNY Oswego. Sneak preview of Crossing the BLVD exhibition and workshops schedules for fall 2011. As part of campus-wide Telling Tales project.

February 14: Opening of selected images of Crossing the BLVD, at Rutgers University, Paul Robeson Galleries, Gallery talk with Warren Lehrer and Judith Sloan.

February 11 and 12: Crossing the Cultural Divide. Performance featuring Parul Shah, NYCSubway Girl, and Aronic at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange. Curated and hosted by Judith Sloan.

January 28 and 29: Judith Sloan performance at Ohio State University, Urban Arts Center opening and reception for Crossing the BLVD traveling exhibition. Saturday Jan 29: Sloan conducted workshop on storytelling and art of the interview.  

January 24: Warren Lehrer – guest lecture, The Visual Literature of Warren Lehrer, New York University, Tisch School of the Arts

2010

December 1 and 2: Judith Sloan, performance of Yo Miss! at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center

October 22 and 23: Warren Lehrer lectures and presents at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago

October 14: Judith Sloan Crossing the BLVD presentation at New York Foundation for the Arts panel on Art, Social Justice, and Engaging Immigrant Communities.

October 3: Judith Sloan Crossing the BLVD presentation at The Ethical Culture Society of Westchester, NY

Sept. 29: Crossing the BLVD/Crossing the Cultural Divide, Performance with Judith Sloan, Lemon Andersen, Mahina Movement, AKIR, Hasan Salaam, Elise Knudson. LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, LIC Queens, NY.

July 12: Judith Sloan performs Crossing the BLVD at New York Institute of Technology

July 11: Judith Sloan, keynote speaker at New York Society for Ethical Culture

April 30: Work-in-progress of Judith Sloan’s Yo Miss! Teaching Inside the Cultural Divide Vol 1, Nuyorican Poets Café. Directed by Michael Dinwiddie, Music Director Frank London.   

April 16 and 23: Crossing the BLVD performance at Nuyorican Poets Café

April 7: Warren Lehrer, Keynote Speaker, The Morristown and Morris Township Library’s Third Annual Book Arts Series

March 25th: Judith Sloan on panel for Full Spectrum series, The Griots, Powerhouse Arena Books.

March 4, 5, 6: Work-in-progress of Judith Sloan’s Yo Miss! Teaching Inside the Cultural Divide, Vol. 1, Nuyorican Poets Café. Directed by Michael Dinwiddie, Music Director Frank London.

February 23: Crossing the Cultural Divide, dialogue on prison and art with Anthony Papa and Immortal Technique. International High School at LaGuardia Community College.

February 8: Warren Lehrer – guest lecture, The Visual Literature of Warren Lehrer, New York University, Tisch School of the Arts

January 11: Judith Sloan’s documentary on Immortal Technique aired on WGBH/BBC/PRI’s THE WORLD, host Marco Werman. Click here: From Harlem to Kabul

2009

December 6: Crossing the Cultural Divide event at Nuyorican Poets Café NYC with Kahlil Almustafa, Judith Sloan, Chenits Pettigrew, Warren Lehrer, Vanessa Hidary and more.

November 13: Warren Lehrer Guest Lecture, College of Arts and Humanities, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah
Warren Lehrer, 2009-2010 The Dean W. and Carol W. Hurst Artist/Scholar in Residence, College of Arts and Humanities, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah

October 24: Judith Sloan, work-in-progress Yo Miss! Teaching Inside the Cultural Divide, Vol. 1, Hudson Opera House, Hudson, NY

October 12 through November 22: Crossing the BLVD Exhibition, Mary Elizabeth Dee Shaw Gallery, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah.

October 1-3: Warren Lehrer and Judith Sloan present lectures and conduct workshops, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

October 2: Judith Sloan performs Crossing the BLVD. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

September 28: Warren Lehrer and Judith Sloan, Featured Speakers, I and Thou: The Book as Community: The 15th Annual New Jersey Book Arts Symposium, Rutgers University

September 15: EarSay benefit with guest artists including Frank London, Deb Margolin, Immortal Technique, Ken White, Judith Sloan, Warren Lehrer, honoring Tony Papa, 13th Street Theatre, New York City.

September 12: Work-in-progress of Judith Sloan’s Yo Miss! Teaching Inside the Cultural Divide, Vol. 1, Danny Simmons Gallery, Brooklyn NY. Directed by Michael Dinwiddie, performed live with Ken White and Luke Santy sound engineer.

August 11: Judith Sloan and Chen Lo and the Liberation Family, double bill at Bowery Poetry Club, NYC

May: Judith Sloan wins first place and first runner up in Missouri Review National Audio Competition. First Place, Dayenu written, produced and performed by Judith Sloan, music by Frank London and Judith Sloan. First Runner Up, What’s Your Status, written, produced and performed by Judith Sloan, music produced and performed by Taylor Rivelli.

April 24: Performance of Crossing the BLVD, Bennington College

April 13: Feature in New York Times on EarSay’s project with youth directed by Judith Sloan, Click to read Pain Into Performance

April 5: Crossing the BLVD/Crossing the Cultural Divide event at Queens Museum of Art, Queens NY. Multiple artists including Basya Schecter, Chenits Pettigrew, Editha Rosario, hosted by Judith Sloan.

November 13: Warren Lehrer Guest Lecture, College of Arts and Humanities, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah
Warren Lehrer, 2009-2010 The Dean W. and Carol W. Hurst Artist/Scholar in Residence, College of Arts and Humanities, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah

October 24: Judith Sloan, work-in-progress Yo Miss! Teaching Inside the Cultural Divide, Vol. 1, Hudson Opera House, Hudson, NY

October 12 through November 22: Crossing the BLVD Exhibition, Mary Elizabeth Dee Shaw Gallery, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah.

October 1-3: Warren Lehrer and Judith Sloan present lectures and conduct workshops, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

October 2: Judith Sloan performs Crossing the BLVD. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

September 28: Warren Lehrer and Judith Sloan, Featured Speakers, I and Thou: The Book as Community: The 15th Annual New Jersey Book Arts Symposium, Rutgers University

September 15: EarSay benefit with guest artists including Frank London, Deb Margolin, Immortal Technique, Ken White, Judith Sloan, Warren Lehrer, honoring Tony Papa, 13th Street Theatre, New York City.

September 12: Work-in-progress of Judith Sloan’s Yo Miss! Teaching Inside the Cultural Divide, Vol. 1, Danny Simmons Gallery, Brooklyn NY. Directed by Michael Dinwiddie, performed live with Ken White and Luke Santy sound engineer.

August 11: Judith Sloan and Chen Lo and the Liberation Family, double bill at Bowery Poetry Club, NYC

May: Judith Sloan wins first place and first runner up in Missouri Review National Audio Competition. First Place, Dayenu written, produced and performed by Judith Sloan, music by Frank London and Judith Sloan. First Runner Up, What’s Your Status, written, produced and performed by Judith Sloan, music produced and performed by Taylor Rivelli.

April 24: Performance of Crossing the BLVD, Bennington College

April 13: Feature in New York Times on EarSay’s project with youth directed by Judith Sloan, Click to read:  Voicing Pain Through Performance

April 5: Crossing the BLVD/Crossing the Cultural Divide event at Queens Museum of Art, Queens NY. Multiple artists including Basya Schecter, Chenits Pettigrew, Editha Rosario, hosted by Judith Sloan.

After seven years of loving toil, Warren Lehrer is just now putting the final touches on A LIFE IN BOOKS: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley, an illuminated novel that contains 101 books within it, all written and designed by Lehrer’s protagonist, who finds himself in prison looking back on his life and career. Mobley’s autobiography/apologia runs alongside a review of all 101 of his books. Each book is represented by its first edition cover design and catalogue copy, and more than half his books are excerpted. The resulting retrospective contrasts the published writings (which read like short-short stories) with the author’s confessional memoir, forming a most unusual portrait of a well-intentioned, obsessively inventive (but ethically challenged) visionary. Stay tuned for more information on the book, Warren’s reading/performance tour, and the traveling exhibition.

Coming in 2012.

Read about the project in The Atlantic

Lecture by Warren Lehrer on his work as a writer, designer, and pioneering practitioner of visual literature. Lehrer talks about his obsessions with capturing the shape of thought, reuniting the pictorial and oral roots of storytelling with the printed word, and bridging documentary and expressive forms. He discusses his pilgrimage with language through art and design into literature, and deconstructs and performs excerpts of his books and multi-media projects including i mean you know, FRENCH FRIES, The Portrait Series, Crossing the BLVD, and his new illuminated novel in progress, The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley: a life in books, which contains 101 books within it. One part artist lecture, one part author reading, one part performance, this presentation is as entertaining as it is informative and thought provoking.

Students from our Youth Arts and Activism projects: Transforming Trauma Into Art and Cross-Cultural Dialogue Through the Arts program in partnership with the International High School at LaGuardia Community College will perform in April at EarSay’s benefit event hosted by Brian Lehrer of the Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC radio. More details to come. Read about Judith Sloan’s work with immigrant teenagers in the New York Times. Transforming Trauma Into Art is a new initiative of EarSay’s, directed by Judith Sloan, born out of our partnership with the International High School at LaGuardia Community College where many students come from war-zones and conflict. The premise of this workshop is based on healing through artistic expression using a combination of music, movement, theatre and storytelling. This process helps release the stories and stressors that prevent people—who have been traumatized by war, economic or natural disasters—from moving forward. This program is specifically designed for teenagers who recently migrated to the United States. It brings an understanding of confronting obstacles through artistic expression to communities that are poor, displaced, or don’t have access to artistic training, serving approximately 450 students. The project grows out of our commitment to education and the creation of artistic works that evolve out of individual experience and community. In this case, the community is immigrant and refugee teenagers attending school in New York City. The program currently takes place on a weekly basis under the direction of Judith Sloan, with teaching artists Laura Doggett and Robert Winn, guest teaching artist/hip hop educator Hasan Salaam, CUNY Graduate Assistant Jen Bleier, NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study students Alden Ehrenreich and Zoe Rosenberg, and Bard College High School intern Paulus Van Horne. View video trailer of project’s history below.

EarSay Arts and Activism Workshops for Youth Founded by Judith Sloan from EarSay Inc on Vimeo.