Works in Development
MWPLive initiates development on 3 new works every four months.
Yita
Photo: Rob Clatterbuck
Yita (National Endowment for the Arts and Guggenheim Fellowship project) follows the story of Gaola, a dancer in her late 30s in the midst of an unexpected and possibly fatal pregnancy. Upon separation from her husband, she discovers she's pregnant. The complication of the pregnancy turns out to be the result of ovarian cancer. We journey with Gaola as she weighs her pregnancy, the risk of losing her own life and the doctor's advice to abort. A legal battle emerges as Gaola’s husband attempts to establish a legal right to abort the child (to preserve Gaola’s life). Yita combines jazz music, movement, Yoruba mythology and Griot-styled poetry to elucidate on one woman’s battle with culture and medicine for her reproductive rights.
Performers
Composer Diana Wharton (National Endowment for the Arts recipient and Guggenheim Fellow in Jazz Composition, New Music America Grant recipient, Broadway composer for For Colored Girls...) sings and performs at piano with horn and percussion. This piece includes theatrical performance, movement and storytelling.
Performers
Composer Diana Wharton (National Endowment for the Arts recipient and Guggenheim Fellow in Jazz Composition, New Music America Grant recipient, Broadway composer for For Colored Girls...) sings and performs at piano with horn and percussion. This piece includes theatrical performance, movement and storytelling.