Since 2012, writer Cheryl Foggo and singer-songwriter Miranda Martini have collaborated multiple times on various iterations of Foggo’s play, John Ware.
In Excerpts from John Ware Reimagined, Foggo reflects on her own journey of growing up black in a cowboy-obsessed city and interweaves it with the powerful, myth-shattering journey of John Ware. In this presentation, mother/daughter creative team Cheryl and Miranda will share readings and original music from the play.
Cheryl Foggo has been published and produced extensively in multiple genres, including film, theatre, journalism and literature. Her play, John Ware Reimagined, won the 2015 Writers Guild of Alberta Award for Drama and was produced most recently at Workshop West Theatre Company in November, 2017. Also in 2017 she was recognized by the YWCA as one of 150 outstanding Calgary women. She is a past recipient of the Sondra Kelly Screenplay Award from the Writers Guild of Canada. In 2014 she co-produced Alberta’s first Black Canadian Theatre Series with Ellipsis Tree Collective Theatre Company. Cheryl is continuing her exploration of the life of legendary Black cowboy John Ware in a new documentary with the National Film Board of Canada, scheduled for release early in 2020. Also upcoming in 2020 is the publication of the 30th Anniversary edition of her first book, Pourin’ Down Rain.
Miranda Martini is a musician and writer based in Calgary. Her writing has appeared in several local and national publications, and she won a Western Magazine Award for Best Emerging Writer for her article “Women in Charge” (Alberta Views Magazine, 2014). She performed in and co-wrote music for Cheryl Foggo’s play John Ware Reimagined, which had a successful second run at Edmonton’s Workshop West Theatre in November. When she’s not busy working as part of the communications team for the Students’ Association of Mount Royal University, she acts as lead musician for Calgary Queer Church and sings in and sits on the board for Blend Vocal, a women’s singing ensemble.
This concert is a co-presentation with the High Performance Rodeo, Calgary’s International Festival of the Arts.