Brooke O'Harra is featured in Penn Today for directing an adaptation of Ross Gay's book-length poem, "Be Holding" at Girard College.
From the piece:
"It was five years ago when poet Ross Gay visited his friend Brooke O’Harra, who teaches creative writing at Penn, and started to tinker with an unfinished poem while sitting on the porch of her West Philadelphia rowhouse.
The piece was 'Be Holding,' which would become an award-winning book-length poem on Black genius and racial justice, published in 2020. “Be Holding” is an ode to legendary basketball player Julius Erving—known as Dr. J—who dominated courts in the 1970s and ’80s as a forward for the Philadelphia 76ers.
A conversation on the porch was the beginning of a collaboration that would turn that poem into a conceptual production—one read by two poet performers, in concert with original music composed by Penn Professor Tyshawn Sorey and played by Yarn/Wire, a music quartet in residence at Penn, and student-actors from a Philadelphia high school. And all of it put together by O’Harra, the director."
Watch a video of the full performance here.
See the full article at the link below: