Adaeze - GO LIVE

Help Adaeze GO LIVE!

THIS CAMPAIGN WILL END ON OCTOBER 1ST, 2019


A Song for Adaeze is an Afro-Futurism Musical Production.  Adaeze is a unique coming of age story rooted in folklore from West Africa and the Diaspora with an eclectic sci-fi twist and an amazing palate of thought-provoking musical numbers. A chance encounter with a mysterious and alluring individual from another dimension challenges a young woman from a Royal legacy to defy the status quo resulting in a chain of events that can destroy or revitalize the world she has come to love and cherish as her own. 

Adaeze’s journey is a quest for love, redemption, self-awareness, and salvation.  This charismatic odyssey will lure the audience into an enchanting moment in time spanning two dimensions co-existing and co-depending on each other. It will challenge how one sees their own purpose and the impact that human existence serves when merged with clarity of self-defined. Adaeze’s song spans beyond age, gender, and class. It embraces the magnificence of blackness. The vulnerability, the strength, the resiliency and the brilliance of a community that illuminates brilliance on an intergalactic realm that is archived in the history of mankind and the possibilities of all things great and yet to come by a future that is limitless.


What does it mean for Adaeze to GO LIVE? 



Adaeze is in its final stage of completion and we need your help to GO LIVE. Chi Ife and Sunni Williams have teamed up to write and produce an original musical production called, A Song for Adaeze. The show has three major presentations beginning in the month of October and the full production in February 2020. We invite you to join us in the journey of bringing the full production to a stage in Atlanta in February 2020.  First, we will launch the show by workshopping it in the community. We are raising funds to produce a two-week intensive workshop of the completed script and songs that will culminate in a Live show on Tuesday, October 1st.  The workshop and LIVE show will consist of 15 cast members, five production staff members, and an eight-piece band. The show will be comprised of teens and young adults from the Diaspora (Latin, African, Caribbean, and African American). The culminating event will be professionally filmed and audio recorded. 

Summer Performances 

Adaeze selected for ATLANTA BLACK THEATER FESTIVAL 
Wednesday, October 2nd at 6pm

Adaeze selected for Art on the Atlanta BeltLine!
October 18th at 6pm 


All funds raised will go towards the artistic and administrative fees to launch "A Song for Adaeze" and in making upcoming performances a success. 

Funds raised will be used for the following:

Artistic staff (Director, Musical Director, Musicians, Actors, and etc. - $1,875

Technical Staff (Designer fees) - $850

Outside Fees and Marketing (Sound, Set supplies, Costumes, Marketing, Special Events, ) - $2,250

Additional fees - Space rental, Administrative Fees, Studio recording, and start-up fees - $600

The impact of the Live recording. 

The Live recording will advance the project by helping us fine-tune and complete the production.  We will use creative marketing concepts to develop a strong marketing campaign to enhance fundraising for events leading up to and for the full-length production of the show. We will be able to use the filming of the show to create online promos, printed advertisements, artwork, and launch our interactive website. We will also be using the material to document the creation of the show and to share with investors or potential partners.  It will allow us to garner support for the international presentation in Nigeria in 2020 and continue to foster cultural exchanges with artists abroad. Chi Ife and Sunni will be able to present educational and empowering workshops that uplift youth and young girls for the year leading up to the production. A portion of the funding will go towards our three shows in October. 

 
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!!!

We would be grateful to have you join the journey of bringing this show to life. For your contribution, we will show our appreciation in the perks listed below. 

ADAEZE LIVE - $1000 or more  - Listed on the website,  listed in all online e-mails, an invite to the launch party, a thank you note with a signature art rendering from the show, ticket to the private showing and a ticket to a special performance in October with VIP seating. 

The ORACLE  - $100 - Listed on the website,  listed in all online e-mails, invite to the launch party,  a thank you note with a signature art rendering from the show and ticket to the private showing. 

The MAMA WATA- $50- Listed on website and e-mails.  You will receive a thank you note with a signature art rendering from the show. 

The ASTRONAUT - $25 - Listed on our website as a supporter and special thank you for helping us start our launch!

The Beginning 

Chiwuzo Ife Okwumabua (Chi Ife) began working on the concept of "A Song for Adaeze" in 2014.  In 2015 Ife received funding to begin workshopping the production. With the grant, she presented musical theater master classes led by professional performing artists and music producers from Atlanta to Georgia State University, Clark Atlanta, and for the general public.

From those three master classes, Ife selected actors to workshop concepts of "A Song for Adaeze". The culminating event from the one month workshop was a show called The Art of Bloom which was an arrangement of performance, visual art, and panel discussion celebrating the Diaspora at a performance space at Georgia State University to the general public.



The Art of Bloom event was a success and helped audiences understand the direction of A Song for Adaeze. The art exhibit prior to the show was a pairing of an African Architecture Exhibit entitled “What Africa will you build” and a Photography exhibit of black women called “Naturally You”. 
The panel discussion held after the performance of scenes and songs from Adaeze was called  (Re)Branding Black: Shifting perceptions of black culture and identity in media, marketing, and pop culture lead by mental health, marketing, theatre professionals and nonprofit leaders that work with youth.   

The talkback with the audience helped Ife to gather the information that would move the writing process of the production along. Ife recorded two songs professionally with the cast from the show. The musical recordings have helped her to garner more support for the production. In 2018 Chi Ife partnered with  Sunni Williams to complete the script for the musical and to produce the show.    


 

Who will benefit:  Introducing Theater of the Diaspora 




The goal of this project is to provide a platform for marginalized voices of the youth within the African, Afro Latina, Caribbean and African American community. This project will reveal unique cultural concepts often not traditionally featured in theatre. The key objective is to empower youth with the tools needed to become a community leader and catalyst for change. We will also address the impact of STEAM within a cultural framework and the impact that it is making on a global level. The marketing campaign for this production will provide workshops to teach the community different elements about theatre and culture. We will also do presentations in the school to identify student concerns and cultivate ideas that can lead to a resolution to the issues they are facing within the school with their peers. This theatrical journey wishes to empower and transform lives as well as
create unity within the African, Afro Latina, Caribbean, and African American community.


                                                                                            


ABOUT THE TEAM 
                                                                                                                    
CHIWUZO IFE OKWUMABUA ( CHI IFE)
Conceived by/ Music & Lyrics and Co-Producer 



Chiwuzo Ife Okwumabua (Chi Ife) is a show producer, production manager, composer, lyricist, and actress for various productions nationally and internationally. Chi was the production manager for Carnival Medea: A Bacchanal that traveled to the 2015 International Collegiate Festival at the Edinburgh Fringe. Chi was one of the producers of the Atlanta premiere of Trey Anthony’s hit musical production, ‘da Kink in My Hair at the Cobb Energy. Chi also produced the US premiere of Dr. Zulu Sofola’s classic love story, Wedlock of the Gods at the Southwest Arts Center bringing authentic African Theatre to Atlanta. She was on the planning committee of Dance Africa Atlanta hosted by Giwayen Mata African Dance Company and worked with Georgia State University on the premiere of the South African one-woman show, Mother to Mother at the Africa Atlanta festival at the Balzer Theatre.


SUNNI WILLIAMS
Book Writer and Co-Producer 



Co-Producer Sunni Williams: Writer, speaker, poet, activist, actress, on-air internet show host, and entrepreneur. Sunni has experience working in theatre as a writer and actress. In 2018 made it into the top ten finals out of 1500 for the BET Color Creative TV pilot series contest and was notified she was the second runner up to the winning candidate. Sunni also has a strong background in business and marketing and has exhibited her expertise in the corporate sector as well. Sunni is passionate about the youth and has devoted years to working in the juvenile detention center speaking to incarcerated youth and co-founded a reading program called Youth Angels to teach at-risk youth how to read.



                                                                                                  ~ THANK YOU ~