It takes guts for a 10-year-old to steal the spotlight from the mayor, but at a kickoff news conference for Black History Month on Tuesday, David Patterson took over with ease.
Before Mayor Vincent Gray could find his words, a suit-clad David strode to the podium and took over the big announcement: He and 69 other children from Ward 8 will be performing their annual play celebrating black history at the Kennedy Center in March.
“I was nervous,” David admitted later, “but then I got used to it.”
| Events include: |
| 1 p.m. Wednesday: Unveiling of the 2012 Black History poster at the John A. Wilson Building |
| 6:30 p.m. Feb. 13: Lecture on hip-hop and justice by George Washington University professor Paul Butler at the MLK Jr. Memorial Library. |
The play, “Blacks in Wax,” doesn’t quite fit the typical Kennedy Center performance bill: Set in a wax museum, it features 9-to-12-year-olds as figures who eventually “come to life” as prominent black Americans.
Other figures — who also made an appearance at the conference — include Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Eartha Kitt and even Ben Ali, founder of D.C.’s own Ben’s Chili Bowl.
“I don’t know how to put it in words, but it’s just a phenomenal experience to walk up to these young people and they immediately start telling you about the lives of these people,” Mayor Gray said of meeting the cast Tuesday morning. “Without a script, I might add.”
The “Blacks in Wax” performance at the Kennedy Center is March 3 at 5 p.m. Per tradition, however, the first performance will be held at the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center on Feb. 24 at 1 p.m. No admission fee is being charged, but donations are encouraged.
