Christopher Paul Moore is a playwright, historian, curator and Senior Researcher for the N.Y. Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and author and co-author of several works including The Black New Yorkers: 400 Years of African American History, Standing In The Need Of Prayer: African American Prayer Traditions, Slavery In New York. A former journalist and news editor for ABC Radio and National Black Network News, Chris interviewed several presidential contenders including George Romney, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George Bush. A 1986 Eugene O’Neill Playwright Fellow, Moore’s play, The Last Season, is published in Seven Black Plays: Anthology of African American Plays (Northwestern University). In 1991 Chris broke the story of the unearthing of the African Burial Ground in lower Manhattan on FOX NY Channel 5. He is featured in Annenberg Media’s Teaching Multicultural Literature program, “Langston Hughes and Christopher Moore,” and New Jack City: Harlem Walking Tour with Christopher Moore (Warner Bros), directed by Mario Van Peebles, and he is a consultant to PBS History Detectives.
INTERVIEW
1. You wrote historical play "Pearl Street." What's the story and inspiration?
My play is about the 2012 Election, a Wall Street worker is suddenly
overcome and transformed by the mystical presence of Peter Stuyvesant,
the long deceased Governor (aka The Boss) of the colonial Wall.
I was inspired by our daily news reports, which indicate that our
world is fundamentally changing no matter who is our president. I
would like my play to give the audience a theatrical, yet historic,
view of America since the arrival of our first ancestors. The play
believes that climate and human behavior are the most important
elements of global civilization, especially here at Pearl Street.
2. As an artist, what do you think your responsibility is politically
to your community (or do you think you even have one)?
We are all responsible, artists et al, which is the way life is
shaped, I believe. Artists may be history’s truest historians. About
200 years ago, Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote that “Poets are the
unacknowledged legislators of the world.” Playwrights are second only
to Hip Hop performers, who are the best of the best. I wish I had
their talent.
3. Favorite president and why?
FDR. I spent five years writing a book about World War II and I
believe FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt were the best team ever in the White
House. Of FDR’s “Four Freedoms” which are now magnificently on display in a park on Roosevelt Island, #3 “freedom from want” and #4 “freedom from fear” will be the hallmarks of a favorable global change.
4. When did you think you were going to lose it about what you saw on
TV, read, or saw (debates or convention)?
I counted to ten every time I read or heard about the financial needs
of the 2012 election. The dollar amounts raised and spent every day by
both candidates were disgraceful distortions of American fairness and
liberty.
5. What are you looking forward to in 2013?
I look forward to seeing how we all will continue to change our world,
hopefully for the better.
THANK YOU!!
THE DECISION PLAY FESTIVAL
CLICK HERE FOR SCHEDULE
The Decision is a short play reading festival about what happens after the heated election but also where we will be or should be after this November. This event is a fundraiser for the Limitless Health Institute and to help families affected by the storm and living in shelters supported by Safe Horizon.
Join us in watching a series of funny, incisive, dramatic short theatre pieces. The Decision will feature a series of 10 minute plays written and directed and acted by some of New York's finest artists.
LOCATION:
The Three Jewels, NYC61 Fourth Avenue, Third FloorNew York, NY 10003
TIME:
*Saturday 11/10, 7pm
*Sunday 11/1, 3:00pm
*Monday 11/12, 7:00pm
* *Suggested Donation $10 for Saturday or Sunday/$15 for Monday (All 8 plays)
Email 2012playfestival@gmail.com with Sat, Sun, or Mon
in the subject line.
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