Photo courtesy of
Vinie Burrows
- Posted 02/19/2001
Contact: Andrew Svec, 218-281-8435
Vinie Burrows to Perform Africa Fire and Sister! Sister! at UMC March 2
Actor, writer, producer, and activist Vinie Burrows will perform two of her one-woman performances on Friday, March 2, at the University of Minnesota, Crookston (UMC). Burrows will perform Africa Fire at 10 a.m. and Sister! Sister! at 1:30 p.m. Both performances will be held in UMC’s Bede Ballroom.
Each performance is free for students and $10 for all others. Community members may also choose to pay $20 to attend both performances and a special luncheon. Tickets are available by calling the Northwest Minnesota Foundation 218-759-2057. Tickets will also be available at the door.
The scarcity of quality roles on the legitimate stage for African-American performers led Burrows to develop a repertoire of eight different one-woman shows, including Africa Fire and Sister! Sister! These performance pieces have been sponsored on more than 5,000 college campuses and have been featured on numerous international tours.
Africa Fire is a magical retelling of traditional folktales, legends, and myths with interludes of movement, song, and audience participation. Burrows performs the piece clad in colorful African dress and authentic jewelry.
Burrows describes Sister! Sister! as a celebration of the joys and struggles of women in villages and cities across the world. The piece is made up of actual testimonies and moving stories about women.
Born in Harlem, New York City, Burrows received her bachelor of arts degree from New York University. She made her Broadway debut as a youngster with acting legend Helen Hayes. Since that auspicious beginning, Burrows has appeared in six other Broadway shows, many off-Broadway productions, several television shows and films, and numerous international theatre festivals across Europe. Her roles have ranged from classical Greek plays and Shakespeare to modern works. She has received many accolades, the most recent of which was the Black Theatre Network’s Fletcher Award for lifetime artistic excellence in 2000.
While she says the major thrust of her life “has been to carry the message of peace, justice, and reconciliation through theatre art,” Burrows expanded her political and social effectiveness when she was accredited to the United Nations as Permanent Representative for the Women's International Democratic Federation, a Non-Governmental Organization [NGO] in Consultative Status, Category One, with the Economic and Social Council. Burrows’ particular concerns are peace and disarmament, racial discrimination, women's issues, and economic and social development.
For more information about Vinie Burrows, visit her website: www.vinieburrows.com.
Ms. Burrows’ performances were made possible by a grant from the Northwest Minnesota Foundation and are cosponsored by the UMC Concerts and Lectures Committee. Disability accommodations are available upon request and can be made by calling 218-281-8505.
Established in 1986, the Northwest Minnesota Foundation is a community foundation committed to improving the quality of life in the twelve counties that comprise northwest Minnesota. For more information about the Northwest Minnesota Foundation, visit the organization’s website: www.nmfoundation.org.
Note: Some information for this release was taken from the performer's website. The information is used for promotional purposes only.