“Wisdom is sweeter than honey, it is more valuable than jewels, it intoxicates like wine, it illumines like the sun. it causes the ears to hear and the heart to comprehend. I love Her like a mother and she embraces me as her child. I will follow in her footsteps and she will not cast me away.” (quote Miri shares on Facebook page)
GRANDMOTHERS OF THE UNIVERSE…
A one woman performance piece
Written and performed
By
Miri Hunter Haruach
Copyright 2011 by Miri J. Hunter
PRESENTED AT THE NEON VENUS ART THEATRE
SUNDAY AUG. 26 – 4:00pm – 5:30pm
$10 adminssion
Neon Venus Art Theatre
Grandmothers of the Universe was sparked partially by my frustration with affirmative action forms that ask for cultural or ethnic identity and then say “check one,” and partially by the huge emphasis that is currently placed on diversity.
The problem with affirmative action forms is that “check one” neither identifies me nor most other Americans. A growing number of us do not identify with only one ethnicity or culture.
We are products of parents from at least two different cultures and/or ethnicities. “Check one” is a negation of the very issue in question: diversity.
Categorization is incomplete at best.
Grandmothers of the Universe was written, in part, as a way to acknowledge the essence of my full being: to accept myself as a woman living within the complexity of a complex society.
It is dedicated to those who do not allow themselves to miss out on fullness and ripeness for fear of seeing that what lies beneath the surface is the aliveness of a human soul who dares to live in the world as complete and not other.
SYNOPSIS
Miri has been asked by her granddaughter, Sarah, to tell her all about what it was like growing up without computers and the internet. How did people communicate? Miri has taken the opportunity to not only talk about the pre-computer era, but also to educate Sarah about her ancestry. Miri wants Sarah to know what it means to be an African American woman. Miri’s story leads her on a tour of self discovery through the American South, Israel, and Ethiopia culminating in a visit from the Queen of Sheba. It is a story for Sarah and a revelation for Miri as she discovers that the answer to what it’s like to be and African American woman before or after the technology boom, was to be found in the songs, poetry and stories of the women. These findings are related through the eyes and experiences of Miri’s Grandmothers: Sarah’s ancestral Mothers.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
(in order of appearance)
MIRI
- a woman in her mid-thirties of mixed ethnic and racial ancestry, primarily African American
WILLIE
- a woman who traces her ancestry back to the Africans who were brought to America via the Middle Passage
DEODI
- a woman of Native American ancestry
ESTHER
- a woman who traces her ancestry back to Yemen, but who “currently” resides in Israel
LOUISA
- A woman of Western European heritage, a mixture of English and French
SARAH
- a young girl around the age of 7 or 8, who is Miri’s Granddaughter
MAKEDA, THE QUEEN OF SHEBA
and her ROAD MANAGER
MIRI
PRODUCTION NOTES
The actor playing Miri plays all of the characters. Deodi, Willi, Esther and Louisa are Miri’s ancestral grandmothers. This does not imply that the characters are old enough to be grandmothers. It denotes that they aregrandmothers inasmuch as they are Miri’s ancestors. Sarah is Miri’s granddaughter. The Queen of Sheba is a representation of the Divine Feminine.
Miri Hunter Haruach, Ph.D., Playwright/Actor
Acclaimed by BC Touring as “…dynamic, unique and mesmerizing…” Miri Hunter Haruach is being billed as one of the finest folk/spiritual singer/songwriters America has produced since Joan Baez or Tracy Chapman. Often compared to Adele, her soothing anmd sultry, crystal clear voice and poetically inspired arrangements display a depth and breadth of range that are earning her a rightful place among the world’s finest folk singers.
Miri’s CD “The Ways of Love,” distributed by her label, Project Sheba Music, is an uplifting compilation of nine songs; each one giving voice to Miri’s real passion – the desire to empower humanity. The song titles on “The Ways Of Love” are life-affirming and positive and beneath the simplicity of Miri’s songs lies her ability to give expression to any composition. “The Ways Of Love” is the result of inspiration Miri received from a range of musical influences including North African, Middle Eastern and the African American and country and western sounds of the Amercian South.
Miri began her Folk/Spiritual music career in 1999 with the release of her first CD “Harvest Of The Heart” which was selected by Independent Music Group (IMG) as a semi-finalist for CD of the Year. INDIESONGS also awarded Miri an Honorable Mention for Song of the Year for “Southern Lullaby,” a sensuous song from the Harvest CD. She is also a three time recipient of an ASCAP music grant for songwriters.
Born in Roanoke, Virginia, Miri Hunter Haruach is also a gifted poet who has been honored with several awards including a feature in the 2004 International Who’s Who in Poetry. Her first collection of Poetry, entitled 
ancing With the Wind’ was published in the Spring of 2011.
Recent bookings and successes include being a featured performer on three stages at the Nashville Songwriters’ Festival in June 2011 and again in October 2011. In addition Sheba’s Caravan is being featured on Indie Castle Rock Radio, and Underneath Magazine. This Fall she returned to Nashville as part of the Independent Music Festival and as a special guest at the Indigo Hotel’s Singer/Songwriter Night.
Other successes include having “Let Your Hearts Be Alive” as a featured selection on Continental Airlines inflight programming on trips from the USA to Europe and Israel.
“My Soul Will Be Restored” from the CD The Ways of Love, was voted International Folk Song of the Year 2007 by Toronto Exclusive Music Magazine!
The band has played in various venues in LA including BB King’s, Tatou, 10/Twenty, and the Rainbow Room.
As an actress, Miri has tours nationally with her one woman show “Grandmothers of the Universe.” She has performed in various stage productions such as Jacques Brel at the Actors’ Ensemble in San Francisco, 15 Minutes of Fem and Comedy Union, both of which ran in Los Angeles. She has also performed with the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival for two consecutive years.
She is currenly writing scripts for her upcoming webseries based on her one woman show “the Queen of Sheba? Yes I Am?” as well as being in the pre-production for her next musical compilation entitled “Temple of Love.”
She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in music theory and composition, a Masters Degree in theatre and a doctorate from the California Institute of Integral Studies..
She is currently based in Downtown Los Angeles, but she and her band loves to travel!!
Miri Hunter Haruach will be performing a ONE TIME only special House Concert on Sunday, Aug. 19, to preview Grandmothers of the Universe to personal friends who may be able to make the Neon Venus event. For more information, email Toni Koch, at pitchasong@gmail.com, for HOUSE CONCERT address, in Woodland Hills, CA – showtime for this private event is 6pm – 9pm, Sun. Aug. 19th. $20 donation is asked but no one turned away for lack of funds.
