Storyteller Sheila Kay Adams at Montgomery College (Video)

Montgomery College’s Frank Islam Athenaeum Symposia presents Sheila Kay Adams April 2 at 7 p.m. at Globe Hall, Germantown Campus. The spring 2014 Speaker Series includes timely, stimulating topics delivered by today’s leading experts in international affairs, the arts, politics and economics. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Sheila Kay Adams, one of nine individuals to receive the 2013 National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, will demonstrate her signature drop-thumb style claw-hammer skills on the five-string banjo, her Appalachian storytelling, and ballad singing for an unforgettable evening of North Carolina folk traditions.

A seventh-generation ballad singer, storyteller, and musician, Sheila Kay Adams was born and raised in Madison County, North Carolina, an area renowned for its unbroken tradition of unaccompanied singing dating back to the early Scots and English settlers of the mid-17th century. She made musical appearances in the 1992 film Last of the Mohicans and was technical advisor and singing coach for the movie Songcatcher. She is also the acclaimed author of two books: Come Go Home With Me, a collection of short stories drawn from life in Madison County, and My Old True Love, a novel of love and family in the Civil-War era of Madison County.

Schedule of remaining symposia:

Monday, April 14 – 7 p.m.
NOOR – Screening of Drama: Written by Akbar Ahmed and Directed by Manjula Kumar, Followed by Distinguished Panel: Director, Actors, and Frank Islam

Noor is a two-act play about the abduction of a young woman named Noor and her three brothers who represent currents inside modern Muslim communities: a Sufi, a secular government bureaucrat, and an angry fundamentalist. Noor was written by Dr. Akbar Ahmed, chair of Islamic Studies at American University. Manjula Kumar, director of Noor, will lead a panel discussion of this significant drama.

Author of over a dozen award-winning books, he recently completed The Thistle and the Drone: How America’s War on Terror Became a Global War on Tribal Islam.

Following the screening of Noor, Manjula Kumar, director of Noor and Program Director at the Smithsonian Institution, will lead a panel discussion of this significant drama.

Wednesday, April 30 at 7 p.m.
Charles Williams, accompanied by Betty Bullock, formerly of the Washington Opera: Opera, The American Song Book, and Poetry of Langston Hughes

Renowned international singer, Charles Williams, will sing two selections from Porgy and Bess; he performed the role of Sportin’ Life at the Metropolitan Opera. In addition, he will sing some favorites from the American Song Book and recite the poetry of Langston Hughes.

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