Carl Hancock Rux

Bio

Carl Hancock Rux is a published poet, essayist, novelist and playwright. His plays and performance works for theater have been produced and or commissioned throughout the United States and internationally at venues including The Joseph Papp Public Theater, the Robert E. Fischer Center for the Performing Arts, PS 122, the Kitchen, HERE Arts Center, New Victory Theater, Lincoln center (Serious Fun & Outdoors Festival), Aaron Davis Hall, the BAM Harvey Theater (Next Wave Festival), REDCAT (Los Angeles), Mass MOCA (Mass.), the Central District Forum for Arts and Ideas (Seattle, Washington), Theater X (Milwaulkee, Wisconsin), University of Ghana at Legon (West Africa), Ebenezor Experimental Theater Festival (Sweden) Maison des Arts (Creteil, France), and the Victoria Theater (Singapore) among others. Plays include include "Geneva Cottrell, Waiting for the Dog to Die", "Mycenaean", "Chapter & Verse", "The No Black Male Show", "Smoke, Lilies & Jade", "Singing In the Womb of Angels", "Yanga", "Song of Sad Young Men" and the libretto for two operas: "'The Blackamoor Angel" and "Makandal". As a radio journalist he has been a guest commentator on WNYC and for XM radio's The Bob Edward's Show as well as co-wrote and hosted National Public Radio's "Walt Whitman: Songs of Myself", winner of the New York Press Club Journalism Award for Entertainment News. As a recording artist he has recorded three cd's: "Rux Revue" (Sony 550), "Apothecary Rx (Giant Step) and "Good Bread Alley"( Thirsty Ear). Rux is the subject of "Carl Hancock Rux , Coming of Age," (Larry Clamage/Richard Maniscalco for Voices of America) recipient of the CINE Golden Eagle award for television documentary. Carl Hancock Rux has written for (and performed with) several dance companies including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Urban Bush Women, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co., Jane Comfort & Co., and created the title role in the Robert Wilson/Bernice Johnson Reagon opera 'The Temptation of Saint Anthony" which had its world premiere at the Paris Opera (Garnier). Mr. Rux is the recipient of the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts Prize, and the Bessie Schomburg Award, the Village Voice Literary Prize, Fresh Poet Award, National Endowment for the Arts/Theater Communication Group Playwright in Residence fellowship, NEA Leadership Initiatives Meet the Composer Grant, the Kitchen Theater Artist Award, Rockefeller Map grant, Creative Capital Artist grant, New York Foundation for the Arts Gregory Millard fellowship, NYFA Prize, Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX) Arts & Artists in Progress Award and was shortlisted for the United Artist Fellowship. He is the author of the Village Voice Literary prize winning collection of poetry "Pagan Operetta"(Fly By Night Press/Autonomedia), the novel "Asphalt" (Simon & Schuster) and the OBIE award winning play "Talk" (TCG).

Selected Published Works

BOOKS BY AUTHOR

TALK (drama)
    TCG Press
ASPHALT (novel)
AG   Atria/Simon & Schuster/Washington Square Press/Baldini Castoldi
PAN OPERETTA (poetry & fiction)
    Autonomedia/Semiotext PressCHAPTER & VERSE: AN EXERCISE IN MOVEMENT, LANGUAGE, AND ACAPELLA VOCALIZATIONS EXPLORING FAITH AND THE DEVIATION FROM TRADITION (poetry & drama)
    NYU PressELMINA BLUES (poetry)
    John Hope Franklin Collection of African and African-American Document

ESSAYS/ANTHOLOGIES

WRITING MYSELF
    In Their Company: Portraits of American Playwrights (personal essay)
    Umbridge Edition/edited by Victor Wishna and Ken Collins
AUNT EMMA’S ZUNI RECIPE FOR SOUL TRANSITION
    Soul's Survival; Black Power, Politics and Pleasure (essay)
    NYU Press/edited by Richard Green, Monique Guillory
AFRO-GERMAN
    Korper Lust Sprache (poetry)
    Literatur zur Zeit Konzepte Press/ Berlin, Germany
POST-MODERN PAN AFRICAN POETICS & PERFORMANCE
    NKA Literary Journal (poetry & essays)
    Cambridge University Press
EMINEM; THE NEW WHITE NEGRO
    Everything But the Burden: What white People are Taking from Black Culture
    Random House/ed. by Greg Tate
    DeCapo’s Best Music Writing: The Year's Finest Writing on Rock, Hip-hop, Jazz, Pop, Country
    & More
    DeCapo Press/ed. by Paul Bresnick, Mickey Hart

POETRY/ANTHOLOGIES

Poetry On Stage (poetry)
    Poho Press/edited by Danne Hughes
Spirit & Flame: African American Poetry (poetry)
    Syracuse University Press
Beyond The Frontier (poetry)
    Black Classic Press/ edited by E. Ethelbert Miller
Heights Of The Marvelous (poetry)
    St. Martin's Press/edited by Todd Colby
Def Jam Poetry (poetry)
    Atria/Simon& Schuster
Bum Rush The Page (poetry)
    Three River Press/edited by Sonia Sanchez, Tony Medina, and Louis Reyes Rivera
XCP: Cross-cultural Poetics (poetry & drama)
    College of St. Catherine Press
Juncture: 25 Very Good Stories and 12 Excellent Drawings (short fiction)
    Soft Skull Press/edited by Lara Stapleton & Veronica Gonzalez
Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social and Political Art (fiction)
    Third World Press /edited by Tony Medina
Poetry Nation: The North American Anthology of Fusion Poetry (poetry)
    Vehicule Press/edited by Regie Cabico, Todd Swift, Bob Holman
Plays from the Boom Box Galaxy: Anthology for the Hip Hop Generation (drama)
    TCG/ edited by Kim Euell
Bad Behavior (photography)
    Rizzoli International Publications/edited by Carter Ratcliff and Bill Hayward
Aloud; Voices From the Nuyorican Poets Cafe (poetry)
    Henry Holt/edited by Bob Holman, Miguel Algarin
Action! Nuyorican Theater Festival Anthology (drama)
    Touchstone/Simon & Schuster/edited by Miguel Algarin, Lois Griffith
Listen Up! Spoken Word Poetry (poetry)
    One World/ Ballantine/edited by Zoe Anglesey
Go The Way Your Blood Beats (short fiction)
    Henry Holt/edited by Sean Stewart Ruff
Open City Literary Journal (drama)

ARTICLES/JOURNALS & MAGAZINES

HAND IN THE HAND
    Essence Magazine
SNOOP DOGG
    INTERVIEW Magazine
RAKIM
    INTERVIEW Magazine
MARY J. BLIGE
    Honey Magazine
THE MASCULINITY OF LI’L KIM
    Uptown Magazine
I WAS A BLACK COWGIRL, MY TONGUE WAS A SIX SHOOTER (SAPPHIRE’S PUSH)
    aRUDE Magazine
A RAGE IN HARLEM: IS THE CLASSICAL THEATRE OF HARLEM A BLACK THEATER?
    American Theater magazine
UP FROM THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA: A STATE REMEMBERED OR A STATE OF MEMORY?
    American Theater Magazine
OMAHYRA MOTO GARCIA: BEAUTY IS A BOY FOREVER...
    Uptown Magazine
RICH MAN, POOR MAN
    Brooklyn Rail
EMANCIPATION DAY
    The Brooklyn Hill

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY/WORKS CITED

Absolute Wilson: The Biography
    Prestel Publishing/ by Katharina Otto-Bernstein
Toward 2012: Perspectives on the Next Age
College Guide for Performing Arts Majors 2009
Reviews, New York City: Movement Research at the Judson Church
    by Rose Anne ThomDance
All Music Guide to Soul: The Definitive Guide to R&B and Soul
The African American Writer's Handbook: How to Get in Print and Stay in Print
We Gotta Have It: Twenty Years of Seeing Black at the Movies, 1986-2006
Brave New Bass: Interviews and Lessons with the Innovators, Trendsetters and Visionaries
Rethinking Commodification: Cases and Readings in Law and Culture (Critical America)
Who Says?: Working-Class Rhetoric, Class Consciousness, and Community
    by William DeGenaro/ Pitt Comp Literacy Culture
Television at the Movies: Cinematic and Critical Responses to American Broadcasting
All Music Guide to Hip-Hop: The Definitive Guide to Rap and Hip-Hop
Mother Jones Magazine
The Great Rock Discography
Alternative Press Index
The New York Times Theater Reviews
The New York Times Theater Reviews 1997-1998
    Routledge Press
Hip, the History
Rhythm Science
The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry in Anthologies
Lesbian and Gay Voices: An Annotated Bibliography and Guide to Literature
Frommer's Irreverent Guide to Manhattan
A Companion to Twentieth-Century American Drama
An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their Art
    by Annie Finch, Kathrine Varnes
All Music Guide to Hip-hop: The Definitive Guide to Rap & Hip-hop
    by Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, John Bush
Deconstructing Tyrone: A New Look at Black Masculinity in the Hip-Hop Generation
    by Natalie Hopkinson
The Color Of Theater: Race, Culture, And Contemporary Performance
    by Roberta Uno, Lucy Mae San Pablo Burns - Drama
Butting Out: Reading Resistive Choreographies Through Works by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar
    by Ananya Chatterjea
African-American Literature: Overview and Bibliography
    by Paul Q. Tilden
Why White Stars Are Ripping Off Rap And R&B
    Ebony Magazine
Rethinking Commodification: Cases and Readings in Law and Culture
    by Martha M. Ertman, Joan C. Williams
The Columbia Granger's Index to African-American Poetry
    by Nicholas Frankovich, David Larzelere
Rattapallax 11 / Incluye un CD
    Published by Lom Ediciones
Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the 90's
    By Robert Christgau
The New York Times Dance Reviews 2000
    The New York Times Literary Collections
Blue Grit: Making Impossible, Improbable, and Inspirational Political Change
    by Laura Flanders
The Applause/Best Plays Theater Yearbook
    by Otis L. Guernsey, Jeffrey Sweet, Al Hirschfield
Bulletproof Diva: Tales of Race, Sex, and Hair
    by Lisa Jones
Sounds of Poetry: Contemporary American Performance Poets
    by Martina Pfeiler
The Rise of the Hispanic Market in the United States: Challenges and Dilemmas
    M.E. Sharpe/ Louis E. V. Nevaer
The Best American Poetry 2003
New York Magazine
John Willis' Theatre World
    edited by John A. Willis
Historical Dictionary of African American Theater‎ - Page 428
    by Anthony Hill, Douglas Q Barnett -The International Review of African American Art
Contemporary‎
    by Keith Patrick – Art Modern
Museum of African American Art
    (Santa Monica, Calif.)/ Hampton University Press
College Guide for Performing Arts Majors 2009:
    Real-World Admission Guide by Carole J. Everett, Peterson Fern Oram
John Willis' Theatre World‎
    edited by John A. Willis Plays
International Theatre World 1992-1993
    by John Willis, Tom Lynch
Dreamer of the Day: Francis Parker Yockey and the Postwar Fascist International
    Autonomedia Press/Kevin Coogan
Skulls Head Samba
    Fly By Night Press/ Eve Packer
Women Poets on Mentorship: Efforts and Affections
    University of Iowa Press/Arielle Greenberg, Rachel Zucker
Hip-Hop Divas
    Plexus Publishing/ Vibe Magazine
Your Negro Tour Guide: Truths in Black and White
    Emmis Books/by Kathy Y. Wilson
MultiCultural Review: Dedicated to a Better Understanding of Ethnic, Racial and Multicultural Education
    Jossey-Bass Publishers/edited by James Banks, Cherry A. McGee
Thirsty: Webster’s Quotations, Facts and Phrases
    by Icon Group International, Inc. Staff
Listen Again: A Momentary History of Pop Music
    Duke University Press/ by Eric Weisbard
Race Manners for the 21st Century
    Arcade Publishers/by Bruce A. Jacobs
The African American Male, Writing and Difference
    State University of New York Press/by Lawrence W. Hogue
Mother Jones Magazine‎ - Page 85
    Magazine - Nov-Dec 1999 - v. 24, no. 6
The Great Rock Discography
    by Martin Charles Strong, John (FRW) Peel – Music
Alternative Press Index‎
    by Alternative Press Centre, Radical Research Center - Language Arts & Disciplines
An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the Diversity of their Art
    by Annie Finch, Kathrine Varnes - Poetry

FILM /ACTOR

ABSOLUTE WILSON:
    (as “Saint Anthony”) Dolby Digital Germany/ USA; Documentary subgenre written and directed     by Katharina Otto-Bernstein, Director of photography, Ian Saladyga; edited by Bernadine Colish;     music by Miriam Cutler; produced by Kathatrina Otto-Bernstein     and Penny CM     Stankiewicz; released by New Yorker Films. profile of avant-garde theater artist Robert Wilson.     105 minutes. 2006. Not rated.

BRATZ:
    (as “Mr. Whitman”) Dolby Digital USA; Live-action feature directed by Sean McNamara,     Screenplay by John Doolittle and Susie Singer Carter based on cartoon characters. Rated PG.     Produced by MGA Entertainment, Avi Arad Productions, and Crystal Sky     Pictures. 110     min. 2007. Rated PG.

THE GRAND INQUISITOR
    (as “The One”) Digital USA; Short directed by Tony Torn, screenplay by Ruth Margraff     based in     a future America dominated by a single Goverment/Church/Network, where a talk show host     confronts a Black Messiah who calls himself "The One". Public Eye Productions. 24 min. 2007.     Unrated.

THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED A FILM ABOUT GIL SCOTT
    (as “Carl Hancock Rux”)
    BBC FOUR, Documentary on Gil Scott-Heron 2004

TELEVISION /FEATURED APPEARANCES

(U.S.)

VIEWPOINT
    ABCTV
GOOD DAY NEW YORK
    WNYWTV/Host Donna Hanover
LIKE IT IS
    WABCTV/Host; Gil Noble
VOICES OF AMERICA: CARL HANCOCK RUX, COMING OF AGE
    Producer; Larry Clamage

VIDEO/ SHORT SUBJECT/ MUSIC (WRITER & DIRECTOR)

PROTEAN CHARACTER
    Digital
LIVING ROOM
    Digital
THADEUS STARR
    Digital & Still Photography
LANGUID LIBRETTO
    Digital
MY BROTHER’S HANDS
    Digital
GOOD BREAD ALLEY
    Digital & Still Photography

RADIO/HOST/WRITER

(U.S.)

“Live from The Nuyorican Poet’s Café”
    (host/ writer/ curator 1995-1998) WNYC
“SoundCheck”
    (guest host) WNYC
“Blue Candy”
    (featured poems by the author 2003) WNPR
“SoundCheck”
    (guest 2000-2009) WNYC
“Monuments To Memory”
    The Bob Edwards Show”
    (featured guest essayist 2005-2007) XM Radio
“Election Day”
    The Bob Edwards Show”
    (featured guest essayist 2005-2007) XM Radio
“Walt Whitman: Songs of Myself”
    NPR
“Lara Flanders Show”
    Air America

(EUROPE)

BBC 1 Radio”
Host, Giles Peterson

DISCOGRAPHY

Cornbread, Cognac, Collard Green Revolution
    (Free Music) 1998
    C.H. Rux/ Producers: Nona Hendryx/ Ronnie Drayton
Rux Revue
    (Sony 550 Music) 1999
    C.H. Rux/Producers: The Dust Brothers; Tom Rothrock & Rob Schnapf
Apothecary Rx
    (Giant Step Records) 2001
The Temptation of Saint Anthony 2006
    Producer: Bernice Johnson Reagon/Toshi Reagon
Good Bread Alley
    (Thirsty Ear Music) 2006
    C.H. Rux/Producers: Peter Gordon, Dave Darlington
Lamentations (You, Son) (12")
    Giant Step Records     2001
Lamentations (You, Son) (12", Promo)
    Giant Step Records     2001
A New Dimension (12")     I Am
    Forma Recordings     2000
Abstract Jazz Lounge III (2xLP, Album)     I Am (Original Mix)
    Nite Grooves     2000
Bow Down To The Exit Sign/Slip Your Skin
    Go! Beat     2000
Bow Down To The Exit Sign/Compared to What
    1500 Records     2000
Bow Down To The Exit Sign (CD, Maxi, Promo)     Living Room
    Go! Beat
Optometry (CD, Album)     Asphalt (Tome II)
    Thirsty Ear
Mckay (LP)     Thaddeus Star
    Go! Beat
Deep House Vol. 2 - Harley & Muscle In The Mix (2xCD)     Lamentations(You,Son)
    Clubstar 2001
Eclectic Asthetic (Part 2) (CDr, Mixed) Intro To (R)Evolution
    Sound Signature
Sessions: Volume One (CD, Comp, Mixed) Lamentations (You, Son)
    Giant Step Records
Soul Sessions 2 (2xLP)     Protean Character
    Giant Step Records
Soul Sessions 2 (CD, Comp)     Protean Character
    Giant Step Records
Fall 2003 Records Sampler (CD, Comp)     Lamentations
    Giant Step Records
Loop Select 005 (CD + DVD)     Lamentations (You, Son)
    LOOP Recordings Aot(ear)oa
Simply Good Music Vol. 1 (CD, Comp)     Lamentations
    Giant Step Records
The Green Room 003:(Ear)th (CD)     Protean Character
    LOOP Recordings Aot(ear)oa
Thirsty Ear Blue Series Sampler (CD, Smplr)     Thadeus Star
    Thirsty Ear

(SPOKEN WORD)

Rhapsodies in Black: Music and Words from the Harlem Renaissance
    Rhino Records
Our Souls Have Grown Deep Like The Rivers: Black Poets Read Their Work
    Rhino Records
Poetry on Record: 98 Poets Read Their Work 1888-2006
    Shout Factory

Fellowships, Prizes, Grants

MNSWA Urban Griot Award Finalist 2009
United States Artist Fellowship Shortlist 2007
Rockefeller Multi-Arts Production Fund 2007
    Bard College; “The Blackamoor Angel”
Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX) 10 Arts & Artists in Progress Award 2007
2006 New York Press Club Journalism Award for Entertainment News
    WNPR Radio Documentary: “Walt Whitman; Songs of Myself”
Rockefeller Multi Arts Production Fund 2006
    Miami Performing Arts Center; “Makandal”
Kitchen Theater Artist Award 2005
Alpert Award in the Arts 2004
OBIE Award 2004 : “Talk”
National Endowment for the Arts Playwright in Residence Fellow 2004
Rockefeller Multi-Arts Production Fund 2004: “Talk”
New York Foundation for the Arts Gregory Millard Fellow 2004
New York Foundation for the Arts Prize 2004
Rockefeller Map Grant 2004
Time Out Top 10 Plays Theater Citation 2004
DeCapo’s Best Music Writing 2004: Essay: ‘Eminem; the New White Negro”
Creative Capital Multi-Arts Production Fund 2003
Creative Capital Artists Initiative Grant 2003
National Endowment for the Arts 2002
New York State Council on the Arts 2002
Creative Capital Fund 2002
Mary Flagler Cary Foundation 2002: “Asphalt”
CINE Golden Eagle Film & Video Award 2001
New York Times Best Alternative Music 2000
Vibe Magazine “One’s to Watch” 1999
Village Voice Literary Prize 1999
Interview Magazine Artists Award 1998
New York Times ''Thirty Artists under Thirty Most Likely to Influence Culture” 1998
Bessie Schonburg Award 1995
Fresh Poet Prize 1994

Theater Residencies and Workshops

    Miami Performing Arts Center
    University of Wisconsin at Madison
    University of Mass. at Amherst
    Hollins University
    Université de Cocody, Ivory Coast
    University of Ghana at Legon
    California Institute for the Arts

    Joseph Papp Public Theater
    Sundance Theater Festival
    Experimental Theater Festival, Creiteil France
    Ebenezer Experimental Theater Artist in Residence (Lulea, Sweden)
    Foundry Theater
    Mabou Mines

Curator

    The Whitney Museum
    BEAT GENERATION NOW
Evening of poetry and music

The Nuyorican Poets Café
BLUES PRAYERS, GOSPEL CRIES, JAZZ WHISPERS
Musical performance featuring Gordon Chambers, Jeanne Lee, Toshi Reagon, Castleberry & Dupree
MOTHERS & OTHERS
Evening of one act plays by new writers

Thread Waxing Space
SANCTUARY, A SPIRITUAL MUSIC FESTIVAL OF MUSIC AND DANCE
Musical performance featuring Ancient Vibrations from Jamaica, Le Troupe Makandal, Emilio Barreto, Los Afortunados from Cuba)

The Foundry Theater A CONVERSATION ON HOPE

Academic Conference held at Cooper Union w/Cornel West, Melanie Joseph, Noam Chomsky, Barbara Ehrenreich, Bill T. Jones, Jonathan Kozol, Alisa Solomon, and Robbie McCauley, over 300 participants engaged in a conference committed to examining the role of the artist as well as the role of art in the larger society. This improvisational performance of ideas brought together a diverse and intergenerational group of 300 artists, public thinkers and activists, many for the first time, to enter into ever-deepening conversations around the notion of "hope" and its relationship to our engagement with society. There was no audience for A CONVERSATION ON HOPE - all were participants. To structure the dialogue, the "experts" were invited to ask questions of us. To further theatricalize the event, we included numerous performance elements in the execution including a theatrical set, lighting and sound.

THE LEGACIES SERIES

Symposium of individuals who represent our field's "living history," people with invaluable experiences and stories which too often are left untold. Legacies Series guests have included actress and Harlem "institution" Ms. Gertrude Jeannette; actor Robert Earl Jones; actress Marietta Maori; the original "off-broadway" producer Ms. Lily Turner; actor Salem Ludwig; composer/conductor/ arranger Luther Henderson; actress Phoebe Brand, the only surviving member of The Group Theatre; and Margaret Sunshine, a theatre and film make-up artist. All Legacies events are documented on video for future use.

The Kitchen
BLACK WINGS & BLIND ANGELS

Written by Sapphire, Directed by Jaye Austin Williams, Movement by Christalyn Wright, Original music by Kwame Brandt Pierce. Performance celebrating the publication of Sapphire's collection of poems, Black Wings & Blind Angels, with a staged dramatization of the poet's work, blending movement, music and verse and bearing testimony to the black experience in a country fragmented by war, racism, and urban domestic violence.

Selected Plays

Song of Sad Young Men
    Producer’s Club Theater
    Aaron Davis Hall
    National Black Theater Festival
Chapter & Verse
    Nuyorican Poets Café
    Minetta Lane Theater
Geneva Cottrell, Waiting for the Dog to Die
    Performance Space 122
    Playwright’s Horizon’s
    Penumbra Theater (St. Paul, Minn.)
Pipe; a Courtroom Drama
    Performance Space 122
Smoke, Lilies & Jade
    Joseph Papp Public Theater (Next Stages)
    California Institute for the Arts
Pork Dream in the American House of Image

    NPR Radio Play
Not the Flesh of Others
    Dixon Place
Singing In the Womb of Angels
    Dixon Place
Who Dat Who Killed Better Dayz Jones?
    Aaron Davis Hall
The (No) Black Male Show
    The Kitchen
    National Tour
Mycenaean
    BAM Next Wave
    California Institute for the Arts
Asphalt
    REDCAT
    National Tour
The Blackamoor Angel
    Bard University Spiegeltent

Joseph Papp Public Theater/Joe's Pub

Makandal

Harlem Stage