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Robert
Lee "Rob" Penny
(August
6, 1941-March 16, 2003)
Prized
Playwright, Poet, Professor, and Pan-Africanist activist
By
Frances Lee Wilson
Spokesperson,
Project Director, Newspaper Editor
Greetings Beautiful Black People,
With heartfelt sadness, pain and deep
sorrow, I must relate that the Phenomenal, Compelling, Fantastic
Ultimately Creative Black Man Afrocentric Playwright and Poet.
Professor Rob Penny, 62 passed away Sunday night March 16, 2003
Robert Lee Penny. Rob Penny a name of uniqueness for a Unique
and Phenomenal Man. A man who truly valued women, who referred
to his wife, the Beautiful, Treasured and Cherished Betty of 43
years as ‘Timamu’, She who completes my life and makes it
perfect.’. Yebo! Hotep! Rob Penny and his Beautiful Wife Timamu
Betty were foremost in leading the struggle for Reparations,
Unity and Uplifting.
Pan African Rob Penny N’COBRA Rob
Penny Reparations Rob Penny Poet Rob Penny Black Horizons
Theatre Rob Penny Black Radical Congress Rob Penny Strength Rob
Penny Love Rob Penny Community Rob Penny Jazz Rob Penny
Playwright Rob Penny Black Arts Movement Rob Penny Kuntu Writers
Workshop Rob Penny Africologist Rob Penny Children and Youth Rob
Penny Beginning with Books Rob Penny Commitment Rob Penny On the
Hill Rob Penny Black Consciousness Rob Penny Friend Rob Penny
Timamu Rob Penny Oba Rob Penny Afrikan Rob Penny ~
Rob Penny, Professor/Playwright/Poet, is
a numerous award winning writer and historian. He was born in
Opelika, Alabama and raised in the Hill District of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, where he has always called ‘Home’. He is an
Afrocentric poet and playwright. Presently, he is conducting
course offerings in Afrikan American poetry, theatre and one
Afrikan Humanities-Social Scienced based course, Black
Consciousness. Chair of the Department of Africana Studies
at the University of Pittsburgh, 1978 -1984, where he has been a
professor since 1969.
Rob Penny is also the Playwright in
Residence for Kuntu Repertory Theatre. Rob Penny's plays have
been nationally produced in such theatres as the aforementioned
Kuntu Repertory Theatre, Chicago's ETA / Creative Arts
Foundation, Inc. New York's New Federal Theatre founded by Dr.
Woody King, Jr. as well as Brooklyn, New York's celebrated
Billie Holiday Theatre, the world premiere of 'Nefertari Rising
last year was also directed by Dr. Woody King, Jr, Rob Penny has
given us many
awesome plays such as ''Boppin' with the Ancestors', Diane's
Heart', 'Good Black Don't Crack', 'Clean Drums', 'Little Willie
Armstrong Jones', ‘Killin’ and Chillin’, 'Sun Rising on the Hill District'. ‘Reflections: Rob
Penny’s Forum in Flight’ ‘Among the Best: The Pittsburgh
Crawfords and the Homestead Grays’. Hotep, Oba, Yebo
Rob Penny and August Wilson Co-founded
the Kuntu Writers Workshop in 1976, and is the 2nd
oldest Black Writers Workshop in continual existence and
coordinated by Rob Penny. It is where they continued to take the
written word and oral tradition to the communities, in the way
of the Griot, in the style of our ancestral heritage and for the
reason of keeping those traditional and creative speeches alive
and at work. They took the position that the workshop is open,
free and as advocates of the Black Arts Movement, they pushed
for the ‘Afrikan Art’ of function, collective and committed.
The phenomenal Rob Penny also
co-founded the Black Horizon Theatre with the dynamic August
Wilson in 1968. Their love for words and the powerful effect
they can have on and in ones life have given them life long
positive careers that show true craftsmanship and diligent
effort. Colorful, memorable electrifying characters that are
never forgotten. Poetry that incites the soul and fuels the
soaring of spirit, vibrant and exuberant visual images from the
written and oral tradition.
Rob Penny, our Coordinator and his
distinctive and uniquely creative influence for, upon and within
the Kuntu Writers Workshop, is well known and respected,
preparing and presenting a group of Black writers, with a solid
foundation, format and focus. With his guidance and motivation
in pursuit of inner and understanding we stay on a high level of
bringing excellence through the use of words, in every form, an
integral part of our heritage, history and culture. Vision,
Creativity, Mission.
‘Kuntu’ ~ is the Reflective of
African Art, Philosophy and Life. In Africa all art has meaning.
Art is an inseparable part of the Lives of the African Community
Worldwide. Thus Kuntu Art is Purposeful, Functional and
Beneficial to the Development of the Community.
Please, forward calls, mail,
information to:
Kuntu Writers Workshop
3T01 3rd Fl, Dept. of
Africana Studies
Wesley Posvar Hall
230 S. Bouquet St
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
412 648.7540
* * * * *
To ensure the continuation of the values and ideals that Rob
dedicated his life to, his family and the Department of Africana
Studies at the University of Pittsburgh have established two
funds in his memory. The Rob Penny Memorial Student
Assistance Fund, id intended to provide educational
assistance to undergraduate students majoring in Africana
Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. The Rob Penny
Memorial African Cultured Fund will provide awards to school
children in designated Pittsburgh Schools and community artist.
All donations should be forwarded to the following:
The
Rob Penny Memorial Student Assistance Fund
CAS Development Office
University of
Pittsburgh
926 Cathedral of
Learning
Pittsburgh, PA
15260
Attention: James
Sismour
The
Rob Penny Memorial African Centered Fund
The Pittsburgh Foundation
One PPG Place 30th Floor
Pittsburgh, PA
15222
Peace,
Passion, Poetry
Frances Lee Wilson
Spokesperson,
Project Director, Newspaper Editor
Kuntu
Writers Workshop
flwilsonpoet@yahoo.com
This
is the Africana Studies Website: http://www.fcas.pitt.edu/departments.html * * * * *
The Sacred Remains: American Attitudes Toward Death, 1799-1883
Rest in Peace: A Cultural History of Death and the Funeral Home in
Twentieth-Century America
African American Grief (Death, Dying and Bereavement)
* * * *
*
updated 19
may 2008 |
