Jon Stevens’ rough sketch for the opening scene of FooDoo, featuring dancers, food, African gods and goddesses. FooDoo takes place in sacred time where past, present and future merge. |
Food for your belly! |
Food for your spirit and soul! |
Original painting of a Haitian voodoo ceremony. |
Muhammad Ali with his personal chef, Vertamae Grosvenor, culinary anthropologist who cooked for the boxer at the height of his career , photographed by Leroy Henderson. Ms. Grosvenor wrote, directed and narrated the food folk opera, Nyam, which Jon Stevens helped to bring to life with his photographs and innovative production design. |
Fire eater, photographed in St. Lucia by Jon Stevens in 1985. |
Collage created by Jon Stevens featuring choreographer Judith Jameson in which Stevens experimented in costume design using transposed images and paint. |
Another collage by Mr. Stevens featuring Tony Award winning actor Ben Vereen as Anansi The Spider, one of the most important characters from West African and Caribbean folklore. |
Nyam cast member Cheryl Byron, world renowned choreographer of Caribbean and African dance. Stevens’ work on the 1988 musical sparked a passionate interest in African spiritual culture and voodoo, which ultimately inspired the idea for FooDoo, a celebration of spirit and food. |
World renowned composer and trumpet player Hugh Masekela, who composed the score to Nyam. Stevens’ photographs of the cast were projected against the theater wall, providing a backdrop for the show. |
Amina Baraka with an African mask, photographed by Jon Stevens in Nyam producer Margaret Porter Troupe’s apartment. |
Nyam composer-arranger Olu Dara, with ginger on his harmonica, uniting sensations of taste and song. |
Nyam cast member Chandra Grosvenor-Brown, photographed with sweet potatoes. Photograph was part of a sequence created by Jon Stevens and projected against the stage wall to create atmosphere for the show. |
Nyam cast member Oscar Brown III, son of legendary jazz composer Oscar Brown, Jr., as photographed by Stevens for the Harlem Opera, Nyam. |
Oscar Brown III looking at camera. Image was married to the previous one in sequential animation during the show. |
Nyam percussionist Charles Robinson, a.k.a “Sir Charles Hotsauce.” |
Nyam cast member and award-winning poet Brenda Connor-Bey Miller with green peppers, who Mr. Stevens affectionately called “The Green Pepper Lady.” |
Nyam playwright Margaret Porter Troupe’s son, Porter Troupe, against a painting of a restaurant in the Troupe’s Harlem apartment. |
Oscar Brown III, with his son, Oscar Brown IV, playing an invisible saxophone. |
Nyam playwright Margaret Porter Troupe’s husband, Quincy Troupe with a crab. |
Margaret Porter Troupe with Vertamae Grosvenor in the Troupe’s Harlem apartment. |
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Sequined Voodoo flag from Haiti as photographed by Stevens for the set of Nyam. |
Another sequined Voodoo flag from Haiti as photographed by Stevens for the set of Nyam. |
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“The Original Last Poets”, photographed by Jon Stevens. This brilliant trio recited poetry of black consciousness and social change to the fiery, pulsating rhythms of Congo drums. Considered by some to be the founding fathers of rap music. |
Poster for Jon Stevens’ one man show, AFRITECH, which he performed at various African American festivals. Show was funded by the New York Times Foundation and the Lila Wallace Readers Digest Fund, and featured Mr. Stevens’ original costumes, songs and poetry. |