#Newsflash | Ayanna Gregory’s One-Woman Show Mixes Music, Storytelling, and her Famous Activist Father

Dick Gregory was an African-American comedian who rose to fame in the 1960s with routines that often attacked racial prejudice. As time passed, he shifted from jokes to Civil Rights activism, film, book-writing, and the nutrition business.

He was also the father of Ayanna Gregory, a rising entertainment star who brings her powerful one-woman show, Daughter of the Struggle, to the Black Spectrum Theatre in Jamaica on Friday, May 19, at 11 am and 6:30 pm.

With this extremely personal, autobiographical play, Ayanna continues her father’s legacy of mixing activism with show business, but she adds her own spice, thanks to her soulful voice, natural stage presence, and experience as an educator and motivational speaker.

“The play covers a lot of ground,” stated Black Spectrum Founder and CEO Carl Clay. “Not only in terms of her being the daughter of Dick Gregory, and growing up in the Civil Rights movement, but it’s also a wonderful display of her God-given talents as a singer, impressionist, poet, and writer–independent of her father.”

Tickets for the 11 am show are $10. The one at 6:30 pm is free.

Ayanna, who has nine siblings, has been involved in social justice and music since childhood. Her songs include “Beautiful Flower” (2003), “Ballad For My Father: Tribute to Dick Gregory” (2007), “Now” (2011), “I Dream a World” ( 2013), and “Mama This One’s For You” (2014).

Located inside Roy Wilkins Park near the 177th Street-Baisley Boulevard intersection, Black Spectrum is near a parking lot. The theater has capacity for about 325 people.

Images: Ayanna Gregory