Originally a stage production, this creation from the heart of Celeste M. Lawson speaks to a difficult problem: human trafficking. This production, brought to film by Expressed Entertainment LLC., is a beautiful combination of the spoken word, acting, art, live music, and African drum and dance; all in support of Project Mona's House, a place dedicated to restoring the lives of trafficking victims. Created, written, produced, and directed by Celeste M. Lawson. Choreographed and co-directed by Robin H. Hibbert, this performance is both moving and thought-provoking, giving voice to those most people can't hear, let alone see. Some of Buffalo's finest will take the stage at Ujima Theatre to benefit Project Mona's House and remember Lorna C. Hill, founder of Ujima Theatre Inc.

This production is a beautiful collaboration of acting, spoken word poetry, music, singing, dance, and art; each piece complements the next, with each performer lending their voice, instrument, and body to this powerful chorus, sounding the alarm.  They are telling us to wake up and open our eyes to what is plaguing our communities right under our noses, yet we barely, if ever, notice.    Typography is an emotional journey from pain to purpose. There are many gifted and talented individuals involved in bringing this production to life.  So now let us introduce you...

​​

ABOUT THE FOUNDER/CREATOR

Celeste  Lawson
Biography Highlights

Celeste Lawson is a poet and writer who came to the world of literature in response to her love and experiences with dance and music, experiences that contribute to the texture and tone of her writing.  During her early years in dance (1987,88,89) she received artist grants to support her work in the re-creation of ancient dances rooted in the traditions of North Africa and the Middle East as part of a dance project in Western New York.

​

Currently, she is working on a project supported by a Creative Impact grant through ASI, Arts Services Initiative, entitled Hidden Patriots, which is focused on enslaved people who engaged in espionage during times of war in the early days of the Republic.  Other recent accomplishments include the creation of five works for the stage, “Running on Faith: Restaged Freedom Seeker Stories as Recorded by William Still,” (June 2024), “The Whale Speaks,” (Aug. 2023),  “Running On Faith: Freedom Seeker Stories As  Recorded by William Still, father of the Underground Railroad (June 2022);  “Letter From A Birmingham Jail: If Martin Were Here Today,” (June 2021) an enactment of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s letter written while he was confined in a Birmingham, AL jail for 11 days, juxtaposed to today’s Black Lives Matter movement; and  “Typography of Women: I Am Not Invisible,” (Dec. 2020) shining a light on the crime of human trafficking and its impact on the lives of trafficking victims using original poems written by trafficking survivors as the basis for the script.  

​

The above-mentioned projects received support from The MAP Fund, New York State Council on the Arts, SCR Grant through NYS Legislature, New York State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Grant, The David Fendrick Theater Fund, Just Buffalo Literary Center, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Foundation on Contemporary Arts Fund (Assistance during Covid), and Rigidized Metals.

​

Lawson is also among the writers included in the 2021 collection of letters to Vice President Kamala Harris, “Dear Kamala: Women Write to the New Vice President,” compiled and edited by Peggy Brooks-Bertram, Ph.D., published by Indiana University Press.

​

She was among the four poets who participated in the 50th Anniversary of 1968, acknowledging a year of major social upheaval and global turmoil as part of the 1968 program created by the Buffalo Jazz Composers Workshop and supported by the Sportsman Americana Music Foundation in Buffalo, New York.

​

In 2008 - 2010, Celeste served as Chair of Buffalo’s Arts and Cultural Committee for the Buffalo – Lille Sister Cities program, where she and an ensemble of cultural advocates represented the region at social, political, and cultural events in Lille, France, and Macaron, Belgium.

​

Celeste was also a judge for the Young Writers division of Norton Publishers International Competition for Mark Twain’s unfinished work “A Murder, Mystery and Marriage” hosted by the Buffalo & Erie County Library. 

​

Lawson has been commissioned to write special occasion poems for events such as the annual Juneteenth Festival and the 20th Anniversary of HOME (Housing Opportunities Made Equal).  Examples of community public readings include “From A Sister’s Perspective” at the Buffalo Museum of Science produced by N’tare Gault, Ph.D, Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center as part of the “Gray Hair” series produced by Earth’s Daughters, the nation’s oldest and longest running feminist periodical; The Jazz and Music series at Trinity Lutheran Church, Villa Maria College’s monthly guest speaker program, and The Ripley’s Writers Program in Ripley, NY sponsored by the New York State Council on the Arts and many more literary events.

In partnership with Countertop Press, she self-published a collection of poems entitled I Was Born This Way, a reflection on her encounters with women from around the world, when she traveled to Beijing, China as a Western New York delegate to the United Nations/NGO 4th World Conference on Women, and in the previous year at the Region Five European Economic Commission in Vienna, Austria as preparation for the United Nations/NGO 4th World Conference on Women, chaired by Hillary Rodham Clinton.  In 1997, the Urban Libraries Foundation, the American Academy of Poets, and the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library recog¬nized Celeste as Erie County’s Poet of the Month in honor of National Poetry Month and National Library Week. 

​

Her poems, essays, and articles have appeared in the Buffalo News, Artvoice, Buffalo Beat, Her Magazine, Earth’s Daughters, and other publications. She has been a featured reader for programs of Just Buffalo Literary Center, including their Interdisciplinary Performance Series sponsored by the New York State Council on the Arts, The Center for Inquiry, and The Screening Room. She was one of the featured readers in Buffalo’s Second Annual Harlem Book Fair, and has participated in the Annual African American Writers programs presented by the Buffalo & Erie County Library. Celeste has presented poetry workshops to junior high and high school students as part of the NCCJ Anytown retreat for youth development held twice a year at St. Bonaventure University in Olean, New York.  She is also among the poets included in the 2015 Western New York anthology of poets: “A Celebration of Western New York Poets,” produced by Patricia Tansey and Buffalo Legacy Publications.  Celeste continues her commitment to give voice to members of the arts, culture, service, and civic communities through her Internet radio talk show “Biz, Bites, Buzz” on ThinkTwice Radio – www.thinktwiceradio.com.

​

Additional recent service and other participation highlights in the arts and cultural community include:

•    2025 Review panelist for LitNYS Regrant Advancement for literary arts organizations
•    2023 Review panelist for David Fendrick Theatre Fund – new theater projects

•    Keynote speaker SUNY Empire State College graduating class of 2009
•    Keynote speaker, Villa Maria College graduating class of 2008
•    Review committee service for the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, New York State Council on the Humanities, Cuyahoga County Cultural Arts Review Panel, Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, City of Buffalo Arts Commission, New York Foundation for the Arts Poetry Review Panel
•    Alum of Leadership 2000, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, Harvard Graduate School of Business Faculty, and The Manchester Craftsman Guild
•    Recipient NCCJ Brotherhood Sisterhood Award in the Arts - 2006
•    YWCA Executive Leadership in the Arts - 2003
•    Invited guest for the White House National Medal of Arts Program during the Clinton administration