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TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | MARCH 25 - MARCH 31, 2022
Jamaica Center for Arts
& Learning brings back
in-person events under
new leadership team
BY BILL PARRY
The Jamaica Center for Arts
& Learning Center is gearing up
for its first in-person event this
month with a presentation of its
“Meet the Playwright” monthly
script development series. The
season premiere will take place
at JCAL’s Black-Box Theater, located
at 161-04 Jamaica Ave., on
Monday, March 28, at 7 p.m. with
scenes from “Queen Bess – The
Bessie Coleman Story” by Tommie
J. Moore.
Curated to showcase Queensbased
playwrights and theater
artists, “Meet the Playwright”
explores new work by both
emerging and established writers
for the stage. The program
began virtually in 2021 as part
of JCAL’s Black History Month
programming, and it included
streamed performances and a remote
Q&A with the playwright.
Now in 2022, audiences not only
can see the presentation live on
stage but engage with many of the
artists during a live Q&A.
“Meet the Playwright is a
genuine opportunity for new and
developing writers to pitch their
ideas in a meaningful way,”
JCAL Artistic Director Courtney
Ffrench told QNS. “It has
created an exciting energy filled
with the expectations that a diamond
will soon be discovered, or
simply, the uncelebrated gets a
fair chance to be heard. Meet the
Playwright is possibly a one-ofa
kind opportunity, with a community
filled with writers and
artists, with a variety of stories
to tell.”
Along with reintroducing
southeast Queens audiences
to live theater, “Meet the Playwright”
is structured as an innovative
opportunity to pitch a
new play for future production at
JCAL Scenes.
Tommie J. Moore’s play
“Queens Bess – The Bessie Coleman
Story” honors one of the
great pioneers of American aviation.
Coleman was the first African
JCAL Executive Director Leonard
Jacobs Photo courtesy of JCAL
American woman and first
Native American to hold a pilot
license. Her airshows were notorious
for their daring.
Moore is the founder of Dare
To Be Black Corp., a company
that educates and protects the
legacies of African-American
icons through theater and film.
Moore is an actor, screenwriter,
playwright and director with
credits in more than 30 plays.
Ffrench and JCAL Executive
Director Leonard Jacobs, both
former interim leaders of the cultural
institution, were recently
named as the new leadership
team.
“Leonard and Courtney
stepped up together as JCAL’s interim
leaders in June 2020, a vulnerable
time for all arts groups,”
said David Thomas, chairman of
the JCAL board of directors. “Despite
the many challenges posed
by COVID and the last two years,
our ‘dynamic duo’ navigated us
through, forging a community-focused,
inclusive approach to arts
and culture in southeast Queens.
Our board is inspired by their vision
as JCAL heads into its 50th
anniversary year in 2022.”
Founded in 1972, JCAL is the
only multidisciplinary urban
arts center — and the only member
of New York City’s historic
public-private partnership, the
Cultural Institutions Group.
Read more on QNS.com.
‘Our chance to make a difference’
Ozone Park civic groups organize massive relief effort for Ukrainian refugees
BY BILL PARRY
As the humanitarian crisis
in Ukraine deepens, with more
than 3 million refugees fleeing
the worn-torn nation since Russia
invaded three weeks ago, Sam
Esposito, the president of the
Ozone Park Residents Block Association,
had seen enough.
Esposito began organizing
with other southern Queens civic
associations and Assemblywoman
Stacey Pheffer Amato to hold
the largest Ukrainian relief effort
the city has seen to date, from 10
a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, March
19, at The Living Word Christian
Fellowship Church, located at
132-05 Cross Bay Blvd. in Ozone
Park.
“One of our Ukrainian residents
asked for us to help because
a local Ukrainian church
rebuffed his efforts to organize
a relief event. They would only
accept cash,” Esposito told QNS.
“He knew that if anyone could
do something to help, it was us.
I personally went to the church
and I was really disappointed
that they wanted nothing to do
with the event.”
The Ozone Park Residents
Block Association has mobilized
its own army of 75 to 100 volunteers
during the last two years
to distribute food every Saturday
during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The volunteers are Bengali,
Black, Chinese, Guyanese, Hispanic,
white, born-again, Catholic,
Christian, Hindu, Jewish,
Muslim, old and young, gay and
straight, Esposito explained.
“Without these volunteers,
we couldn’t do these efforts, they
give back so much to our community,”
he said. “We’re asking everyone
to come out this Saturday.
It’s going to be our biggest event
yet. We expect it to be a citywide
effort.”
Esposito is asking for all concerned
people to donate necessities
for the refugees to alleviate
the worst suffering in Europe
since World War II. The Ukrainian
Embassy provided him with
a list of medical supplies that are
needed including bandages, antiseptic
wipes, Ibuprofen, tourniquets,
syringes, antibiotics,
rubber gloves and emergency
blankets. They will also collect
diapers, feminine hygiene products,
People who were evacuated from Nikolaev amid Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine arrive in Odessa, Ukraine. Igor Tkachenko/REUTERS
toothpaste and toothbrushes,
sheets and towels, soap, baby
formula, canned food, socks, pet
food and children’s toys.
Residents of the Rockaways,
Broad Channel, Ozone Park and
Howard Beach have been dropping
off supplies at either Living
World Christian Fellowship or
Pheffer Amato’s district office all
week.
“This is our chance to make a
difference and help everyone in
need,” Esposito said. “It breaks
my heart to see what these people
are going through. You know, we
face bullies every day in our lives
and here you see these people
stand up to the bullies in Russia.
It’s truly moving and we need to
do what we can to help.”
He has lined up a trucking
company that will take all of the
donated items to a warehouse.
A packing company will then
package them for shipping. Solent
Freight Services, a company
with ties to the community,
will ensure the donations will
be properly delivered to those
in need overseas, all donated for
free.
“The atrocities happening in
Ukraine are sickening, and this
is just one way that we can let the
people of Ukraine, and their families
here in Queens know that we
stand in solidarity with them, we
support them and we are ready to
help them any way we can,” Pheffer
Amato said. “This community
has always stepped up to the plate
to help those in need, just like we
have countless times before and
like we always do.”
In addition to Esposito’s organization,
The Ozone Park Howard
Beach Woodhaven Lions
Club, Kiwanis International of
Woodhaven and Ozone Park, the
Ozone Park Block Association,
the Glendale Civic Association
and other community groups are
also helping to organize the relief
effort.
“All of the amazing civic
groups that got involved deserve
a huge amount of praise,” Pheffer
Amato said. “And through these
great partnerships and teamwork,
we can make a difference
and help the people of Ukraine
get much-needed supplies. I will
be happy to stand shoulder-toshoulder
with all of them as we
load the truck.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by
e-mail at bparry@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at (718) 260–4538.
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