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The Emotions to Perform at NEIU
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Dana Navarro January 30, 2009 (773) 442-4227
d-navarro@neiu.edu
**The Emotions are available for interviews.
The Emotions to Kick Off Benefit and Celebration for Donn F.
Bailey and NEIU’s Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies
CHICAGO—On Thursday, February 26, The Emotions will perform on the Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) main campus to benefit the University’s Jacob H. Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies (CCICS). All proceeds from the performance will go toward a renovation of CCICS’ auditorium, which will be renamed the Donn F. Bailey Legacy Hall in a ceremony on Saturday, February 28.
The Emotions Concert
One of the leading female pop and R&B acts of the 1970s, The Emotions will star in “Emotional Memory,” a new musical by Larry Heimgartner, at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 26 in the Auditorium at Northeastern Illinois University, 5500 N. Saint Louis Ave. in Chicago. Enter campus at 3701 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. Free parking will be available in Lot F.
Tickets for the concert are $100. A limited number of tickets are available for $500 and include an exclusive post-concert reception with The Emotions. For tickets and more information, call (773) 442-4633.
A trio of teenage sisters—Jeanette, Wanda and Sheila Hutchinson—formed The Emotions in the late 1960s in Chicago. During the 1970s, their youngest sister, Pamela, joined the group. Having sung gospel in churches and on radio shows in Chicago as young girls, the group gained fame as pop and R&B singers. Their 1977 hit “Best of My Love” spent five weeks at the top of the U.S. pop chart. Other hits include “Boogie Wonderland,” “Flowers,” “I Don’t Wanna Lose Your Love,” and “Walking the Line.”
Auditorium Renaming Ceremony in Memory of Dr. Donn F. Bailey
Proceeds from this concert will support a renovation of the auditorium at NEIU’s Jacob H. Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies. The auditorium will be renamed Donn F. Bailey Legacy Hall in memory of the late Dr. Donn F. Bailey (1932 – 2007). The renaming ceremony will take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 28 at CCICS, 700 E. Oakwood Blvd. in Chicago.
Bailey was instrumental in the founding and development of CCICS. In addition to creating an undergraduate curriculum tied to the City of Chicago’s Career Opportunities Program, Bailey was a national and international leader in the field of speech and language. He co-founded (1977) and directed (1978 – 1981) the National Black Association for Speech-Language and served as chairman (1986 – 1990) of the Chicago Board of Education’s Commission on School Desegregation in Chicago Public Schools.
The renovation and modernization of the Donn F. Bailey Legacy Hall will include general construction, new seating, state lighting, audio visual, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and an electric network. The entire project is estimated to cost approximately $1.5 million. The original building that houses the auditorium was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and Dwight H. Perkins and constructed in 1905.
Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies
Located in the city’s Bronzeville neighborhood, the Jacob H. Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies was established by NEIU more than 30 years ago to help meet the needs of Chicago’s inner-city communities. Programs at CCICS are distinguished by their interdisciplinary nature in the social sciences and humanities with an emphasis on ethnic and racial issues as they apply to basic urban studies. Over the course of more than three decades, CCICS has helped thousands of predominately black students graduate with bachelor’s or master’s degrees.
CCICS continues to serve as a virtual mecca for the study and creation of urban black culture and life. Over the years, many prominent, historic black leaders have visited CCICS including Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, W.E.B. DuBois, Harold Washington, Richard J. Daley, Richard M. Daley, Jesse Jackson, Carol Mosely Braun, John Sengstacke, Vernon Jarrett, Oscar Brown Jr., and Paul Robeson.
The Emotions’ educational outreach for local high school students
As part of The Emotions’ trip to Chicago, the group’s touring theater company also will perform plays for local high school students. The plays will be performed for 400 students from South Side Chicago public high schools. The play “Whitewash” explores Black history and samples some of modern day’s great poets and thinkers. “Are You Positive” speaks to audiences about the AIDS virus. Both plays will be followed by question and answer sessions where the students can interact with the performers.
These plays have been performed for high school and college students around the country, and most recently the cast traveled to Tanzania to perform in January. Northeastern Illinois University is providing both the plays and transportation to and from the Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies, where the plays will be performed, at no cost to either the students or the high schools.
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