My Former Student R. Ernie Silva One Act Play on Jimi Hendrix in NYC Jan. 10-11

• “Silva is a charismatic talent” –LA weekly
• “His sheer sense of will…is inspiring” –LA Times
• “Absolutely Sensational” –Art Beat Magazine
• “Silva is dynamic performer” –Backstage West
• “Watching Ernie is like listening to both exquisite poetry and music classical and jazz” –LA Times website reader's review
• “I expect we’ll be seeing more of Mr. Silva and this is a good place to get acquainted” –LA Weekly.

I've written about my former 4th grade student who was in my class over 30 years ago when he did his one man autobiographical play, "Heavy Like the Weight of a Flame." 

Bushwick to Broadway: Help My Former ...

Mar 27, 2013

Ernie Silva Show an Allegory for Why ...

Apr 18, 2010

What I Learned From a Former Student ...

Feb 27, 2011

I learned a lot about Ernie that I did not know when he was in my class - stuff I should have known as his teacher -- but he was such a well-behaved and smart kid I made certain assumptions - that there was no turmoil in his life. My bad. I also learned a lot about how it was to be a kid of color being harassed by cops on the streets. A lesson that is coming home with every passing day. Ernie's posts on Facebook about the racial crisis go deep.

Now Ernie returns with a new one-act play based on the life of Jimi Hendrix. 

• January 10, 2015 - January 11, 2015 Jan 10, 2015 at 8:00pm to Jan 11, 2015 at 6:00pm

• Show Map Laguardia Performing Arts Center 31-10 Thomson Ave, Long Island City, New York 11101

• Find Tickets Tickets Available www.laguardiaperformingarts.org

ROY G BIV: A Story Told Through The Eyes Of A Rock Icon

Brilliant and imaginative look into the life of the most prolific rock guitarist of all time

Tickets are only $15.00 dollars!

http://www.laguardiaperformingarts.org/event/3a48fb469b32eb6c3b2385dc1780bdb7/Roy-G-Biv

December 16, 2014 (New York, New York) — TTO Entertainment, currently in residency as part of LaGuardia Performing Arts Center LAB series, presents ROY G BIV: A Story Told Through The Eyes Of A Rock Icon, written by R. Ernie Silva and Anthony Pearce and directed by José A. Esquea with choreography by Daniel Soto.

Performances: Saturday, January 10, 2015 @ 8pm and Sunday January 11, 2015 @ 6pm
Location: LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (31-10 Thomson Avenue, Long Island City, NY)
Transportation: A few blocks from the 33rd Street station on the 7 train line
Tickets: $15.00

The turbulent decade of the 1960s was a time of rapid and drastic change in America. The country was forced to re-evaluate and change its perspective on race, gender, war, and poverty. The cultural change driven by the baby boomer generation brought along for the first time in our country a cultural identity driven by the power and ideals of youth and every convention and notion of who and what we were as a country was turned on its ear.

In the world of music no figure became a greater symbol of the time than the West Coast boy from Seattle. The immortal lefty, the American Rock Icon, that in the midst of the British invasion somehow managed to climb the top of the rock and roll mountain seemingly coming out of nowhere and then in a flash, just like a comet in the night, was gone….

But what did it all mean, how did his life and time manage to cross so many roads at once, and leave us wanting for more? In this astonishing look at the life of a rock icon, R. Ernie Silva’s brilliant performance as the most prolific rock guitarist of all time, takes us to a space and time,ethereal and eternal, where all of the rock icon's choices will be examined under the colors life, light and the rainbow accompanied by the iconic electric rock, blues and revolutionary music that was the soundtrack of the times.

About: R. Ernie Silva’s power as performer for his previous work the has seen described as follows:

• “Silva is a charismatic talent” –LA weekly
• “His sheer sense of will…is inspiring” –LA Times
• “Absolutely Sensational” –Art Beat Magazine
• “Silva is dynamic performer” –Backstage West
• “Watching Ernie is like listening to both exquisite poetry and music classical and jazz” –LA Times website reader's review
• “I expect we’ll be seeing more of Mr. Silva and this is a good place to get acquainted” –LA Weekly.

About TTO Entertainment– the bourgeoning production company is helmed by co-founded by director José A. Esquea and choreographer Daniel Soto has in its initial year presented William Shakespeare's The Tempest, Like Water (a music, dance, and art event benefitting Wateraid.org), The Craft of Creativity (with Emmy Award-winning Muppet writer Joseph A. Bailey), and Stirred Crazy, Part 1 (inspired by the life of Richard Pryor Jr.). Its motto is, "We believe in the power of live performance and the human touch".

What I Learned From a Former Student: Ernie Silva One Man Show Rocks - Today is Your Last Chance

Ernie Silva (center) with Mendez (left) and Mark-Viverito

Friday night I went back to see R. Ernie Silva's one man show, "Heavy Like the Weight of a Flame" at LATEA for the 5th time since last April (Ernie lives in Los Angeles and returns periodically) and it gets better and better. I was pleasantly surprised to see two City Councilwomen in the audience, Rosie Mendez and Melissa Mark-Viverito. (I've seen Ms. Mendez at various charter school co-loco hearings on the lower East Side and she has been a rock.)

Ernie will be performing for a month at the upcoming Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Every time I see Ernie, who was in my 4th grade class in the early 80s (he's around 39 now - oy!) I learn something new. (It was also nice to see Dino, another former student from the same class who is a former NYC teacher. Dino is always there to support Ernie.)

His performance gets better as he hones his story (the first of an upcoming trilogy). His characters get sharper and more distinct, reminding me of the great Nilaga Sun who wowed people with her one woman show, "No Child Left." - see video here. And he keeps adding topical material. And there and more interaction with the audience. I know this bothers some theater people. I went to see Ernie perform with my acting teacher during the summer and his only criticism was this breaking of the "4th wall" because he feels it took Ernie out of character and into stand-up comedy territory. Ernie as a former stand-up comedian falls naturally into this role and it works for me.

There were a some ladies in the audience who grew up in the same projects as Ernie (and still live there) and totally identified with Ernie's life. One, in tears, thanked him so much for making the connections. I spoke with Rosie Mendez after the show and she is also is a Williamsburg gal, going to an elementary and middle school not far from the Bushwick projects.

Most important for me was the lessons for educators (I wish every teacher gets to see their students grow up and interact with them - there's a better chance if you remain in one school and neighborhood.) I wrote about it before:

I've been telling teachers that this is a special show for them. How Ernie was disparaged for reading too much and told his fate was drugs. How he lost 8 of his friends to aids, drugs and murder by the time he was 17. I feel this show lays lies to so much of the ed deform crap - Ernie was a good student yet still had to go through so much shit. Unless we as a society figure out how to help tackle the shit kids have to go through we will be pedaling backwards.

Every ed deformer who says that education through the right teaching/teacher will override all the outside stuff should hear Ernie's story, which is focused on his family - two brothers were involved in drugs - both died very young. Ernie and his friends were accosted by cops - just for walking as a group in the streets. I wonder if the "scholars" at Harlem Success Academy will be defended by Eva Moskowitz when they are teens hassled by cops for being black?

Ernie is so articulate and well educated. It showed especially during the post-show Q&A talk back where the audience got to ask him questions. People were congratulating me for my supposed role in  Ernie's education. I laughed. I had nothing to do with it. Ernie was in one of the two "One" - top- classes I had and could read years above level when he came into my class. And his dead brothers probably were good readers too - good readers tend to run in families. Ernie graduated from Murry Bergtraum HS and went onto college, eventually getting a scholarship to grad school at the USC acting program.

Read this description about "Heavy Like the Weight of a Flame."

A product of the Bushwick projects in Brooklyn, New York R. Ernie Silva honed his talents while sleeping on odd couches, in random hostels and homeless shelters, and while riding freight trains around the country. The story of this journey, Heavy Like the Weight of a Flame, has won the NYC’s One Festival; been nominated by LA Weekly for Best Solo Performance and most recently won the Hola Award for Best Solo Performance. Ernie’s story and performance was described by the LA Times as “inspiring.”

In the talk back, when asked how he escaped his brothers' fate, he said show business was another side of the hustle his brothers went through in the drug world. Actually, he shared some wonderful insights - wish I had a tape.

You can see Ernie on video:
  Promo 3 min: "Heavy Like the Weight of a Flame


Weight of a Flame" is a critically acclaimed one-man show starring R. Ernie Silva.