Reflections on Soul Value and Research-to-Performance Method Writing: a Conversation with April Brown and Jessica Pearson
April Brown and Jessica Pearson will be in conversation about their process to develop Soul Value using the research to performance method. Soul Value brings to life the stories of New England Black women—Elleanor Eldridge, Elizabeth Freeman, and Margaret Kinnicutt—and the men of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment during and after the American Revolutionary War. Through a compelling blend of monologue, dance, ritual, and song, Soul Value illuminates the often-overlooked contributions of Black and Indigenous people in New England history, centering their advocacy, resilience, and determination to survive and thrive. The work invites audiences to engage with a more complete and inclusive understanding of the American story while creating meaningful connections between the past and the present
About April Brown:
April H. Brown is an educator, ordained minister, poet, singer, actor, and nationally recognized nonprofit leader whose work bridges the arts, education, and social justice. Based in Providence, Rhode Island, April brings over 25 years of experience in community development, cultural leadership, and educational equity.
April serves as Co-Director of the Langston Hughes Community Poetry Reading Committee, that amplifies Black literary voices through civic poetry gatherings and is a fellow with Ocean Nexus within the Department of Marine Affairs at the University of Rhode Island.
April holds a Bachelor of Arts from American University and a Master of Education from the University of Rhode Island. She has worked in a wide array of professional and cultural settings, including with the Smithsonian Institution’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the National Museum of American History, where she helped produce landmark public events such as the National World War II Reunion and the Folklife Festival. Locally, she has collaborated with Rhode Island Black Storytellers, the National Association of Black Storytellers, and served as the African Marketplace Director.
“For April, arts practice is the way we speak life into humanity.”
Jessica T. Pearson is a Professor of Dance at Rhode Island College. Ms. Pearson is a dancer, educator and choreographer who danced with the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Gesel Mason, Concepts In Motion (Bermuda), and Denizen Arts. As an educator of modern dance traditions, she has been invited to teach at Ballet West Summer Intensive, Brown University, Providence College, Urbanity Summer Intensive, University of Kentucky Lexington, Festival Ballet, and has taught overseas.
Her choreography has been selected to perform at Boston Contemporary Dance Festival, Southern Vermont Dance Festival and Collective Thread (NY). Urbanity Next, Utah Regional Ballet, Rhode Island College, Salve Regina University, University of Kentucky Lexington, University of Utah, and Providence College have commissioned choreography by Ms. Pearson.
Ms. Pearson is currently training with Isaura Oliveira and Power of Skirts in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was a principal dancer in Hocus Pocus 2 and recently joined SAG-AFTRA. Prior to Rhode Island College, she was a Post MFA Fellow at the University of Utah. She received her MFA in Dance from the University of Colorado Boulder where she studied dance pedagogy and choreography and BFA in Dance from Towson University in Towson, Maryland.
