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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 12, 2011)
M January 12, 2011 a r tin L u t h e r K in g J r . Page 39 2011 s p e c ia l e d i l ion Preacher’s Wife Abuse Sparks Play Two shows scheduled at Portland venue D o n 't let the pretty face fool you as this m ulti talented lady has a great m ind and a painful story b e hind that beautiful sm ile and p h e nom enal voice. A southern girl w ho grew up in m akeup on that eye, if you say som e thing to anybody I ’ll Kill y o u !” I ’ll never forget that m orning, the heavi ness in m y heart trying to d irect the choir, play the piano, and lead praise and w orship w ith a busted lip and a b la c k e y e u n d e rn e a th p ile s o f m akeup w hile he preached to the people in the p ew s.” W hy did you d ecide to do the play? “I ’ve carried these scars for som e T hank You. T o g eth er th ey ’ve created a the atrical m asterpiece in “ Em erge 7 W om en, 7 S tools.” A lso an author, Lady Kitty is em barking upon her third book, “Fly W ith B roken W ings,” a m ust read due out this spring. “ M y purpose in life is to be in strum ental in the hands o f G od, helping all people becom e the best they can be in life especially w om en and teen girls,” she says. “Every w om an has a purpose and every w om an has a dream my jo b is to help you find it, cultivate it, and celebrate it, for w ith G od all things are pos sible regardless o f the hell that you m ay have com e through.” A m entor and a life coach she know s that secrets and scars run deep m aking survival m ore c h al lenging but all the m ore rew ard in g ” C urrently, L ady Kitty is d irector o f a 65 Voice multi cultural children’s ch o ir at Phoenix Park, a housing developm ent that serves o v er 4,000 challenged fam ilies in the south Sacram ento area. T he choir is co m posed o f blacks, H isp a n ic s, w h ite s, V ie tn a m e se , continued on page 47 Lady Kitty Griffin, the First Lady of Greater Faith Church, Sacra mento, Calif., performs at Highland Church in northeast Portland. A gospel recording artist and founder and director of Progressive Women of Excellence, Inc., she is behind a play about domestic violence, ‘Emerge 7 women 7 Stools, ’ coming to Portland, for two shows, Jan. 28-29. Sacram ento, C alif., Lady Kitty G rif fin has opened m any doors w ith her several gifts w hile keeping a dark d oor shut for years, ’’things you ju st d o n ’t talk about,” says the p e tite dynam o o f a w om an. “Y ou know w hat goes on in this house stays in this house, those types o f thing s.” A s L a d y K itty ’s p o p u la rity topped the R ichter scale, no one e v er knew o f the hidden scars and deep pain she carried inside, but no m ore. W hat the devil m eant fo rb ad , G od has turned to good in the stage play “ E m erge 7 W om en 7 S tools,” as she takes the role o f an “abused w om an ” except it's not ju st a role, it’s her life! T he play is com ing to Portland for tw o show s only at the D olores W inningstad T heater, dow ntow n, w ith 8 p.m. perform ances on Friday, Jan. 28 and Saturday, Jan. 29. A gospel recording artist and founder and director o f Progressive W om en o f E xcellence, Lady Kitty G riffin talked about being a survivor o f dom estic violence in a local inter view. She w as asked w hat it felt like to have her husband, a church pastor, beat her. “ W ell it w as a sense o f h elpless ness and degradation 1 ’ ve never felt before, one Sunday M orning he beat m e bad and then turned to me and said now “G et up and put som e 28 years and realized as I m inistered to o th e r hurting w om en that I w a sn ’t alone and som ething pricked my heart and 1 had to tell the story o f not ju st me but others like me. M aybe all d id n ’t su ffer physical abuse but som etim es the em otional abuse is ju st as bad. “ “Em erge 7 W om en, 7 Stools” tells those stories and that o f m any other victim s o f spousal abuse. The play digs deep and substan tially delivers. O ne m om ent y o u ’re laughing, the next y o u ’re crying, then y o u ’re tap ping your feet and m oving to the beat. It’s a phenom enal show a c com panied by a 4-piece polished kicking band under the direction o f N icholas D onaldson, a gifted young m an from Fairfield Calif. The play ’ s extraordinary voices com bine with extraordinary stories to leave au d i ences laughing, cry in g and on their feet. Lady K itty, as she is affectio n ately and respectfully know n, has team ed up w ith the critically a c claim ed veteran playw right D elilah R ashell, w hich has honored P ort land w ith a list o f fantastic show s in the past, including T.D . Jak es’ m ega hit W om an thou art L oosed, and several o f her ow n, including G o d ’s T ry in g to T ell Y ou S o m eth in g , T hings A in ’t W hat T hey U sed T o Be, and Som ebody O ughta Tel 1 G od Portland's Premier Weekly Diversity Publication. > Stay in tune with your local news and events. Advertise and subscribe to The Portland Observer. We'll grow with you. ffl!l ^ n r t l a n h ( iD h s e r u v r 4747 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd Portland, OR 97211 503-288-0033 on the web at www.portlandobserver.com
