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
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