Shell on Wheels Presents: 5 Fridays of Jazz Series
In partnership with Memphis Library Foundation & The Overton Park Shell
WHEN: 5 Fridays of April | 6:30pm
WHERE: Benjamin Hooks Library
HOW MUCH: Free | Full Bar Available for Purchase
WHO: Memphis Black Arts Alliance - featuring Cequita Monique & Naomi Moody
Cequita Monique, a vocal stylist, resides in Memphis, TN. She has been a performing artist and arts educator for over 25 years. Cequita Monique has received the Memphis Theatre Award for Excellence as a lead actress in both a musical and drama. She has performed local and abroad.
Cequita Monique retired as a flight attendant for the airlines for over 10 years to commit to this creative ministry. She continues to work professionally as an independent artist in creative and academic environments performing virtually and live. Cequita Monique is also, a professional ensemble member of Playback Memphis and Memphis Orpheum teaching artist. In 2019 Cequita founded “The Culture House” a non-profit organization that produces, performs, and preserves the culture of Memphis. The Culture House featured Cequita Monique in her one-woman production "Come Sunday” A Sip of Sunday Songs, a musical memoir. Due to the shut down from the pandemic in early 2020, Cequita returned home from an exhilarating run of the Broadway classic “Your Arms Too Short to Box with God” by Vinnette Carroll in Sarasota FL. Cequita returned to Memphis to discover a world of virtual performing where she has found herself busy with workshops and performances. She was a performing panelist for the 2021 Association Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) writers conference where she performed a live reading from African folklore the adaptation of the People Could Fly with The Nubian Theater Company. She is looking forward to upcoming performances and educational exchange.
Naomi is a Broadway Superstar touring the world in the leading role as Bess in Porgy & Bess as well as leading lady in the smash Broadway Tony Award Winning Sophisticated Ladies! Naomi is a recording artist under Willie Mitchell with Royal Records and touted around the South as a Living Jazz Legend. Naomi is also an avid music, piano, voice, and acting instructor with the Memphis Black Arts Alliance, training over 300 children and adults since the 1990s.
