EXHIBITS & PROGRAMS
ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
In 2016, FashionAFRICANA produced and presented the world premiere of COSTUMES of THE WIZ LIVE! in celebration of the extraordinary work of award-winning costume designer, Paul Tazewell. The multi-media costume exhibition was held at the August Wilson Center in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Please see video below for highlights.
ABOUT THE WIZ
For over 100 years, the characters first given life by Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900, have given us a pathway for self-discovery.
The 1939 film adaptation, The Wizard of Oz, holds iconic status in the American imagination. In 1974, The Wiz: the Super Soul Musical “Wonderful Wizard of Oz” stunned with its celebration of African American culture, debuting on Broadway in 1975, where it won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The film adaptation of The Wiz, starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, and Richard Pryor was released in 1978. The Wiz Live! premiered live on NBC on December 3, 2015 and was directed by Tony-Award winner, Kenny Leon, and co-produced by Universal Television and Cirque du Soleil Theatrical. Paul Tazewell, Tony-award winning costume designer of Hamilton, created the production’s masterful costumes. This
world premiere exhibition was envisioned and produced by FashionAFRICANA, founded by Demeatria Boccella, with a global mission to broaden the standard of beauty by using fashion of the African Diaspora to cultivate and bring awareness to African-inspired fashion, culture, craftsmanship, and art. With its influential reach, FashionAFRICANA educates cultures and youth on both sides of the Atlantic.
ABOUT PAUL TAZEWELL, THE COSTUME DESIGNER
Paul Tazewell has been designing costumes for theater, dance, opera, and film for over 20 years. He has worked across the United States and the globe, with some of the most renowned companies and artists in the world.
He has collaborated with celebrated directors George C. Wolfe, Des McAnuff, Thomas Kail, Kenny Leon, Christopher Wheeldon, Christopher Ashley, Emily Mann, Doug Houghes, Francessca Zambello, Gary Griffin, and many more at such prestigious institutions including The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Pacific Northwest Ballet, English National Opera, The Bolshoi Ballet, The Guthrie Theatre, The Arena Stage, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, The Kennedy Center, off-Broadway, and Broadway.
His selected Broadway credits include Hamilton, Dr Zhivago, Side Show, Jesus Christ Superstar, Memphis, In the Heights, Lombardi, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Color Purple, A Raisin In the Sun, Caroline, or Change, and Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk.
Off-Broadway work includes Hamilton, Fetch Clay, Make Man, Flesh and Blood, Harlem Song, One Flea Spare, The Wiz, It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman, Blade to the Heat, Henry V, Purlie, Lost in the Stars, Little Me, Boston Marriage, and Venus.
In addition to design work, Paul has given numerous master classes at universities across the country. He has also taught costume design as a guest instructor at NYU and was on the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University from
2003-2006.
He has been nominated six times for the Tony Award and won the 2016 Tony Award for his work on Hamilton. In addition to a Drama Desk nomination, he has received two Lucille Lortel Awards, four Helen Hayes Awards, and many regional design honors. In 1993, The Princess Grace Foundation selected him as a young artist
of note. Ten years later, the foundation honored him with the Princess Grace Statue Award, an honor that acknowledges those artists that have established thriving and creative careers.
In 2016, Paul was asked by the Metropolitan Museum
of Art to participate in The Artist Project, a series of interviews with artists of all disciplines, filmed within the walls of the museum. In addition, he was selected to be featured in Bloomberg Businessweek’s Design 2016 Issue and was asked to speak at the annual symposium in San Francisco.
A few concept sketches by Paul Tazewell for The Wiz, Live!
