Runako Jahi

 

For Mature Audiences:                                          


“Mainline Blues”
1976 “Best One-Act Play” winner and also the “Most Promising Playwright” Awards from the Black Theater Alliance.


“Freeze”
1976; Lamont Zeno Theater, Chicago


“Asante”
1977; an eta production at Northeastern University Center For Inner City Studies, Chicago


“Memories Of Gangway Superstars”
1978; an eta production at Northeastern University Center For Inner City Studies, Chicago


“Martin Luther King Suite” Wrote teleplay for the Emmy-nominated NBC television special (based on an original concept by Abena Joan Brown). First aired January 15, 1986.


“A Passenger Past Midnight” The life of Marvin Gaye, January, 1986 and October, 1987; eta Creative Arts Foundation. Touring production


“Fats: His Life & Times” (Fats Waller) 1987; eta Creative Arts Foundation


“Again, Sometime Soon” Two one-acts produced by eta Creative Arts Foundation in, 1988


"Stream" A choreopoem co-written by Runako Jahi, along with Soyini Madison and Kai El’Zabar, produced by R/KAS productions in 1980. Touring show. Played local arts festivals and Nebraska.


 

Especially for Children:                                               


“A Place To Be Me”
First produced in 1988; eta Creative Arts Foundation. Fantasy about the influence of television on children. (Music Score by Durrell Daniels/Jahi lyrics)


The Positive Evolution Of Bongo Baker
First produced in 1991; eta Creative Arts Foundation. Musical drama about teens over-coming peer pressure. (Original Songs by Wanda Bishop/Jahi lyrics)


“Kasimu & The Coconut Palm”
First produced in 1993; eta Creative Arts Foundation. Fantasy about the importance of growing up in one’s own time. (Music Score by Lynn Hilton/Jahi & Hilton lyrics)


“The Reading Machine On Sunnyside Lane”
First produced in 1995; eta Creative Arts Foundation. Musical about the importance of reading. (Music Score by Anthony Llorens/Jahi lyrics)


“Ama & The Magic Toy Box”
Musical fantasy about how children are psychologically and socially affected by the toys they are given. (Music Score by Anthony Llorens/Jahi lyrics) First produced in 1996, eta Creative Arts Foundation


“What Shall I Tell My Children: The Margaret Burroughs Story”
Musical biography on the life of Dr. Margaret Burroughs, co-founder of the DuSable Museum of African American History. (Music Score by Anthony Llorens/Jahi lyrics) First produced by eta Creative Arts Foundation, 2001