Racial History Performance to Feature Richmond Heights Musician

resident Baba Michael Nelson will serve as one of three musicians next month for Muddy River, a dance theater production that explores the racial history of St. Louis.

The show depicts events such as the 1917 East St. Louis race riots, housing discrimination and racial profiling.

It will run from May 11-19 at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays at Cardinal Rigali Center, located at 20 Archbishop May Dr.

Nelson leads the music group Sworn to the Drum, which "plays improvisational jazz infused with a variety of world drumming," a news release states. He plays trumpet, flugelhorn, conch shells and a variety of percussion instruments such as the bata drum. 

A free one-hour preview of and discussion about the show is planned at noon Monday in the J.C. Penney Building, 1 University Blvd. at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. More information is available by going to gitana-inc.org, emailing info@gitana-inc.org or calling 314-721-6556.

Gitana Productions developed the show. The group receives funding from the and the Missouri Arts Council.