Documentary about Gentrification/Housing Segregation, Featuring LaGuardia Theater Students, to be showcased at 2017 Queens World Film Festival on Friday, March 17, 2017

Long Island City, NY (March 16, 2017)—“Raisin/Rosedale,” a unique documentary film produced by LaGuardia Community College exploring the history of racial issues throughout the U.S., has been selected for the 2017 Queens World Film Festival, where it will be shown this Friday, March 17^th at 6:30 p.m. The film elegantly weaves together a historical account of housing segregation in Rosedale, Queens, with a fictional portrayal of a black family trying to integrate into a predominantly white Chicago suburb in scenes from A Raisin in the Sun, and interviews with LaGuardia theater students about their first-hand experiences with gentrification. LaGuardia Community College serves an incredibly diverse and overwhelmingly low-income, disadvantaged student population (more than 70% have family incomes of less than $25,000/yr.). The 21-minute film brings together some of LaGuardia’s distinctive offerings— the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives, a repository of collections that illuminate the social and political history of New York City, with LaGuardia’s award-winning theater program (whose students regularly best those from prestigious four-year colleges in national theater festivals), and the incredible diversity of the college's student population--making it one of the most diverse institutions of higher learning in the US. The film is designed to spark dialogue about the history and current state of race relations throughout the U.S., and the effect of gentrification on our cities and neighbors—topics that are particularly timely considering today’s political climate. WHAT: Screening of “Raisin/Rosedale” film, produced by LaGuardia Community College, at the 2017 Queens World Film Festival Interviews available, either before or after the festival, with:

• Richard K. Lieberman, PhD, Professor of History and Director of the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives
• Stefanie Sertich, Theatre Program Director, LaGuardia Community College
• Sandy Chase, director of Raisin/Rosedale
• LaGuardia Theater Students featured in the Raisin/Rosedale documentary: Cheyenne Winley, Helena Koudou, John Cosentino, and Jehan Have

WHEN: 6:30 p.m., Friday, March 17^th WHERE: Kaufman Astoria Studios, Zukor Room, 34-12 36^th St., Astoria, NY 11106 TICKETS: $15/each. Click here to purchase. FREE ADMISSION available for media with valid press credentials. For press registration, click here. More info: https://www.queensworldfilmfestival.com/films/detail.asp?fid=850

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About the LaGuardia Theater Program Under the direction of Stefanie Sertich since 2011, LaGuardia theater students have received numerous regional and national recognition through the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, which is regarded as the premiere theater program for the more than 600 two- and four-year colleges and universities nationwide with theater programs. LaGuardia students compete in Region I, one of eight regional competitions of the Festival. Regional winners then go to the national festival, held each spring at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Recent LaGuardia awards and honors from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival include:

• In 2017, LaGuardia’s production of Passing Strange received five awards at nationals:
  • Distinguished Production of a Musical
  • Distinguished Director of a Musical
  • Distinguished Ensemble of a Musical
  • Distinguished Performance by an Actress in a Musical—Aliayh Murchison
  • Distinguished Performance by an Actor in a Musical—Jehan Havé

• In both 2017 and 2016, LaGuardia students were selected as Region I winners of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival’s award in Arts Administration. In 2017, it went to Jose Reyes; in 2016, it went to Viguens Louis.

• Also in 2016, a LaGuardia theatre graduate studying at Lehman College, Fe Torres, won two prestigious scholarships at nationals: the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre Scholarship, and an Artist-As-Citizen Conference Scholarship.

• In 2015, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, directed by Stefanie Sertich, was one of four productions showcased at Region I. LaGuardia student Ahsan Ali was honored at nationals as a distinguished actor in a supporting role, for his performance in this production.

• Also in 2015, LaGuardia studentJulio Trinidad took home three awards at nationals that came with sizable scholarships: 2nd place overall, the Mark Twain Comedy Award, and the Margolis Method Acting Training Scholarship.

“While our students have taken home many regional and national theater awards, the true measure of a theater program is its ability to build empathetic citizens in an ever changing world. This reflects our college’s mission as well,” says Sertich. Some LaGuardia theater graduates are now working actors and others are continuing to hone their craft in well-regarded theater programs at four-year schools. One such graduate who is now a working actor is Ashley August, the 2013 NYC Youth Poet Laureate. For more: http://www.ashleyaugust.com/base/. About the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives at LaGuardia Community College The LaGuardia and Wagner Archives, established in 1982, serves as a repository for NYC’s social and political history, which includes the largest collection of New York City mayoral papers. Archive records include the personal papers and official documents of Mayors Fiorello H. LaGuardia, Robert F. Wagner, Abraham D. Beame and Edward I. Koch, the records of the New York City Housing Authority, the piano maker Steinway & Sons, The Council of the City of New York and a Queens Local History Collection. Assets from these collections are regularly referenced in news stories, and studied by journalists, policy makers, and other researchers examining the history of Greater New York. The Archives regularly produces public programs exploring its collections, including an annual calendar produced in partnership with The New York Times and the City University of New York.  

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