Diana Wharton Sennaar is an award-winning composer and a founding member of the internationally-renowned vocal ensemble, Sweet Honey in the Rock. Her noted career includes composing for the Broadway hit: “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.” Her daughter Mai Sennaar is an author whose debut novel “They Dream in Gold” was selected as a Best Book of July by TIME magazine.
(Photo by Ursula V. Battle)
Each a success in her own right, the mother and daughter collaborated on a theatrical work entitled “Carry On!” that puts their amazing talents ‘center stage.’ Wharton Sennaar is the composer and conceptualist of Carry On!, while Sennaar is its book writer.
Carry On! features interactive technology as it revisits the early days of COVID-19 for essential workers and elderly residents in a care facility. The piece takes audiences back to that moment of edgy anticipation and fear as they share their stories through song and AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology with humor, truth, and optimism – from the frontline care provider risking life to the pre-conditioned resident who becomes compromised.
“The play emanated out of some workshops that I did many, many years ago in New York,” said Wharton Sennaar. “When I lived there, I was doing workshops in assisted living type situations throughout the boroughs of New York City. I was writing music back then, so some of the music is rooted very much in that.”
She continued, “I needed a consistent playwright. I knew it would be great to have a playwright that I could really connect to who could understand what I was doing. When she was in her preteens, Mai started writing. She was that playwright that I always needed, and the rest is history.”
Wharton Sennaar said she and her daughter’s collaboration illustrates their mutual love and respect for each other’s craft. Her daughter agreed.
“We have this friendship and a profound mutual respect that extends beyond our mother-daughter relationship,” said Sennaar. “When I was a kid, I would privately listen to a lot of my mother’s tapes of her music, and so I was developing a fan state with her work really early on. It’s interesting to grow up with a mother who is a genius…who is extraordinarily gifted. I had admiration for her because she was my mother, but at the same time, this powerful artist.”
She added, “When we first started to collaborate on my plays in New York, it was extremely exciting for me. We found a way to work together that works for us. It’s a lovely dynamic that we have working together.”
Wharton Sennaar’s work as a composer has garnered her several prestigious awards which include the Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship. Her songs have opened for the likes of Bill Withers. The Howard University graduate is the executive director of Piano for Youth123, a piano tutelage organization that reaches hundreds of students annually through its public programs and performances, summer camp and year-round lessons.
She received the Ruby Artist Grant, 2023 for Carry On!, which aims to highlight the importance of elders in society and the impact of family on their lives. The Sennaars have Broadway aspirations for the production. Last year, Ellika Music Company, Mai Writes Productions, William Kelly Consulting, and the Rubys Artist Grants presented the world premiere Baltimore showcase of Carry On! Victor Trent Cook, of the acclaimed theatrical production and concert series Three Mo’ Tenors, was among those who attended the performance and gave it rave reviews.
Sennaar is a NYU Tisch alum. Her debut novel “They Dream in Gold” weaves together the story of a Black American woman’s search for her Senegalese lover and the people who shaped the couple’s lives. The novel is a Washington Post summer pick named Best Book of 2024 by Real Simple Magazine. Her stage play works have been presented at The Classical Theatre of Harlem, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, the National Black Theatre, NYU Goldberg, and other venues.
“They Dream In Gold” can be purchased at bookstores everywhere along with Amazon and the Baltimore Museum of Art. Last month, she discussed her book at the launch of the Lillie Carroll Jackson Civil Rights Museum’s new book club in Baltimore.
“As I journey through life, collaborations with my mother are helping me journey and grow beyond the work itself,” said Sennaar. “They speak to me in a very spiritual way. They’re things that I need and will use as I continue to become myself. So, it’s deeply nourishing and affirming because my mother is also a mentor of mine as an artist, and I’m just starting out. So, for me, collaborating with my mother feels like this infinite kind of wellspring of inspiration, safety, support, and possibility.”
For more information, visit https://www.ellikamusic.com/diana-wharton-sennaar.html and