Exhibit includes items from Nina Simone Project
“Nina Simone … What More Can I Say?” a new exhibit and play honoring the singer and North Carolina native, curated by Dr. Joseph Jordan, will open Thursday, Sept. 13 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The exhibit of rare photographs of Simone’s awards, personal letters and other documents includes a number of items from the Nina Simone Project in Tryon, including photos, concert programs, contracts, the original black (carbon copy) for Langston Hughes’s essay “Spotlight on Nina Simone” (autographed with a commendatory note to Simone), the U.S. Congressional Proclamation honoring Simone and President Bill Clinton’s letter of recognition to Simone. Also included is the only known extant copy of Eunice Waymon’s 1948 Tryon recital, one of 50 hand-lettered copies by TDB columnist Garland Goodwin.
A one-act play by the same name, written by award-winning playwright and poet Howard Craft of Durham, N.C., will be presented at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15 and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 16 in the Stone Center auditorium at UNC-Chapel Hill. The exhibit and play are both free and open to the public.
First proposed by frequent Stone Center collaborator Alden Kimbrough, this project represents the combined efforts and resources of the Alden Kimbrough Collection in Los Angeles, the Carroll Waymon (brother of Nina Simone) Collection of San Diego, Calif. and the archives and personal collection maintained by Crys Armbrust, founder and director of the Nina Simone Memorial Project located in Tryon, Nina’s birthplace.
The exhibition was made possible by support from Kompleks Creative Inc., Wax Poetics Magazine and the Friends of the Robert and Sallie Brown Gallery and Museum.
– article submitted by Crys Armbrust