Ursula Rucker is My Father’s Daughter in NYC one-woman production

Philadelphia spoken word artist Ursula Rucker is bringing her one-woman performance, My Father’s Daughter, to New York City’s LaMaMa from October 10th through the 15th, and it won’t be a show to miss.

Detailing the life and struggles of mother and how it overlaps into her own, Rucker uses the art of spoken word along with live sound — provided by frequent collaborator Tim Motzer — to tell us her story. The show, presented in conjunction with Daryl Sledge and Rhymes Over Beats, reveals the stark differences of two lives, but also hints at where they could almost be the same. The tragedy is balanced with plenty of Rucker’s lively personality, and the uplifting message in the end is enough to keep any crowd moving. This is a live memoir about what it means to be a warrior and what it means to overcome.

Rucker is a graduate of Temple University and a Philadelphia native. She came to prominence in 1994 when she began sharing her poetry at Philadelphia’s Zanzibar Blue. Her reading techniques have been described as “strong, vulnerable, wounded and raging,” especially when she began to include live music and sound into her performance. Her most notable collaborative work is with The Roots, and her most popular spoken word recording, “Supernatural,” gained international success in 1994 and became a club hit. While she is known for her auditory techniques, the most popular version of Rucker’s first spoken word recording is the a cappella version.

Tickets for My Father’s Daughter are on sale now, more information on the show can be found here.

Ursula Rucker | Photo by John Vettese