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John Chenault is a freelance writer, poet, and playwright. He is the author of two volumes of poetry, Blue Blackness (1969), and The Invisible Man Returns (1992). His work has appeared in journals and anthologies including To Gwen With Love: An Anthology Dedicated to Poet Gwendolyn Brooks (Johnson Publications); BOP (Brown University) Time Ta Greeze: Incantations From the Third World (Third World Communications); and Confrontation: a Journal of Third World Studies (Ohio University). He has also written magazine and newspaper articles, interviews and reviews, and was a columnist and section editor for Artrage Magazine, a publication of the Minority Advisory Arts Service (MAAS) in London, England.
Mr. Chenault has been a member of the New Theater/Free Theater of Cincinnati, Ohio since its inception in 1967. From "techie", to actor, playwright, and producer, he has been involved in dozens of productions behind and on the stage. His playwrighting credits include: Blood Ritual, Warren is Back in the World, The Buckwheat Book of the Dead, Stolen Moments, The X-periment, and Young Men Grow Older, a television drama that was nominated for an Emmy Award for Community Television and received the National Conference of Christian and Jews Brotherhood Award.
During the late 1960s Mr. Chenault studied African and Afro-Cuban percussion and performed with the Black Arts Ensemble. In 1973 he formed the percussion group Sunship. In 1977 he formed the Zamani Band in Washington, D.C. Mr. Chenault has taught African and African-American Studies at the University of Cincinnati, Beacon College and Washington International College, where he was executive dean (1978-1982). In 1993 he wrote and co-produced a monthly lecture series for WAIF Radio Cincinnati, entitled Human Evolution from an African Origin and Perspective.
Mr. Chenault was commissioned with composer/bassist Frank Proto in 1993 to create an orchestral composition in celebration of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's 100th Anniversary Season. Ghost in Machine: an American Music Drama for Voice, Narrator and Orchestra premiered in April 1995; it featured vocalist Cleo Laine, actor Paul Winfield, and was conducted by Jesus Lopez-Cobos.
Mr. Chenault and Mr. Proto continued their collaboration with three works dedicated to three legends of jazz: Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Charles Mingus. The compositions - performed by actor Charles Holmond, bassist Frank Proto, and violinist John Blake - were released on the 1997 Red Mark CD entitled Afro-American Fragments.
In 1998 the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music commissioned Chenault and Proto to create a new piece for the Conservatory Jazz Ensemble. Yesterday's News: a satire for Jazz Band with Actors and Vocalist, conducted by Frank Proto, premiered April 25, 1999.
In October 1999, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts commissioned Proto and Chenault to write a composition for Cleo Laine and the John Dankworth Group as part of the Kennedy Center's Louis Armstrong Legacy Series and its Millenium Season. The piece The Fools of Time premiered February 11, 2000 to critical acclaim.
Mr. Chenault often appears as a lecturer in schools, universities, prisons, corporations, and community centers. He continues to work with Frank Proto in exploring and re-defining the ways in which music and words combine in performance.