The eighth annual Afrosolo Arts Festival in San Francisco ends Sept. 1, after featuring Bay Area theatre artists Robert Henry Johnson, Miri Hunter Haruach, Kheven LeGrone, Aya de Leon and Thomas Robert Simpson. The festival, encompassing visual arts, community talk backs, jazz and theatre performances, began Aug. 5 in four venues across San Francisco.

Among the theatrically related events at the 2001 Afrosolo Festival:

Aug. 22-25, Johnson, Hunter Haruach, LeGrone, de Leon and Simpson presented their five separate works on the African American experience in America. Johnson performs Letters to Jesus, a world premiere dance work on man's relationship with God. Grandmothers in the Universe is Hunter Haruach's take on the stories of Adam and Eve and Passover. LeGrone's Ulysses' Song looks at being young, gay and black in the new millennium. Poetry slam winner de Leon performs Sober Love, a poetic mix of song, spoken word and prayer on the search for joyfulness. Finally, Simpson presents The Cleansing, an exploration of race and racism.

Aug. 11 Talk-Back: Slamming AIDS: Young African American Artists Against AIDS, in which poetry, spoken word, hip-hop and dance are used to educate the African American community on the issue of AIDS and HIV

Aug. 25 Talk-Back: wRiting about Race, in which Robert Alexander, Victor Lodata, Prince Gomolvilas, Edris Cooper and Elaine Romero discussed the dangers and pleasures of creating characters of a different race Tickets range from free to $18. For reservations, call (415) 771-AFRO. Afrosolo is on the web at http://www.afrosolo.org.

— By Christine Ehren