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North Carolina
Archives
From
Harlem to
Hollywood,
Brooklyn to
Broadway
All Roads Lead to Winston-Salem National Black Theatre
Festival
Article and photos © Kwame Brathwaite/International
Photofeatures Syndicate
| They came from
everywhere Harlem to Hollywood, Brooklyn to Broadway and whatever lies in
between converging on Winston-Salem, North Carolina for the 14th
anniversary of the National Black Theatre Festival - the eighth biennial
celebration of excellence in stage and screen artistry. Actors, writers,
directors and producers with names like Richard Roundtree (Shaft),
Diahann Carroll (Julia), Malik Yoba (New York Undercover),
Ralph Carter (Good Times), Kim Fields (Living Single), Dawn
Lewis, Bill Cobbs, Hal Williams, Rome Neal, Woodie King, and Barbara
Montgomery, Ebony JoAnn, as well as celebrity co-chairs of the festival,
Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Melba Moore.
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Some came to be honored, some to perform, and some just to
support the only national celebration of their craft conceived by
Winston-Salem based theatrical producer Larry Leon Hamlin, founder of both
the festival and the North Carolina Black Repertory Company. Hamlin
is credited with attracting more than 200,000 people to the city and
bringing in more than 10 million dollars during the week-long event. This
is significant in this truly beautiful city that is suffering from a loss
of jobs since the closing of the RJ Reynolds tobacco plant which was hit
hard when news was finally confirmed that smoking was definitely a cause
for the rise in cancer rates.
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Cee Cee Michaela, Timothy D.
Stickney, Kim Brochington, Lamman Rucker, Mercedes Ellington, Ron Milner,
Garland Lee-Thompson, Anna Marie Horseford (Amen), Vivian Reed (Bubbling
Brown Sugar), Ella Joyce, Joseph Marcell, Rochmond Dunbar, Dr. Glory
Van Scott and P.J. Gibson were there as was Andre DeShields who sang
Lift Every Voice & Sing during the opening day press conference.
Maurice Hines was there, and offered apologies for his brother Gregory
Hines not being there. We learned 3 days later, that the great actor,
dancer and all-round great guy had succumbed to cancer at the age of 57. |
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Among those performing were
Cosby Show graduate, Warner, who wrote, and along with his mother
Pamela Warner, produced, Love & Other Social Issues, a one-man
poetic performance accompanied by his band Miles Long. The
production showcased the amazing skills of this talented young brother.
Malcolm also co-hosted, (along with New Yorker Helena D. Lewis), a
three-day midnight poetry series that was one of the hottest events of the
festival, attracting emerging poets of various ages from around the
country.
One of the many outstanding
plays during the festival, was a one-man show Monk, written by Laurence
Holder and superbly performed by Rome Neal. It depicts the life of one of
the greatest jazz musicians of all time, one of the founding fathers of
Be-Bop, the late pianist, Thelonious Sphere Monk. The show, which played
at the Ring Theatre at Wake Forest University, features the music of
composer Bill Lee (Monk’s music could not be used due to conflicts with
publishing rights), is currently seeking investors and sponsors for an
off-Broadway production beginning late this year.
With the popularity of Monk among those in the music world
about 50, and the myriad of stories about the idiosyncrasies of this
genius par-excellence, there is a great chance that this could be a very,
very profitable show.
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From Brooklyn to Broadway
II, stars “Quadruple Crown Winner” (Tony,
Emmy, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards) Lillias White, in her
one-woman show (with swinging background singers and band) drew raves to
packed houses at the North Carolina School of the Arts Stevens Center.
Singer, writer Mzuri, performed The
Fannie Lou Hamer Story, about the “civil rights” leader, and
the “legend of her inspirational songs, on a rugged road to freedom.”Mzuri,
the 2002 Audelco Award winner for “Best Solo Performance” utilized the
genius of director Jeremiah Drake. It has been said that “When Mzuri
sings, God smiles and angels flap their wings.”
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Not all of the great performances
starred veteran celebrities, or were solo acts, there were many shows
and readings that spotlighted emerging talents. One such show was “Images:
A Multi-media party” conceived and directed by veteran producer
Herman LeVern Jones. His African American odyssey of music, dance,
poetry and prose taken from “A Dark Symphony Revisited”
featured some of North Carolina’s talented young teen artists,
performing an anthology of works by the likes of Paul Lawrence
Dunbar, Countee Cullin, Langston Hughes and others.
Brooklyn based writer, teacher Kenthedo
Robinson (a member of the planning team for the soon to open
International Arts Business School a newly conceived high school
to be housed at Wingate H.S. in Brooklyn) presented a reading of his
The Devine Assignment: A Murder Mystery. This “who done it”,
directed by Daniel Wynne, Jr. and starring Joan J, M. Younger Roberts,
Sirlouis Jones and Chauncey deLeon Gilbert, kept us guessing until the
conclusion. |
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the features of the festival, were many workshops and panels. A
particularly interesting set of panels and workshops, was the two days
presented by the International Arts Business School, a newly conceived
Brooklyn small school funded in-part by The Bill and Milinda Gates
Foundation, The Carnegie Foundation, and launched by New
Visions Schools. IABS will not only teach the arts, but the business
behind the arts. The mission of the International Arts Business School is
to create independent, self-reliant learners through a thematic,
interdisciplinary curriculum focusing on the business of arts and
culture. The academic program of the students will allow them to not only
survive, but thrive, in the fast-changing economy of the future. |
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IABS took their teem of administrators,
teachers and consultants to network with the movers and shakers of the
theatre and educators from around the country with a series of
professional training workshops. A Brooklyn New Century high school of the
newly formed New York City Department of Education, IABS is run by
educators, parents, teachers, arts professionals and community based
organizations. The school, as conceived, reflects a partnership between
experienced professional educators who are also professional artists;
Educators for Children, Youth, and Families (as the lead partner); the
Brooklyn Educational Opportunity Center, the Brooklyn Economic Development
Corporation, the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce & Industry, and
the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce (as business community collaborating
partners and liaisons); and the National Conference of Artists and the
Irondale Ensemble Project (as collaborating partners for the arts). The
school is the brainchild of Gwen Anderson (who will serve as Principal), (Aduke
Aremu), Ana Walker (business manager), Kwame Brathwaite (arts advisor),
Ken Rothchild (theatre and chief proposal writer), Ethophia Lane
(assistant to Ms Anderson), Tony Abulu (film advisor), Calvin Anderson
(education specialist), Kenthedo Robinson, Tom Mitchelson (teachers) and
Kimberly Lane (CBO). |
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Among the many awardees at the opening night gala, was
St. Albans, Queens based Black Spectrum Theatre Company producer Carl
Clay, who presented August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson (featuring Karen
Annette Brown, Le Dobson, Fulton C. Hodges, Heather Lewter, Ralph McClain,
Leon Rogers, Marcha Tracey and Douglas Wade) during the festival. Clay
received the “2003Larry Leon Hamlin Producer’s Award” for his work as
founder and CEO of Black Spectrum.
A true legend, Diahann Carroll, award-winning actress of film and stage,
and pioneer in television, received the “2003 Sidney Poitier Lifelong
Achievement Award” at the sold-out opening night gala.
Rome Neal and Bette Howard shared honors, receiving this year’s Lloyd
Richards Director’s Award.” |
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