Great Comedians of Color at the Connecticut Comedy Festival
It's safe to say that Waterbury, Connecticut has never seen anything like LTG's Great Comedians of Color. Resting in a public park in the bedroom community of Waterbury, is a converted stable called the Seven Angels Theatre. Home of the Connecticut Comedy Festival. It was around 3:15pm on July 6th when Tawfiq, Dark Gable Most, Eric Thomas and Joey Grant arrived at the open audition four strong and ready
to show Waterbury
what they were made of. The judges were already talking, wondering what these
"Great Comedians of Color", were gonna do. So the four took the stage, Tawfiq
shuffles to the mic and begins his monologue. After a about a twenty minute wait, Gary Grant steps out of the showroom to have a word with the "Great Comedians". He informed them that during the audition the show ran eight minutes, and if they'd wanted to advance to the next round they would have to cut it down. So Eric Thomas and Dark Gable Most crowded around the script in a secluded part of the theatre, pens in hand scratching out line after line of four page script. An hour and one box of pizza later, the two arrived at something they could use. They reconvened with Tawfiq and Joey and ran through the now extremely shortened version of the play. It came to about four minutes and change including entrances and exits and laughter and applause. At the advice of Eric they ran through it a few more times just to make sure it goes smoothly for the 8 o'clock show. But it was probably about a half hour before show time when all the comedians were informed that instead of five minutes they going to be given four and time violations were crucial in advancing to the next round. So a room full of comedians scrambled to their notebooks. And Eric and Dark got around the script one more time and managed to come up with another way it could be shorter and still pack the punch it needed. It was a success! The people loved it and the four advanced to the semi finals the following week. The semi finals offered more challenges, more time constraints, and stiffer competition but the Great Comedians prevailed and were invited back again for the finals on July 20th.
The big show. Between camera men, technicians, make up people, local celebrities, and audience members, the Seven Angels Theatre was filled to capacity. The show was sold out! At the end of the competition, Great Comedians finished within the top three, receiving prize money and future bookings from talent and booking agent Gary Grant. So watch out Waterbury, 'cause we're coming back!
Bob H. Rich
Editor
Packed Full For Nuts!
The
American Black Film Festival awarded Civil Brand the Blockbuster Audience
Choice Award last Saturday in Miami Beach Florida.
Clifton Powell
also took Best Actor award for his portrayal of Captain Deese in Civil Brand.
Filmmaker
Neema Barnette
accepted the award and told the audience that "Film is a political tool and the
final frontier for Black folks". Brand's screenings were sold out every day of
the festival with overflowing crowds that included
Chris Tucker, Robert Townsend
and
John Singleton.
"It's an excellent film" said Robert Townsend who mentioned Neema Barnette as a
"Future Shock" in his end credits of his second feature film "Five Heartbeats"
in the 90's. The
response to the Brand was exceptional. "I never thought the film would
move people like it did and I'm elated", said Barnette while being interviewed
by the Bravo Channel. "I made the film to enlighten people. I am
glad audiences have embraced the film with so much love". All the
festivals workshops which included
Bill Duke's
Actors Boot Camp were extremely successful, attracting hundreds of actors and
enthusiasts from around the country. Congratulations to the ABFF for another
great year.
Bob
H. Rich
Editor
Read About Director Neema Barnette and the DGA
ABFF Website
Contact Neema
Barnette