The Strawberry One-Act Festival is being held at the American Theater of Actors,  August 2nd Thru August 19th.

The festival features 30 one-act plays.

This is a great opportunity to enjoy the creative works of some of the best play-wrights.

There is also an Awards Ceremony & Performance At the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre at Symphony Space 2537 Broadway at 95th Street August 26th at 8pm .

by Steven Tendo

Kenneth Kimuli, a celebrated radioman, social consciousness campaigner and playwright, is an example of what kind of person lady luck could choose to smile on.

He is Pablo, the crazy presenter in the morning on Power FM and his face has been plastered on Y.E.A.H billbords showing what it means to be a real man.


Young Empowered And Healthy (Y.E.A.H) is a community health NGO campaign. He has achieved a feat many of his contemporaries can only dream about, by being invited to the prestigious Sundance festival in US.

By Wynne Delacoma

So much for dog days. August is turning out to be a sizzling month on the local dance scene. The always inventive Mark Morris Dance Group will be in town Aug. 24-26 for performances sponsored by the Ravinia Festival at Millennium Park's Harris Theater. On Aug. 22 the newly formed Chicago Dancing Company, Inc. will present dancers from seven companies ranging from the San Francisco Ballet to American Ballet Theater and the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre at the park's Pritzker Pavilion.

The August dance marathon kicks off this week with an extravaganza of a different sort. The Jazz Dance World Festival, founded in 1990 by Evanston's indefatigable Gus Giordano, moves its 2007 edition into the Harris Theater on Wednesday for four performances featuring 15 dance companies from Canada, Mexico, Italy and Japan as well as Chicago and other U.S. cities. Performances are at 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and each evening's program will be different. They are part of the Jazz Dance World Congress 2007 that is bringing hundreds of dancers, teachers, choreographers and others involved with jazz dance from 30 countries to Chicago for four days of intensive master classes, panels and choreography competitions as well as the Harris Theater performances.

By Nicole Porter

The lives of Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, married 57 years, could be likened to an epic love story, over and above their passion for acting and activism against racial segregation. Celebrated as national treasures, Davis and Dee were granted the National Medal of Arts in 1995 for their work in the civil rights movement and crossing color lines in entertainment. In 2001 the Screen Actors Guild bestowed on the pair the Lifetime Achievement Award, its highest honor. Davis and Dee were also jointly inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Image Awards Hall of Fame.

Accra (Ghana) Africa’s greatest historical festival dubbed ‘Panafest’ entered its second day on Sunday, but which opened on Saturday with a colourful procession that was accompanied by a brass band music throughout the principal streets of Ghana’s ancient city of Cape Coast, some 130 kilometres southwest of the capital, Accra.

Several African cultural troupe performers and traditional leaders thrilled Africans in the diaspora with superb display of Africa’s rich dances at the opening of the Panafest, a historical theatre festival.

‘Where Boys become Men’

Celebrating the richness of African –American college life and the traditions of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, this raucous comedy explores the bond between brothers –their joys, triumphs, pain, and sorrow –all under one roof, Darryl Reuben Hall’s FRAT HOUSE.

Thomas, the son of a pastor, leaves home to attend HBCU College. He decides to pledge a college fraternity, Phi Phi Phi, against his father’s advice. Throughout his pledge process, Thomas learns the meaning of brotherhood as he wastes his college inheritance on bling-bling, partying, high-fashion, all triggered by an attitude of arrogance. He sets out on a journey filled with love, laughter, despair, and oh yeah steppin! FRAT HOUSE features an array of soulful music including traditional Gospel, soulful chants, and a zany costumed 1970’s House Party complete with afros, platform shoes, and stylish knickerbockers. After meeting Kathy, the girl of his dreams, and dissing his best friend M. C., Thomas finds his way back to the Father. Meanwhile, the city values the property that FRAT HOUSE is located on and tries to shut down the historic landmark.

By William Charlton-Perkins

Acclaimed by The New York Times as “moving, smart, spirited and powerfully funny”, In the Continuum promises audiences a memorable theatre experience at this year’s South African Women’s Arts Festival at The Playhouse.

Written and performed by Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter, the play interweaves the tales of two women, one in Harare, and the other in South Central Los Angeles, who over the course of a weekend must deal with the facts they are pregnant and HIV positive.

The two playwright-actors play dozens of roles, enveloping the audience in their story of parallel denials and self-discoveries, as they dramatize the devastating problem of AIDS among African and African-American women.

(BLACK PR WIRE) In results announced today, two African American actors and a Jamaican screenwriter have taken the top three places in the BFI and Every Generation Media’s 100 Black Screen Icons online poll. In first place as the overall All Time favourite icon is Denzel Washington (with 13% of the vote), followed by Sidney Poitier (with 11%) and Trevor Rhone (10%). The two top UK nominees in this category are Floella Benjamin and Horace Ové.

The 100 Black Screen Icons website highlights the work of the most significant black personalities in film and television from the past 100 years and asked visitors to vote on their favourite in six different categories. The nominees came from the UK, Europe, North America, Africa and the Caribbean and included directors, actors, writers and technical innovators.

There are two kinds of great solo performers - those who can evoke awed silence in audiences, and those who can stir them to laughter, cheers and impassioned cries of affirmation.

Daniel Beaty – who is part slam poet, part motivational speaker and a completely phenomenal performer – belongs in the latter louder category. In Emergence-See, his kaleidoscopic one-man play about racial reconnection that runs at Arena Stage through July 22nd, Beaty embodies an astonishing 43 characters and creates a powerful bond between himself and the audience. The theatre has often been referred to as a temple, but seldom does it feel like such a rousing revival meeting. From the start, Beaty (whom calling multitalented is akin to saying that Bill Gates is well-off) encouraged the ethnically diverse audience to vocally participate in the performance that I attended. They obliged; what followed was an inspiring evening of pure theatre - an hour-and-a-half love affair between audience and actor.

By Gianni Truzzi

Kasi Lemmons hadn't known much about Petey Greene, the subject of "Talk to Me," before she agreed to direct the movie.

The unfiltered radio host and former convict, played by Don Cheadle, was a local celebrity in Washington, D.C.'s, African-American community when Lemmons had barely started elementary school in Boston.

Even so, she said in an interview, "There was something familiar about it." The script sparked deep memories of the many 1960s provocateurs who, like Greene, dared to speak their rage plainly.

Lemmons herself is more reserved, closer in temperament to the programming director Dewey Hughes (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) who hires, checks and envies Greene.

by Catherine Keenan

THE LAST TIME I saw Paula Arundell she was half-naked and swinging from a chandelier. She was playing Tisiphone in Stephen Sewell's Three Furies with the kind of lusty abandon and devilish relish that made you want to jump out of your seat and swing along with her. She is a natural in such roles, with her dark good looks and deep, throaty voice. Little wonder she has built a solid theatrical career playing women usually described as "feisty".

So it's a surprise when she slinks into the Sydney Theatre Company offices, only her nose and eyes visible between her beanie and her tightly closed duffel coat. She looks small and demure and strikingly like something out of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (in which she also appeared, earlier this year, for the Belvoir St Theatre).

(PRLEAP.COM) UNIVERSITY PARK, IL – What happens when five African American men (all different ages and life experiences) get together to watch the game and the TV mysteriously malfunctions? The new hit multi-media stage play “Real Men Talking”.

"Real Men Talking” uses a mix of “live” theatre, music and multi-media avenues to explore the stereotypes and challenges faced by African American men throughout the country. This experience takes these men, as well as the audience on a journey that forces them to explore issues which include accountability, relationships, self-esteem, incarceration, history, fatherhood and the falsehood of the streets.

Gene Siskel Film Center/School of the Art Institute of Chicago
164 N. State St.

The 13th annual showcase of works by African-American filmmakers features screenings and director discussions.

Chicago landmarks and talent highlight a handful of the films, including Adedapo Akisanya's phone psychic scam story "E.S.P." (Aug. 5 and 7), Steven Ayromlooi's romantic comedy "Love... & Other 4 Letter Words" (Aug. 11 and 15) and Roxxy Cooley's coming-of-age drama "Fassytails" (Aug. 12 and 14).

James Earl Hardy and Maurice Jamal to Team Up with the Producer of "Noah's Arc"
Filmmaker Maurice Jamal ("Dirty Laundry," "The Ski Trip") and author James Earl Hardy ("B-Boy Blues Series," "The Second Time Around") have announced that the acclaimed first novel in the "B-Boy Blues" series "B-Boy Blues," is headed for the silver screen.

Scheduled to begin shooting this fall in Brooklyn, New York, the film will be directed by Maurice Jamal, produced by Carol Ann Shine ("Noah's Arc") and executive produced by Neil R. Lowe, for Phoenix Communications.

The critically acclaimed "B-Boy Blues" series is an international best seller that is credited with starting a national discussion about urban gay life. After five sequels, the series has earned millions of readers and adoring fans of a sexual orientations.

LOS ANGELES (BlackNews.com)-Starting its 14th year, the Guy A. Hanks & Marvin Miller Screenwriting Program will be accepting now to Sept. 15.

The program, established by Drs. Bill and Camille Cosby at the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television. Unaffiliated with USC, is geared toward increasing the pool of qualified African American writers in the entertainment industry. The program reportedly single-handedly has brought more successful African American writers into the entertainment industry than any other program of its type. It is designed to assist writers in completing a television or feature script, while giving them the opportunity to examine African American history, culture and iconography. Participation is free to those selected.

Atlanta -  CLIK HONORS Inc.,andCLIK Magazine (CLIK), the Nation's leading magazine for Black same gender loving people is now taking nominations for the second annual 2007 Clik Honors Awards taking place at The Hyatt Regency International Ballroom in Atlanta Georgia , Saturday November 24th, 2007

The Clik Honors will honor 10 individuals who through their everyday live, talents, causes, and campaigns, have paved the way for the enhancement of the Black same-gender loving community.

The Falltacular Committee

Smoky Mountains, TN - The brothers of the Falltacular Committee will be giving its annual retreat in a nice enclave area that is overlooking the Smoky Mountains.

The enclave area is only a 10 min drive to the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area of Tennessee. Its just over a 3 hour drive from Atlanta, GA and from Knoxville Airport.

(PRINCETON, NJ) -- McCarter Theatre Center (91 University Place, Princeton, NJ) is proud to announce casting for the first production of its 2007- 2008 season, the East Coast premiere of Lydia R. Diamond's Stick Fly, directed by Shirley Jo Finney. Stick Fly will begin previews Friday, September 7 for an opening night on Friday, September 14 and will run through Sunday, October 14.

The cast for Stick Fly will feature Kevin T. Carroll, Javon Johnson, Monette Magrath, Julia Pace Mitchell, John Wesley and Michole Briana White.

Stick Fly is a witty, incisive and heartfelt look at boundaries, class and contemporary African-American family summering on Martha's Vineyard. Lydia Diamond is a dynamic new voice, recently lauded for her adaptation of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye last season in Chicago and New York. With Stick Fly she creates a play filled with memorable dialogue and realistic portraits that explores some of the most complicated questions in contemporary family life.
The Chicago Tribune said, 'There's no question that Lydia Diamond is a major talent. Stick Fly not only is an impressively ambitious play, it's also a piece with heart."

By Lindsay Pollock

Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- A collection of black art owned by Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co. in Los Angeles has been carted off to be auctioned in New York, infuriating local art historians who want it to remain in California.

Golden State plans to sell 94 artworks on Oct. 4 at Swann Galleries. The paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings are expected to sell for as much as $1.5 million.

Las Vegas magicians Siegfried & Roy are coming out of the closet in a highly anticipated autobiography soon to be released. It may not come as a big surprise to most people that the two performers are gay but it will be the first time they admit to this officially.

According to details from the upcoming book leaked to the National Enquirer, Siegfried and Roy were once very much in love but have since transformed their relationship into a working partnership and a deep friendship