 |
|
CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION:
The New "N" Word
Short Film Project
|
What this film is about?
The New "N" Word is a satire about a workplace dispute that occurs in a modern day, "post-racial" America. The story reveals the complexities and the humorous side of family, friendships and office politics.
Who is involved with the project?
CAST
The ensemble cast is composed of seasoned veterans of stage and screen.
|
 ERIK TODD DELLUMS, Born in Berkeley, California and raised in Washington, D.C., actor Erik
Todd Dellums is the son of attorney Roscoe Dellums and former U.S. Congressman Ronald V. Dellums.
He was reared in the arts. As a child he studied dance at Jones-Haywood School of Ballet and performed with his siblings in children=s theater. He attended D.C. public schools and graduated from Brown University with a degree in political science. He first won acclaim for his performance as the sinister Luther Mahoney on NBC's Homicide: Life on the Streets -- which USA Today called "one of the best villains on TV" and Entertainment Weekly listed as "one of 1997's great performances." He co-starred as Bayard Rustin in HBO's lauded film, Boycott and narrated the award-winning documentary on the civil rights leader and non-violence activist, Brother Undercover.
Other credits include the films, Dr. Dolittle, SWAT, Blackmale, She's Gotta Have It, School Daze and The Doors, and television's NYPD Blue, JAG, Walker:Texas Ranger, New York Undercover and the Disney Channel's Emmy and Writers' Guild and Directors Guild
Award-winning film, The Color of Friendship, which is based upon his own family. He had a recurring role on HBO's The Wire and Fox's Jonny Zero and appeared in the independent films, Camp D.O.A. and Bellclaire Times.
Top
|
 JAMES J. JOHNSON, is a native of Front Royal, VA. He attended Virginia Commonwealth University, in Richmond, VA, where he graduated magna cum laude, in 1997, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Performance. He was last onstage at the Kennedy Center, in Teddy Roosevelt and the Ghostly Mistletoe. Other DC area credits, include: Lyle the Crocodile, Zomo the Rabbit, and Junebug and the Reverend (Imagination Stage); Neglect (Journeyman Theatre); The Unmentionables (Woolly Mammoth Theatre); As You Like It, Buffalo Hair, Wedding Dance, and Kingdom (African-Continuum Theatre Co.); Member of the Wedding (Ford’s Theatre); Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night (Maryland Shakespeare Festival); Anna Lucasta (Rep Stage); Stonewall Country and Macbeth (Theatre at Lime Kiln). NYC credits include: Richard III (Take Wing and Soar Productions); All’s Well That Ends Well (Tattooed Potato); The Meeting (Paul Robeson Theatre).
Film/TV credits include: When Life Gives You Shoestrings, Indigo Heart, Too Saved, Eleven, America’s Most Wanted, Kid Fitness, and Eebee’s Adventures. In October, James will be returning to Imagination Stage, in their production of Bunnicula.
Top
|
 RAIN PRYOR, playwright, comedy writer, director, award winning actress, singer, two time award nominated author, and full time wife and mother. Rain finds joy in creativity and gets her inspiration from her family.
Pryor has been performing as a Jazz/Blues vocalist since 1993, having played to sold out crowds in Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Hong Kong, Scotland and London. "Pryor Experience", an edgy irreverent Jazz/ Blues Cabaret recently headlined the world famous Hippodrome theater in Baltimore, Maryland. Her live cabaret received 4 stars and was critically acclaimed.
Pryor initially made her television debut in 1989 as T.J., a series regular on the hit ABC series "Head of the Class," a character adopted from Pryor’s own monologues at the request of ABC producers during her second audition. Pryor starred for several years opposite Sherilyn Fenn and the late Lynn Redgrave, as Jackie, the lipstick lesbian drug addict on the Showtime series "Rude Awakening." Additional television credits include "The Division" and "Chicago Hope." She has appeared numerous times on "The Tonight Show" with both Johnny Carson and Jay Leno, "The Late Late Late Show" with Craig Ferguson and "The Tavis Smiley Show."
"Fried Chicken and Latkes" is Pryor's award winning solo show based on her life. It is a irreverent and poignant look at racism in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Rain wrote, created, contributed original music and lyrics to the production. Rain was a Los Angeles Times "Critics Choice" and her singing voice and sense of timing were hailed as rare gifts. "Fried Chicken and Latkes" played to sold out crowds and standing ovations every night at the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills, CA, and the Culture Project in New York, Chicago, Ohio, Virginia, Texas, and Scotland. Other stage credits include playing the title role of Billy Holiday in the UK tour of the "Billie Holiday Story", the title role of Ella Fitzgerald in the UK premiere of "Ella, Meet Marilyn", the Los Angeles production of Eve Ensler's, "Vagina Monologues" with Nora Dunn of Saturday Night Live fame and Charlene Tilton, "Cookin' With Gas," with the Groundlings improvisation troupe, "The Exonerated" with critically acclaimed actor Aidan Quinn, and The Who's, "Tommy" at the La Jolla Playhouse.
Growing up Black and Jewish gives Rain a unique perspective on race, religion and spirituality. She shares her views and has lead panel discussions on diversity in education and in the entertainment industry at Princeton University, The Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, Chicago and Baltimore. Currently you can catch Rain weekly on www.davidfeldmancomedy.com where she writes a weekly commentary for the Emmy award winning writer David Feldman. Rain now resides in Baltimore, MD and proudly shares her life with Yale and their 2 year old daughter Lotus Marie.
Top
|
 JOE HANSARD, made his film debut alongside Oscar winner Adolph Caesar in the feature film "The Hitter," starring Ron O' Neal of "Superfly" fame. Not a bad start for the teen from Baltimore, landing a speaking role as "Graveyard Redneck" and getting his SAG card to boot.
Hansard recently wrapped back-to-back roles in two new independent feature film projects, a co-lead as "Travis Garner" in 19th and Wilson's "Ghosts Don't Exist," and sharing screen time with Kip Pardue and Chris Matthews as "Cosgrove" in Dave Fraunces "Below The Beltway," both for release in 2010.
HBO tapped Hansard for the pivotal role of "Nathan Levi Boston" on the fifth and final season of David Simon's "The Wire" in the "React Quotes" episode. Previously, Barry Levinson cast Joe as "Jimmy Lee Shields" in Simon's sister show "Homicide: Life on the Street" for NBC. The "Gone For Goode" pilot episode debuted after the Superbowl and garnered the highest ratings of the series.
A favorite of indie filmmakers, Joe's recent credits include the Jim Jarmusch produced feature film "Explicit Ills" directed by Mark Webber, MGM thriller "Hit and Run" with Laura Breckenridge, and his role as bumbling ghost hunter "Joe Schmidt" in "ParaAbnormal" for "The Blair Witch Project" creator Ed Sanchez and company.
Joe Hansard is a fixture on the independent film & media scene, sporting years of experience as both lead and supporting player in television and film. Known for an eclectic screen persona, his characters span the gamut, from hillbillies to the homeless -- a mixed bag of lovable creeps, kooks, cops, etc.
Hansard wrote and directed the comedy short "Lost in Transportation," a buddy movie starring close friend and fellow "The Wire" alum Fred Strother. Hansard plays Fred's right hand man, Joe Schlepp, a baggage handler in the Lost and Found department of BWI International Airport. The story is based on Hansard's former real life occupation returning misplaced luggage to irate passengers for BWI and won First Place in the Comedy Category at the 2006 Mid Atlantic Film Festival. It was also featured in Kevin Smiths's "Movies Askew" online Film Festival. With screenwriter Paul Freeman, Hansard co-wrote a feature length version, retitled "Lug Nuts," and is now pitching the project as a feature film or TV series to anyone who will listen.
Top
|
 DEIDRA LaWAN STARNES, multiple Helen Hayes Award nominee was last seen as Jan in the Theatre J production of In Darfur. She has also appeared in the Studio Theatre productions of In the Red and Brown Water, Radio Golf, The Old Settler and Seven Guitars. She will be returning to Studio Theatre this summer to appear in the production of Passing Strange. Other stage credits include Gem of the Ocean with the St. Louis Black Rep; Lysistrata with Synetic Theater and Georgetown University; King Lear with the Folger Theatre; Intimate Apparel (Helen Hayes Award Recipeint for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Resident Play), A Raisin in the Sun (Helen Hayes Award Nomination for Most Outstanding Lead Actress), The Gingham Dog, I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document (Helen Hayes Award Nominaton for Most Outstanding Lead Actress)…, Two Trains Running, Personal History, and Spunk (Helen Hayes Nomination for Most Outstanding Lead Actress) with the African Continuum Theatre; The Violet Hour, Anna Lucasta with Rep Stage; Blues for an Alabama Sky with Everyman Theatre; The Old Settler with Portland Center Stage; The Taming of the Shrew with Cumberland Theatre; Hurly Burly with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; A Raisin in the Sun, Doubt (Helen Hayes Nomination for Most Outstanding Supporting Actress), and Stuff Happens with Olney Theatre Center and for colored girls who have considered suicide (Audelco Award for Best Ensemble)… with New Federal Theatre.
Television and film credits include Ladder 49, Scream for Millions, America’s Most Wanted and Playing the Game. Later this year she goes into production for the upcoming feature, Nocturnal Agony in the leading role. She received her B.A. in Theatre from the University of Maryland and her M.F.A. in Drama from The University of Connecticut.
Top
|
|
Production Team:
Sowande Tichawonna, Writer/Producer/Director, leads the talented cast and crew as the Director of The New "N" Word. The award-winning filmmaker is a veteran of broadcast television and film production. Prior credits include Talkin' Shop, Victims of Circumstance? and Straight Up Go-Go.
Derek Allen, Director of Photography, returns to Race Man Tell-A-Pictures, LLC to shoot this film. He was also the Director of Photography for the short film, Talkin' Shop (2000). Other credits include Letter from Kristen (2003), Foggy Bottom (1996) and Creak Crack (1994) as well as numerous commercials, documentaries and corporate/industrial film and video projects.
Lizabeth Wagger, Producer, Lizabeth Wagger is a Vice President for North American Precis Syndicate, a news distribution service. She started her career as a filmmaker of corporate training films at American States Insurance. Between 1995 and 2002, Wagger was co-director of the Washington DC Film Society. Wagger co-produced Sowande Tichawonna's short film, Talkin' Shop, in 2000.
Who is the audience?
The target audience for The New "N" Word is anyone 18 - 49 years of age who can relate to struggles in relationships, at the workplace and can identify with the politics of their community.
The story will primarily appeal to "Generation X"and the segment of the "Generation Y" population who have entered the workforce. These two groups, which comprise the target audience for this film, also represent the majority of moviegoers who attend films on opening weekend.
The universal themes of The New "N" Word lie within its relationships. The story exposes the complexities and the humorous side of family, love and job relationships in ways very familiar to our audience. This film has tremendous crossover appeal.
Why make this film?
Now is the time for The New "N" Word. Once completed, The New “N” Word will be submitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Oscar® consideration. It will also be entered into film festivals like the Urbanworld Film Festival and Pan African Film Festival where the filmmaker’s past work has been selected, as well as the Toronto International Film Festival and local festivals in Washington, DC.
What are the goals for the project?
The goals for The New "N" Word are:
* Raise the production budget through individual contributions and product placement.
* Begin production once funding and cast is in place
* Submit the film to high profile and Oscar-qualifying film festivals.
Why support this film?
The New "N" Word has all the elements of African-American films that have achieved box office success--a story with a universal theme, characters with whom the audience can identify, a low budget, high production value and an experienced cast and crew. This film will also serve as a calling card for the company's slate of feature films.
Like its predecessor, Talkin' Shop, The New "N" Word is a timeless story with a relevant message that will make you laugh and think.
|
|
|
|
|
