Once Upon A Time In Harlem: A Radio Play for the Digital Age
Miami Beach, FL, February 22, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Billy Rhythm, the quintessential American, teams up with Tharbis Jefferson, a "Copper Colored Gal" from the latest Cotton Club revue, to win a dance contest at the Savoy Ballroom. Unfortunately, their competition will stop at nothing to win, including murder. This jitterbug love story is woven between the lives and times of legendary black entertainers, black and white thugs, and the common man in swinging 1930's Harlem. Based on the full-length play, this radio play is perfect for readings and the classroom.
“Once Upon A Time In Harlem” is a Radio Play for the Digital Age. It is based on thoroughly researched facts about an eye-opening almost forgotten period in black entertainment history and pop culture nearly 80-years-ago. At the time of this story, Cab Calloway is 22-years-old and just beginning to make a name for himself. Bill “Bojangles” Robinson is over 50-years-old and although he’s famous in New York, he’s still unknown to the world (it occurs two-years before his first movie “The Little Colonel” with Shirley Temple). “Air steps,” the Jujitsu type dance moves that made the jitterbug famous nearly a decade later, were just beginning to make the scene. The Jolly Fellows was a street gang in Harlem famous for its toughness and its dancers. In fact, its founder, Herbert White, later formed the “Lindy Hoppers” and was instrumental in bringing that dance to the world. The white and black gangland violence in the play—it all happened in an almost forgotten time in America’s most mythic city: Harlem.
This radio play is the shortened version of the full-length play that weaves a fictional love story and dance contest between actual events, people, and the language of the time. Its one-hour length makes it perfect for readings and school presentations. Although there is lots of dancing and music it is not a musical so singing is not required. Dancing is required for the full-length staged version but not here. Creativity, however, is required. Thanks to the Internet, sound effects and visuals (YouTube) are readily available to enhance the performance. A list of resources and radio play terms can be found at the end of the play book. Finally, profanity is missing and the play’s stand-up-and-cheer ending torpedoes any justification for use of the “N” word.
Brief synopsis: Billy Rhythm is the quintessential American: he never gives up despite all the obstacles thrown his way. He thinks he's the best dancer in Harlem and when he meets Tharbis Jefferson, a "copper colored gal" from the latest Cotton Club revue, he decides to partner with her to win the club's dance contest to prove it. Unfortunately, his former gang, the Jolly Fellows, famous for being the toughest-- and best dancers-- in Harlem, have entered their own champions, Shorty Snowden and Big Bea. By the time the climatic dance contest begins, the black street gangs and the white gangsters have been very busy killing their own and this murderous anger finds its way onto the dance floor. Razor blades are unleashed on Billy and Tharbis as they brush the encroaching crowd on the dance floor and by the time they win the contest through some amazing mind blowing steps, their clothes are shredded and covered in blood. Billy and Tharbis' brave words to the bad guys-- both black and white-- are the kind that get an audience up on their feet to cheer their heroes on.
Winner of the prestigious African American Playwrights Exchange Jaz Dorsey Award for Excellence in Combining History and the Arts, the play is available through Lulu.com.
D.C. Copeland, a former teacher in inner-city schools, is the author of ten screenplays, two novels, and many, many plays. "Once Upon A Time In Harlem" and this press release marks his first venture into becoming more pro-active toward his writing and his career.
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“Once Upon A Time In Harlem” is a Radio Play for the Digital Age. It is based on thoroughly researched facts about an eye-opening almost forgotten period in black entertainment history and pop culture nearly 80-years-ago. At the time of this story, Cab Calloway is 22-years-old and just beginning to make a name for himself. Bill “Bojangles” Robinson is over 50-years-old and although he’s famous in New York, he’s still unknown to the world (it occurs two-years before his first movie “The Little Colonel” with Shirley Temple). “Air steps,” the Jujitsu type dance moves that made the jitterbug famous nearly a decade later, were just beginning to make the scene. The Jolly Fellows was a street gang in Harlem famous for its toughness and its dancers. In fact, its founder, Herbert White, later formed the “Lindy Hoppers” and was instrumental in bringing that dance to the world. The white and black gangland violence in the play—it all happened in an almost forgotten time in America’s most mythic city: Harlem.
This radio play is the shortened version of the full-length play that weaves a fictional love story and dance contest between actual events, people, and the language of the time. Its one-hour length makes it perfect for readings and school presentations. Although there is lots of dancing and music it is not a musical so singing is not required. Dancing is required for the full-length staged version but not here. Creativity, however, is required. Thanks to the Internet, sound effects and visuals (YouTube) are readily available to enhance the performance. A list of resources and radio play terms can be found at the end of the play book. Finally, profanity is missing and the play’s stand-up-and-cheer ending torpedoes any justification for use of the “N” word.
Brief synopsis: Billy Rhythm is the quintessential American: he never gives up despite all the obstacles thrown his way. He thinks he's the best dancer in Harlem and when he meets Tharbis Jefferson, a "copper colored gal" from the latest Cotton Club revue, he decides to partner with her to win the club's dance contest to prove it. Unfortunately, his former gang, the Jolly Fellows, famous for being the toughest-- and best dancers-- in Harlem, have entered their own champions, Shorty Snowden and Big Bea. By the time the climatic dance contest begins, the black street gangs and the white gangsters have been very busy killing their own and this murderous anger finds its way onto the dance floor. Razor blades are unleashed on Billy and Tharbis as they brush the encroaching crowd on the dance floor and by the time they win the contest through some amazing mind blowing steps, their clothes are shredded and covered in blood. Billy and Tharbis' brave words to the bad guys-- both black and white-- are the kind that get an audience up on their feet to cheer their heroes on.
Winner of the prestigious African American Playwrights Exchange Jaz Dorsey Award for Excellence in Combining History and the Arts, the play is available through Lulu.com.
D.C. Copeland, a former teacher in inner-city schools, is the author of ten screenplays, two novels, and many, many plays. "Once Upon A Time In Harlem" and this press release marks his first venture into becoming more pro-active toward his writing and his career.
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Contact
D.C. Copeland
305-604-1525
www.lulu.com/content/2028243
305-604-1525
www.lulu.com/content/2028243
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