Senator Chuck Allen, III Scholarship Fund

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Jones & Company: Actor Hosts Groove, Give and Get Benefit

BY STAFF | MAY 28, 2008 10:05 PM | PERMALINK | COMMENTS (0)

 

 

By Tony Phillips
The "Groove, Give and Get" benefit for The Senator Chuck Allen III Scholarship Fund takes place on June 11 from 6pm-8pm at NHarlem, 114 West 116th Street. Allen, a New Haven political legend, passed away in March. Previous Independent stories can be found here and here.

It traces back to the days before theaters were air-conditioned, but the rich theatrical tradition of actors cycling down their workload for the summer continues to this day. Not so New York theater stalwart Cornelius Jones, Jr. On June 11, Jones will host "Groove, Give and Get" at the NHarlem boutique. The month after that, he'll roll out his one-man show "Flagboy" at The Midtown International Theater Festival. By the end of the summer, he'll have biked 275 miles across three states for "Braking the Cycle," a benefit for Manhattan's Gay and Lesbian Center, and he's already two-thirds of the way to his pledge goal.

So how does the busy Richmond native, who cut his teeth opposite Harry Connick on the Broadway musical "Thou Shalt Not," as well as national tours of "Smokey Joe's Café," "A Chorus Line" and "The Wiz," make time for all of this activity? "I always feel like there is something I forgot to do," Jones admits, but if that something is giving back through charitable work, he's got it covered.

On June 11th, you'll be up at the NHarlem boutique hosting Groove, Give and Get, a benefit for The Senator Chuck Allen III Scholarship Fund. How did you get involved?

My friend Kirk Shannon-Butts referred me to event organizer Tod Roulette. Kirk and I met about three years ago, at jury duty. We've been friends since. He's a filmmaker and we worked briefly during the casting of his indie-film Blueprint. We both have been looking out for each other, and it's great to have honest people in your life. I actually did not know Senator Chuck. However, I support his memory and the great thing that his surviving partner Tod Roulette is doing.

You also performed at the White House. Tell me about that.
Ok, so I was a baby when I performed at the White House. However, I remember it just like it was this morning! I was a tenth grader at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. I performed at The White House with The Ellington ShowChoir (the same choir I mention in FlagBoy). Bill Clinton was in office and there was this huge dinner gala. We performed on the lawn as the President and his guests entered. There were so many famous politicians and entertainers. It was the most fun experience. I had no nerves at all. And when Mrs. Leontyne Price entered, looking like the diva in her red headwrap, we showed our asses! We were very well educated on the divas of opera who paved the way for us young ones.

 

 

I know a lot of artists who hail from Richmond--Richard Move and Kevin Aviance to name just a few. Do you feel part of any Richmond ex-pat community here in New York? 
Wow, I didn't know Kevin Aviance was from Richmond! And Richard Move? Love the name, but I'm not familiar with him. I would love to actually meet these guys and start a Richmond-NY transplant networking community. Can you introduce us? This is great inspiration. Hmm...let me Google Richard.

He's the Martha Graham drag queen. Tell me a little bit about "Flagboy." If you had to elevator pitch it, what would you say?
"Flagboy" is an honest look into the early childhood and teen years of Cornelius Jones, Jr. It's funny, thought-provoking, it'll make you cry, it'll make you smile, it'll make you dance. It breaks down some stereotypes and stigmas you may have had about yourself or others. It's about one boy who continues to find his way, in the midst of adversity, and the people who helped him along the way.

 

 

It seems like it's the nature of one-man shows for the artist to kind of do everything. What has been the biggest challenge in getting this show off the ground?
Wow. I would say this biggest challenge was having the courage to share my story. It's autobiographical, it's personal, it's scary. I present a lot of personal issues that a lot of gay people -- and just people in general -- face. So the main challenge was finding the strength within to say this my story and it's the only story I know, and I'm comfortable enough, now, to share it.

Oh, and self-producing is a bitch. I feel like I'm doing everything and I get overwhelmed because I always feel like there is something I forgot to do. Just like that recent moment on Grey's Anatomy with the Miranda Bailey character. The moment she realized they forgot to give the patient blood, when the young boy who was being freed after being enclosed in the toxic cement. She went into panic mode for a second. That's how I feel sometimes.

Your website--http://www.corneliusjonesjr.com/--seems equals parts paid jobs and charity. Do you think that's unusual for an emerging actor and how do you strike a balance?
I don't know how I strike that balance, it just happens. I do make a conscious decision as to when I will do things though. It also helps when the different organizations are flexible with my schedule.

 

 

Are you happy with where your career is right now? And where do you see yourself ten years down the road?
I am very happy with where my career is. I can say, oh I want a blockbuster film and about ten national commercials, but then I look back on all that I have achieved, and I'm so happy with what I have, because I know there's more coming.

Ten years from now, I plan to see "Flagboy" as a full stage play and transferred to the big screen. I also plan to have my teaching artist business off the ground, while implementing a few artistic outreach programs overseas. I'm working on building my skills and resources for that now. I would also like to have my adopted son or daughter by then.

How do you deal with the almost daily rejection that's part and parcel of the actor's life?
Rejection is part of the game, but only part of the game. It comes in the life of any type of artist: visual artist, dancer, musician, writer. And in the beginning it's a difficult pill to swallow. You'll notice after numerous rejections, they'll come that one acceptance which outweighs it all. I also use some of my rejections to fuel me creatively. It's also a part of growing up and being human. After a while it just becomes second nature like brushing your teeth. Then again, like Jill Scott says, "Everything ain't for everybody." I am so thankful when there are jobs or offers that I didn't get it because everything ain't for me, and it's ok because I know an audition, interview or phone call later something better will happen.

Most actors write their own shows when they're unhappy with the quality of scripts they're being offered. Is that your case? And do you think being a black actor compounds that or does every actor basically have to slog through the majority of crap that's out there?

Wow, now that would be hot to have my inbox and mailbox filled with script offers: quality or non-quality. Not my case. I'm not your A nor B list actor, yet. I wrote "FlagBoy" out of my desire to stretch creatively as an artist and entrepreneur. I wanted to create a piece of work that I understood, felt deeply passionate about and believed in: a piece that will eventually provide me the freedom to perform or not, create more employment for black actors and not only entertain but educate our community. I have too many actor friends of color who are waiting for that "moment." If you look at what's out there in Hollywood and the commercial theater, there are normally one or maybe two major roles for black actors. These roles mainly go to the A or B list actors. I worked with George Faison on a regional production of "The Wiz" and he taught me one valuable lesson during our time together. He said, "You have to create your own work, because no else is going to do it." No one else knows what you like and what you're really capable of but you. If you don't know yourself, go on a retreat and come back with some stories.

On a whole other front, you own your own t-shirt company. Tell me about that.
My t-shirt company is a small online t-shirt store for dogs. It's called Boogiee Tees--www.boogieetees.com--and was inspired by and named after my two-and-a-half-year-old mini-schnauzer Boogie. From the day Boogie came to live with me, he inspired me to do some out of the box creative things. I began dressing him in little t-shirts and then I started writing little doggy inspired statements, and next thing you know they ended up on t-shirts, and now I have small online business. Never would have known my little dog would have given me the idea.

You also work with theater kids through Rosie O'Donnell's program. What advice would you have for a kid that's considering a career on the boards?
My advice for any kid starting a business in the arts is to seek out a mentor" someone who is older and knows the business. Use your mentor as resource and a career counselor. And ask lots of questions. It will help as you age and realize that you really want to pursue this professionally. Everyone needs to be skilled on the business aspect and how to live in between gigs. Also, don't ever stop being creative in all arts disciplines. Your skills will take you a long way. Read, read, read and write, write, write. Stay culturally diverse. It will click better as you make it to your mid-late twenties.

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Editor's Note: The "Groove, Give and Get" benefit for The Senator Chuck Allen III Scholarship Fund takes place on June 11 from 6pm-8pm at NHarlem, 114 West 116th Street. Suggested donation is $25 and there is more information can be found here.

Political Survivor, Chuck Allen III New Haven Independent

Board of Aldermen City of New Haven Agenda 165 Church Street New Haven, CT 06510 (203) 946-6483 (phone) (203) 946-7476 (fax) cityofnewhaven.com Aldermanic Chambers7:00 PMTuesday, February 19, 2008 Agenda Page 1 City of New Haven February 19, 2008Board of Aldermen Agenda BBOARD OF ALDERMEN REGULAR MEETING February 19, 2008 Take Attendance. Divine Guidance. Approval of the Journal of the Regular Meetings held February 4, 2008. (Approved) UNANIMOUS CONSENT 1) From Alderperson Goldfield, submitting on behalf of the entire Board of Aldermen, a resolution expressing gratitude for the lifelong contributions of Charles 'Chuck” Allen III to the City of New Haven and heartfelt condolences on his death. (Adopted.)

BY PAUL BASS | FEBRUARY 11, 2008 12:08 PM | PERMALINK | COMMENTS (1) He was the ultimate political survivor. Kidney cancer finally claimed Charles H. “Chuck” Allen III Sunday evening at the age of 55, ending the life of a native New Havener who helped shape public policy — and just as often dissented from it — from the mid-1970s into the 1990s. Allen represented Newhallville on the Board of Aldermen from 1976 to 1988. Sometimes he was an ally of City Hall in crafting legislation or deciding ward-level issues. Other times he was the board’s most outspoken and informed critic of City Hall’s complex downtown development deals or neighborhood housing plans. An accountant by training, he provided a level of independent scrutiny rare to this day on New Haven’s legislative body. During that time Allen survived a series of controversies and primary challenges. Several times his career was declared dead, only to have him reemerge as a state senator in the early ’90s, then a mayoral aide to the DeStefano administration. He served on a myriad of volunteer boards. Click here to read Allen’s obituary. “One of A Kind” Former Alderman Willie Greene was Allen’s sometimes co-consipirator, sometimes sparring partner in Newhallville. “No one will ever fill the shoes of Chuck Allen,” Greene said Monday. The two joined forces in the early ’80s when Greene ran a community center in Newhallville. They organized protests against the administration of Mayor Biagio DiLieto, which was cutting funding. The belief was that the center was being punished for Allen’s independent politics. Years later, the DiLieto administration helped Greene run against Allen in a campaign to unseat critics on the Board of Aldermen. (Greene would eventually disappoint City Hall; he won the race, then became just as outspoken a critic of the Democratic machine’s plantation politcs in the black community.) “I remember when I decided I would run against Chuck,” Greene said. “I struggled with it. Vinnie Mauro [Mayor’s DiLieto’s Democratic town chairman and chief political enforcer) had asked me to run. Chuck and I met at the old Hattie’s when it was on Fitch Street, before it moved to Science Park. “I’ll never forget it. Chuck reaches across the table. He sticks his finger in my face and says, ‘Willie you’ve been a good director. But you need to leave politics to the big boys. I’m gonna kick your ass on name recognition alone.’ “I had come to say I wasn’t running. Instead I said, ‘I’m gonna kick your ass.’ He walked out and slammed the door. “My own mother was mad at me when I beat Chuck. She walked around for two days and wouldn’t say anything to me. “Chuck didn’t speak to me for six months. Then he called me and said, ‘Willie, I’m really proud of you. I really thought that Ben DiLieto had bought you. But you went down there and did some things that even I wouldn’t do.’ Every two weeks Chuck and I were sitting down, and I was telling him what I was planning to do. It was like sitting down with an instructor. I’d write down my letter. He’d tear it up. He had his index cards. He’d say, ‘This is what I want to see when you come back to me.’ He was such a brilliant guy.” Out Of The Closet As a reporter, I always found Allen among the most informed, intelligent, unpredictable, interesting, and just plain fun public figures in town to interview and follow. It’s fair to say he served as one of my professors as well in that rarefied academy known as New Haven Politics. Allen lived by a credo of New Haven’s political survivors: If you get slammed on Tuesday, Wednesday is another day. If he disliked an expose that named him in the newspaper one day, he was always ready to participate in discussion about a different story the next. He never ran from a fight. He continued to surprise — and challenge — us after he moved to New York. In 2004, after surviving nine separate operations that could have claimed his life, Allen gave an interview about his upcoming marriage to Harlem gallery owner Tod Roulette. (Tod introduced Chuck to the beauty of Gregorian chants. Chuck turned Tod on to the Temptations and Diana Ross.) In the interview, Allen spoke about the life of a gay black politician. He challenged New Haven’s black church to apply the same spirit of inclusiveness and compassion to the gay community’s struggle that it championed during the civil rights movement a generation earlier. Click here, here, and here to read the pages of the resulting 2004 New Haven Advocate article, “Out of the Closet & Into The Church. A memorial service for Chuck Allen will take place Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m at St. Philips Church, 204 W. 134 St., between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. and Frederick Douglass Blvd. in New York City.

St. Philip's Federal Credit Union, 204 West 134th Street, New York, NY 10030 st_philips_church@yahoo.com
www.stphilipsharlem.dioceseny.org
senatorchuckallenscholarship@gmail.com

chuckallenIIIscholarship.podomatic.com