The All Stars Talent Show Wraps (and Raps!) a Year to Remember

The All Stars Talent Show Network (ASTSN) has concluded yet another season of creating culture and development with young people from inner-city neighborhoods in New York City.

“This was the first year that we were able to organize three shows from one audition in each community we visited,” Joyce says. “At Clara Barton High School in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, our April audition had a turnout of 600 young people representing over 90 acts, which then produced four workshops and three shows.” The third talent show took place at Clara Barton on June 25. And while previous Talent Shows have been more localized, the series at Clara Barton High School has included not just residents from the surrounding community but also from such far-flung neighborhoods as Far Rockaway, Queens.”

All three Clara Barton talent shows were totally sold out. All of the performers, their parents, family and friends played key roles in building the audiences. For example, Gowanus, Brooklyn resident, Cherokee Evans, whose nine-year-old daughter was performing, recruited several other young people from her neighborhood to form a dance group. All told, the dancers, their families and friends brought out 200 audience members. In another case, a young man who has been dancing with the All Stars since he was six and then began managing dance groups at the age of nine (!), brought at least 200 audience members to each of the first two talent shows. Having just graduated from high school, he will be attending the Boston Conservatory on a full dance scholarship in the fall.

As Joyce’s National Producer-responsibilities increase, he’s found the need to make several other changes as well, most notably by training others to succeed him as the Talent Show Emcee. The new lead Emcee is Wil Farris, a mainstay of the ASTSN as well as a graduate of the Development School for Youth (DSY). Farris is supported on stage by Alistair Seeley (a.k.a. Charlie Biggs), who starred in the just completed Hip-Hop Cabaret at the All Stars 42nd Street center. Behind the scenes, Giovanni Barnett has capably and efficiently assumed the role of Stage Manager.

Internationally the SJA, a community organization that produces All Stars-inspired youth events in Amsterdam (The Netherlands), just renewed its two-year training contract with the All Stars Talent Show Network. SJA is preparing for Kwakoe, a one-day spectacular featuring entertainment created by and for young people.

The 2005-2006 season of the ASTSN will begin in New York with its first audition in October 2005, at an as-yet-to-be-determined location. Possibilities include Jamaica High School in Queens and Evander Childs School in the Bronx, with a likely return to Brooklyn in the spring of 2006. For information about the All Stars Talent Show Network, contact Antoine Joyce at 212-941-9400 ext. 347 or ajoyce@allstars.org.