The All Stars Talent Show Network kicked off its 2005-06 Season with Hip-Hop Cabaret

Kimberly Nicole as Billie Holiday in the All Stars Hip-Hop Cabaret #4, September 2005.

The All Stars Project kicked off its second season on 42nd Street with the fourth installment of the All Stars Hip-Hop Cabaret. Produced in conjunction with Youth Onstage! (YO!), the five-performance, sold-out run, which closed on September 23, featured ten young All Stars performers who presented dazzling original raps, vocals, and dance routines. Antoine "RL"Joyce, the National Producer of the All Stars Talent Show Network (ASTSN), performed as the Cabaret's emcee.

"As we worked on building the show,"says Joyce who co-directed the production with Dan Friedman, "we talked about the history of cabaret in 1920s Germany, the jazz clubs of the 1940s and the coffee houses of the '60s and that led us to include two special numbers – from the music of Billie Holiday and a classic Nina Simone song. The show also featured a ghost-of-cabaret's-past character who came from the Germany of the 1920s, a brief history of cabaret, as well as a commentary on the way cabaret is performed today.”

Ashley Stevenson, Cathy Cristobal, Justine Vazquez, Syretta Bonaparte performing in, "Four Women,"an original dance performed to the music of Nina Simone in the All Stars Hip-Hop Cabaret #4, September 2005.

The young performers creatively explored a number of issues including police brutality and the problems of heightened security in inner-city high schools. "We included a dance number showing how students are searched and harassed in high schools,"Joyce continues. "That's what the show is designed to do — to show what's going on in the lives of young people.”

The All Stars Talent Show Network in New York

The All Stars Talent Show Network (ASTSN) launches its 2005-06 season in the Bronx with a series of auditions and talent shows at Evander Childs High School. The audition will take place October 22, and the first show will be on December 3. The Bronx series will conclude in January 2006. The All Stars expects from 400 to 600 young people at the audition. ASTSN National Producer, Antoine Joyce, hopes to begin the next talent show series at a school in Jamaica, Queens in February 2006.

On October 22 and December 3, the public is invited to see the young producers and performers of the ASTSN in action by going Back to School, a vital companion program to the ASTSN. Back to School is a program that introduces audiences to the world of hip-hop culture by taking them to the source: the inner city neighborhoods where young people grow up and create. Each Back to School outing takes All Stars supporters, along with their families and friends, on a fun and informative bus trip to a neighborhood high school where kids produce and perform in an All Stars audition, workshop or show. With All Stars youth leaders as guides, Back to School audiences are treated to an inside look at the latest rap, vocals, dance steps, and skits, created by the youth of Harlem, Coney Island, Bedford-Stuyvesant and the South Bronx. It's a unique and interactive performance experience that enlarges the cultural horizons of all its participants. For more information or to reserve a spot in one of the upcoming Back to School events, contact Christina DiChiara.

The 2005 Phyllis Hyman Phat Friend Awards

Awardees and presenters at the 2004 Phyllis Hyman Phat Friend Awards in New York City.

The eleventh annual Phyllis Hyman Phat Friend Awards ceremony will take place on October 11 at the Puck Building in Lower Manhattan. Out of over 400 nominees, ten recipients were selected. The Phyllis Hyman Phat Friend Awards, named after the All Stars Project's first celebrity spokesperson, are presented annually by All Stars youth to their community heroes — adults — who demonstrate their support for kids and youth concerns. The 2005 Young Leaders for Change will be presenters at the event.