Festival volunteers get the star treatment I BYT. KEVIN WALKER THE CHRONICLE You probably won't see peo ple scrambling to take pictures of Olyer Martin and Lauren Butch this week during the National . Black Theatre Festival. The women aren't the stars of plays ( or even supporting players, but without them and hundreds like them the glitz and excitement of the festival would not possible. In fact, there would be no festi val. Martin and Burch joined fel low festival volunteers July 31 at Stevens Center for a pre-festival pep rally. For more than an hour the nearly 700 volunteers were patted on the back, entertained by local talent and given their for mal charge for the week by festi val chief Larry Leon Hamlin. Martin is expected to man one of the informational desks this week. She has been a volun ? teer since the 1995 festival. * "I love it," she said as she J stood in line to pick up her purple J and black volunteer T-shirt. "You ? get to see people from out of t town and tell them wonderful f things about Winston-Salem." Burch will serve as an usher, J helping people who attend shows I at the Adam's Mark Hotel to their *? seats. She first volunteered at the festival six years ago. Her initial experience as a volunteer has kept her coming back festival after festival. "1 like being able to partici Photo by Kevin Walker I Olyer Martin, left, gets help choosing a volunteer T-shirt. pale and help out with this festi val," she said. "It is great to meet and greet with some of our peo ple and meet some of the stars." Volunteers are an invaluable part of the NBTF machine. With out them, none of the other parts would run. Hamlin said that if the festival had to pay 700 people to do the jobs that volunteers per form, the price tag would be too great for the festival to absorb. The thousands who come to the city for the festival also rely on volunteers, Hamlin said. "When they come here, (vol unteers) treat them with such respect, such kindness, such love. It makes them not want to leave," he said. Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin. Larcy Leon Hamlin's wife, is the volunteers coordinator. She has been working with some of the volunteers since March. Sprin kle-Hamlin said she is impressed with the cross section of volun teers who will perform such tasks as transporting actors, helping with stage set-ups and providing security. "We have a group of young people and seniors who are real-. ly working very, very hard." said' Sprinkle-Hamlin, who also pointed out that people of every age in between have decided to donate their time as well. So although Kim Fields, Dia hann Carroll and Malcolm-Jamal Warner are bound to get a lot of attention this week, there are other stars whose names may not ring a bell but whose deeds are priceless. "There will be many stars here...but you are our stars. Let your lights shine," Annie John son. Hamlin's mother, told the crowd as she kicked off last week's rally. : Malcolm-Jamal Warner expresses himself | BY COURTNEY GAILLARD THE CHRONICLE f Malcolm-Jamal Warner is best known for his work as an actor on television, but he's quickly garnering acclaim for his , work in the underground poetry movement. Warner, this year's National Black Theatre Festival honorary co-chair, said poet ry affords him an opportu nity for unlimited self expres sion. "I'm not just an Warner actor who decided to do poetry. I am a poet, and I have been seri ously in the trenches for 10 years now," said Warner, who is debut ' ing a play at the festival, "Love & Other Social Issues," which he co-wrote with his mother, Pamela Warner. Denise Dowse directs the play. The play deals with love and life from this poet's perspective, and Warner hopes festival audi ences will find its message to be universally appealing. "It's very freeing when you have something to say and when you have something to say that everyone can relate to," Mai colm-Jamal Warner said. Since appearing on "The Cosby Show," where Warner became a household name, he has gone on to make a name for himself in film, theater and music. He has appeared on stage in "Cryin" Shame," "Freefall" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream"; in feature films such as "Drop Zone" and "Restaurant"; and in television films such as "The Tuskegee Airmen" and "The Father Clements Story." Warner, who also plays bass in the jazz-funk band Miles Long, has numerous directing credits under his multi-talented belt, including episodes of "Mal colm and Eddie" (a series in which he starred). The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and "Sesame Street." "I love the collaborative effort of acting, directing and being in a band," Warner said. Although the entertainment industry can be lucrative for some actors. Warner said it's still important for performers to love and improve their respective crafts and not become preoccu pied with money. "If you are an artist and you've chosen a craft, you have to do it because you love it....When money comes into the picture, then you start doing things to compromise your art. and artists don't do it for the money." Warner said. Warner can currently be seen on "Jeremiah." a new weekly sci fi series on Showtime. "Love and Other Social Issues " will be performed tomor row and Saturday at 3 and 8 p.m. at the N.C. School of the Arts Arena. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased by calling 723 7907. Festival . from page A1 Some worked with one another on projects years ago, and the festival is providing an opportu nity for them to see one another again. ) Maurice Hines was thrilled to see Diahann Carroll, for whom he and brother Gregory opened ; for at the Apollo Theatre when ' the Hineses were tots. J "My mother kept a scrapbook ; of Greg and I, and the three pic ? lures she kept in the scrapbook i (were) Sammy Davis Jr., Eartha Kitt and Diahann Carroll," said ; Hines, an accomplished dancer and Broadway actor. Actress RaeVen Larrymore Kelly, an 18-year-old who has been coming to the festival since she was 10, pointed out that sev ! eral actresses at this year's festi | val have played her mother on ? television or on the big screen. Among them was Tonea Stew art. who played Kelly's mother in ; "A Time to Kill." i I have three mothers at this festival," Kelly joked. ! One of the highlights of this ; and every festival was Monday's ? Opening Night Gala. The gala, which sold out quickly this year, brought about 1.000 people to a swankily decorated M.C. Benton Convention Center. Local African drum and dance troupe Otesha Creative Arts Ensemble got the party jumping by energet ically leading a procession that included countless celebrities and special guests such as Mayor Allen Joines and Mayor Pro Tempore Vivian Burke. Hamlin, Melba Moore and her fellow honorary co-chair. Malcolm-Jamal Warner, oversaw an awards ceremony that hon Pho oy ivevin wamer Actor Richard Roundtree took time to pose with fans in the lobby of the Adam's Mark Hotel. Roundtree is per haps most famous for his role as crime fighter Shaft. I NBTF Bits I Surprise! Forsyth County Commissioner Walter Marshall got a surprise that he won't soon forget on Monday. Marshall, whose distinguished public career stretches back for decades and includes stints as president of the local NAACP and a seat on the city county School Board, received a standing ova tion from dozens of celebrities dur ing the first news confer ence of the 2003 National Black Theatre Festival. Marshall also was pre sented with a carved wooden elephant from the celebrities for his years of work with the transportation wing of the fes tival. "I was very surprised. I had no idea it was going to hap ? pen." Marshall said. The county commissioner has being volunteering with the festival since it started in 1989. Dur ing recent festivals, he has helped to make sure that celebri ty guests are picked up from the airport and arrive on time to venues for their shows. His deeds have obviously not gone unappreciated. Marshall said he volunteers because he loves the work, the festival and this city. "1 believe in this city and this county. This festival is really helping to promote our town," he said. Back to his roots Malik Yoba is best known for the wildly successful 1990s series "New York Undercover." but his love of acting began by watching theater, not television. As a child he was an usher at the Negro Ensemble Com pany in New York. "I used to sit in the back of the theater and meet the likes of people like Sam Jackson." Yoba said. He eventual ly made his way onto the stage himself and recently has returned to his first love, working the "chitlin' circuit." Yoba said the stage pro vides more freedom for; black actors "New York Under cover" was yanked from the air during the height of its success, reportedly over salary disputes between actors and producers. Yoba said there is a blatant "lack of regard" for blacks in Hollywood. He said black actors should determine their Malik Yoba I own destinies by creating their own projects. "We have to build our own generators," he said. "So when they turn off the power, we still have lights." Yoba is scheduled to host a session of the NBTF Inter national Colloquium this morning from 10 until 12:30 p.m. at the Adam's Mark Hotel. The session is titled "Creating (Your) Own Place and Own Idiom of Existence." Roarin' Success Greensboro native Horace Rogers is among the many N.C. Black Repertory Company alumni who have returned to Winston-Salem this week for the National Black Theatre Festival. It was at the very first festival in 1989 that Rogers got his big break in the play "Don't Bother Me. I Can't Cope." Rogers felt back then that the festival had staying power. "I had a feeling that something special was going on. There was such a buzz." he said. Rogers, a proud graduate of N.C. A&T State Universi ty, has flexed his act ing ability and vocal cords in a number of productions since then. including "Rent" and his cur rent role as Mufasa in "The Lion King" at Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre. Rogers has done his part over the years to make the NBTF a success. He was the media liaison for the 2001 festival and this year he lent his voice, without warning, to pay tribute to friends Horace Rogers as Mufasa. I of the festival who have recently passed away. Festival founder Larry Leon Hamlin asked Rogers on Monday to sing a song while the names of the deceased were called out Rogers chose "If I Can Help Somebody" and delivered a powerful a cappella performance. Rogers is pleased that a number of young people are involved with this year's festival. He thinks the event will have the same effect on them that it hgd on him 14 years ago. "I know there are other young people who will be out there watching the shows and are going to be (taken in) by the whole spirit of the festival." he said.