This will be a National Black Theatre
Festival to remember for Nate Jacobs.
The wildly talented entertainer will be
presented with this year's Larry Leon Hamlin
Producer Award at the Opening Night Gala
on Monday, Aug. 3. On Friday, Aug. 7, the
four-show run of "Soul Crooners 2" - which
he conceived, adapted and stars in - opens.
NBTF-goers first fell under the spell of the
Crooners in 2013. This new show offers
more soul, as Jacobs and four other talented
singers serve as guides on a musical tour
of the "unforgettable melodies, heavenly
harmonies and great vocalists of the 1970s."
The production features about 40 songs
made famous by an array of artists, from Billy
Paul and Lou Rawls to The Delfonics and
The Stylistics.
The renditions delivered by Jacobs and ~"~
company - Chris Eisenberg, Michael Mendez, Leon Pitts II and Emmanuel Avraham
- are so good that they could stand as classics in their own right. The Crooners are
accompanied by a five-piece band made up of Todd Bellamy, lamar D. Camp, Etienne
J. Porter, James Johnston and music director/stage manager Jay Dodge II. They are
accoutred in threads from the era by costume designer Cristy Owen.
"Soul Crooners 2" is being presented by the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe,
the Sarasota-based company Jacobs founded in December 1999. It is the only
professional black theater company on Florida's west
coast and one ot only two in tne enure state. jacoDs
already had an established relationship with the N.C.
Black Repertory Company and National Black Theatre
Festival when WBTT made its festival debut two years
ago. Fourteen years ago, the Black Rep staged Jacobs'
side-splitting one-man comedy "Aunt Rudele's Family
Reunion." The play, which Jacobs wrote, also had a run
attheNBTF.
Besides offering high quality, award-winning
entertainment, WBTT is a training and proving ground
for gifted performers. The troupes alumni include
Apphia Campbell, who has performed her one-woman
show, "Black is the Color of My Voice," in Shanghai
and New York; Teresa Stanley, who has appeared on
Broadway in "Rock of Ages" and "The Color Purple;"
Alyssa White, an Apollo Theatre Amateur Night
winner; and Crooner star Christopher Eisenberg, who
made it to a top tier on "America's Got Talent" in 2010
when he was just 13.
A graduate of Florida A&M University, Jacobs does it
all, as an actor, singer, comedian, playwright, composer
and director. His other productions include "Motown
60s Reviewf "Magnificent Music of the 40s," "Love
Sung in the Key of Aretha," "Jazz Hot Mamas" and "The
Sam Cooke Storyr ?
Crooners Leon Pitts II, Chris
Eisenberg, Nate Jacobs and
Michael Mendez.
1
Soul
Crooners 2
Arts Council
Theatre
Fri, Aug. 7 3 p.m.
Fri, Aug. 7 8 p.m.
Sat. Aug. 8 3 p.m.
Sat. Aug. 8 8 p.m.
$41
i