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THURSDAY, JUNE 8, 2006
BUSINESS
Winfrey
Oprah-backed
Broadway
show draws
diverse crowd
‘The Color Purple ’
pulls, blacks, whites
By Larry McShane
THEASSOC/ATED PRESS
NEW YORK - The Great White
Way is a bit more multihued these
days. And it all begins witb “The Color
Purple."
Audiences for the stage version of
Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning
novel, playing at tbe 1,718-seat
Broadway Theater, are regularly split
about 50-50 between blacks and
whites - an anomaly in a business
where four out of five customers are
lasually white.
This redefinition of
the Broadway crowd
comes as the musical,
which boasts Oprah
TOnfiey as its biggest
booster, collected 11
Tbny nominations and
announced plans for a
national tour begin
ning in April 2007.
Only “The Drowsy Chaperone,” with
13 nominations, failed better heading
into the Tbny Awards on June 11.
‘We felt stror^y that we had a
unique opportunity to do something
Broadway rarely does: to bring
Afiican-Americans to the theater,”
said Scott Sanders, the show’s produc
er. ‘We knew if we told the story hon
estly and truthfully we really had an
opportunity to do that.”
On a weekday night inside the the
ater, the audience filters inside: a mix
of blacks and whites, kids in hoodies
and older folks in suits and ties, kente
cloth alongside leather jackets. Four
middle-aged black women settle into
Row L as a young man in an oversized
football jersey with a “Puerto Rico”
logo looks for his seat,
TTie crowd contradicts the statistics
complied by The League of American
Theaters and Producers, Inc., between
June 2004 and Jijne 2005. Of the
11 53 million tickets sold over those 12
months, only 3.8 percent were pur
chased by black theatergoers. Latince
accounted for just 5.7 percent.
Those numbers soimd right outside
the Gershwin Theater, where a large
ly white crowd gathers before the
night’s performance of ‘WTcked.” One
block away at the theater named for
playwri^it August Wilson, the same
demographic heads inside to see
“Jersey Boys.”
Things are different at “The Color
Purple.”
“When we started to put together
our marketing plan, we were hoping
for Afiican-Americans to make up 10
or 15 percent of the audience,”
Sanders said “The fact that we’re
drawing about 50 percent of the audi
ence, a diversified audience of people
who have not been to Broadway that’s
really really exciting.”
Despite mixed reviews, “The Color
Purple” has become a bit of the peo
ple’s choice on Broadway Intense
word-of-mouth has fueled its success,
along with the backing of Wnfiey
who captured an Oscar nomination
for her role as Sofia in Steven
Spielberg’s film adaptation.
Sanders is quick to credit Wnfi^y’s
role in getting the word out about a
play .that delves into incest, rape, child
abuse and domestic violence in its tale
of a rural Georgia girl’s troubled but
ultimately triumphant life.
Five months after its opening, “The
Color Purple” was grossing more than
$ 1 million a week, making it one of the
top five shows on Broadway
Grant goes to building tech pool
By Herbert L. White
herb.whife-Sfhechario/feposl.com
A $2 million grant will help
UNC Charlotte establish a pro
gram to develop a new pool of
information technology talent.
The National Science
Foundation grant wOl launch
Students and Tbchnology in
Academia, Research and
Service, a program geared to
build computer expertise
among historically mderrepre-
s^ted groups.
Although the U.S.
Department of Commerce has
been projecting an increase of
more than 1.1 million new IT
and computing jobs between
2002 and 2012, but fewer white
men - who traditionally popu
late IT departments - are
expected to be in the labor force.
“The IT industry needs a
diverse range of people with
interpersonal skills, not ji^t
geeks and coders,” said Tferesa
Dahlberg PhD, an associate
professor of computer science at
UNCC. We need people who
can solve problems; people with
soft skills; people who can apply
social value to computing.”
The STARS alhance is a con
sortium of 10 universities that
include Auburn (Ala.)
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
B.B. Dance Productions founder Veronic Badgett is a former choreographer of the Charlotte
Hornets. Her students have graduated to the professional ranks as well.
Dance fever
Choreographer enjoys the nuances of fancy footwork
By Aisha Lide
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
Dance has always been part
of Veronica Badgett’s fife.
Badgett, owner and opera
tor of BB Dance Productions,
started the studio 15 years
ago, but her dance career was
birthed before junior high
school. From teaching at
Matthews Community
Center with 35 students and
no air conditionir^, Badgett
now teaches at a spacious stu
dio with over 300 students.
BB Dance offers tap, jazz, bal
let, tap, hip-hop, and gymnas
tics.
“Tfeaching has been a life-
loi^ dream, not the dandi^,”
she said. “My goal as a
teacher is to help kids with
self-esteem, be more rounded.
working as a team, respecting
themsdves, and otiiers.”
Ba(%ett, a former choreog
rapher with the former
Charlotte Hornets’
Honeybees, is a strict but suc
cessful instructor. Her stu
dents have danced across the
coimtry, including pro sports
teams fike the Hornets,
Bobcats and Dallas
Mavericks, They’ve also per
formed on the “Showtime at
the Apollo” television show.
Badgett’s evolving career
has made her dancihg destiny
asuccess. Shebeganherjour-
ney solo. “Approximately for
the first four years I did every
thing onmy own,” she said. ‘T
wore many hats.
Choreography, costuming.
It’s been a great journey it
has been rewarding. I’ve done
it for so long, I am more busi
ness smart. My schedule has
slowed down quite a bit. I
have more help, and more
staff”
After 15 years, Badgett’s
joiimey seems complete, but
she stUl has a few long-term
goals. ‘T want to go into my
own building, and I would
really fike to build the Irene
Bradley Scholarship Fund,”
which honors Badgett’s
deceased grandmother. “She
raised me, she was just a
great grandmother,” Badgett
said.
Another goal for Badgett is
to expand the scholarship
beyond one student as well as •
give scholarships throughout
the community
University, Florida A&M |
University, Florida State I
University Georgia Institute of I
Tbchnology Landmark College, -‘^1
Meredith College, N.C. State
University, Spelman College
and University of South .
Florida-Lakeland. UNCC will
manage development and Dahlberg
assessment among alliance
schools, which are oiganized
into five regional hubs.
Growth
slow for
soruico
economy
Study: Expansion
recorded in May,
but at lower rate
than in April
By Peter Svensson
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW Y ORK - The service sector of the
U.S. economy expanded in May but at a
slower pace than in April, a private survey
of supply managers said on Monday
The report offered a possible indication
that fuel prices are starting to crimp
growth in the service sector, which
accounts for two-thirds of the U.S. econo
my The survey by the Institute for Supply
Management indicated concern about the
prices of raw materials and fuels.
The ISM index of non-manufacturing
activity was 60.1 in May, down finm 63 in
April. The latest reading matched ana
lysts’ expectations.
A reading of 50 and above points to
growth, while a figui'e below 50 signals
contraction.
Managers in diverse sectors like trans
portation, banking and retailir^ reported
that eneigy costs were having an effect.
Increases in general business activity
new oitiers and backlogs slowed in May
compared to April, while increases in
prices paid, hiring and foreign trade accel
erated.
Last week, the ISM reported that expan
sion of activity in the manufacturing sector
also slowed. Its manufacturing index
dipped to a reading of 54.4 in May fix)m
57.3 in April.
Ed Yardeni, chief investment strategist
at investment firm Oak Associates Ltd. in
Akron, Ohio, called the service-sector
number “solid.”
“They can complain about their costs
going up, but they’ve been pretty good
about offsetting them with higher produc
tivity and still maintainir^ high profits,”
Yardeni said. “So I’m not particularly con
cerned about that leading to higher infla
tion or lower profits.”
The core annual rate of inflation at the
consumer end is already above the 2 per
cent favored by the Federal Reserve,
which points to further interest-rate
However, a slowdown in economic
growth could make the Fed’s rate-setting
committee conclude that fiorther hikes in
interest rates are unnecessary
The next meeting of the Federal Reserve
Open Markets Committee is June 28-29.
Before that, the Labor Department reports
on May consruner prices on June 14.
Allstate settles lawsuit over discrimination agaiust blacks and Hispanics
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN ANTONIO - Allstate
Corp. said Friday it has set
tled a class-action lawsuit
over allegations it charged
blacks and Hispanics higher
rates for auto and homeown
er insurance by basir^ prices
on information fi'om credit
reports.
Customers who were over
charged will be able to seek
payment. Allstate agreed to
disclose and change some of
its pricing formulas and tell
minority customers how to
improve their credit ratings.
A spokesman for Allstate,
the second-largest U.S. per
sonal-fines insurer, said the
company didn’t discriminate
based on race.
The company can’t yet esti
mate the cost of the settle
ment, but it won’t be signifi
cant, said spokesman
Michael Trevino.
A federal district court
judge in San Antonio gave his
■ preliminary approval to the
deal on Friday
The case was filed in 2001
on behalf of six customers
who said their dvil rights
were violated because
Allstate charged them higher
premiums by using informa
tion fiom their credit reports.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs
said there had never been a
verdict or settlement that
forced an insurer to change
the way it uses credit reports
in setttr^ policy prices.
“This is a very important
settianent,” said lead plain
tiff attorney Christa Collins.
“Credit information is used
extensively throughout the
entire insurance industry ...
We believe this change signif
icantly benefits Allstate’s
minority cirstomers.”
Ttevino, tiie spokesman for
Northbrook, lU..-based
Allstate, said the company
settled the case to avoid the
expense of continued litiga
tion. He said the company
didn’t know whether the set
tlement would lead to lower
rates for minority customers.
The settlement calls for
Allstate to change its insm'-
ance-scorir^ algorithm and
give customers a chance to
have their policy priced using
the new formula. The compa
ny will also offer a system for
customers to appeal for rate
reductions if they experience
extraordinary events that
hurt their credit history
Allstate will begin sending
out notices of the settiement
to customers next month,
Tievino said.
The plaintiffs sou^t to rep
resent all blacks and
Hispanics nationwide who
bought pofides fiom Allstate-
affiliated companies.
OOOE