October 09, 2002
Page A6
Focus
A t T h e Movies
‘Barbershop’ Soars
Much Ado About Nothing
Portland Center
Stage opens
its new season
with “Much
Ado About
Nothing, " one
of William
Shakespeare's
romantic
comedies. This
production is
set ju s t after World War II, with victorious soldiers returning
home to Texas. The play runs through Sunday, Oct. 20 at the
Newmark Theatre, located at 1111 S.W. Broadway and Main.
Call 503-274-6588 or go online to www.ocs.org.
In Print
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Nicole Bailey-Williams
A Little Piece o f Sky
Harlem Moon Broadway;
2002
Predominantly black cast breaks
ground with crossover appeal
The Resilient
Human Spirit
In piercingly insightful prose, “A
Little Piece o f Sky” takes us to a
Latino neighborhood in North
Philadelphia where we meet Song
Byrd, a young African American
girl with a big imagination. The
child of an adulterous affair. Song
yearns to escape from her out
sider status in her family and her
neighborhood. When her mother
is murdered, she must go to live
with her father and his wife, car
rying a heavy burden of guilt
while struggling to figure out who
she is and where she belongs.
While living an existence of harsh
realities and occasional beauty,
she remains resilient, hopeful -
and ultimately triumphant.
Ice Cube (as Calvin, right) cuts up while cutting hair in “Barber
shop. "
SPECIAL ADVANCE SCREENING
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C A N N O N ’S
—
RIB EXPRESS = = = _
llOKMEKLY CHUCKHINTON’SI
DM2E VOU W D A
guest to w n w e ss A
SPECHI ADVMCE
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Mom and P op Winans
OCTOBER 1G
On behalf o f the Pacific Northwest Region, we extend this
invitation for you to attend our regional prelate. Bishop Artice L.
W right’s 80th birthday celebration, October 19th at 7:00 P.M.
at the Portland Oregon Double Tree Hotel, 1000 Northeast
Multnomah.
*7 î 3 0 pm
PO&TLFMOD
STO P ©V TO
? \O k U P vO u£.
c o t* > P u n e M T M 2 y
P A S ’S :
For your donation o f $55 you ’ll have the opportunity to help us
celebrate this milestone in Bishop W right’s life and ministry.
You will also receive a buffet style meal and enjoy our special
featured guests, well known and nationally acclaimed recording
artists, Mom and Pop Winans of Detroit Michigan.
C A N N O N ’S
! _ - = RIB EXPRESS
iKIAXtHtV ( H l C K H IN W V \
5410NE33RD
PORTLAND
For your tick ets call 503 335 8772 (7— 12 PM M onday—
Friday) or you may pick tickets up at Hannah Bea’s 13969 N.E.
M L K Jr.Blvd).
,* •
Seating is limited, so please RSVP by purchasing your tickets
as soon as possible.
fU r
WHILE SUPPLIES LAST UMIT
ONE PASS PER PERSON NO
PURCHASE NECESSARY
E A C H P A SS A D M IIS TW O
e m p lo y e e s of D r e im w o r k g ,
P o rtlan d O b s e rv e r C a n n o n s
R ib E xp re s s th eir affiliated
agencies are nnt eligible
■I
OPENS NATIONWIDE OCTOBER 18™
I j J n Q
’ w e
(AP) — While several black films
have debuted at or near the top of
the box-office charts over the past
several years, the conventional
wisdom in Hollywood has been
that those numbers drop off before
the movie reaches a mainstream
audience. The surprising success
of “Barbershop” may be changing
that thinking.
The movie debuted at the No. 1
three weekends ago with $21 mil
lion in box-office receipts, taking
in about $13 million — despite
competition from new films star
ring Goldie Hawn, Susan Sarandon
and Antonio Banderas.
M any black film m akers and
producers hope “ B arb ersh o p ”
will show that a m ovie with a
predom inantly black cast can
have crossover appeal — even if
it doesn’t star Will Smith orC hris
Tucker.
“I felt for a long tim e that
th e re’s an audience out there
th a t’s hungry and starving for
great film s w ith A frican-A m eri
can characters, and th a t’s not
ju st A frican-A m ericans looking
fo r th at,” said R ick Fam uyiw a,
d irecto r o f the upcom ing rom an
tic com edy "B row n S ugar,” star
rin g T ay e D ig g s an d S an aa
Lathan.
“Barbershop,” which opened to
mostly good reviews, stars actor/
rapper Ice Cube as the weary owner
o f a barbershop handed down to
him by his father. Over the course
o f the film, circum stances— and a
motley crew of characters played
by Cedric the Entertainer, rapper
Eve and others— make him realize
how valuable the shop really is.
The filmmakers praise distribu
tor MGM for not simply labeling
“Barbershop” a black film and ad
vertising it exclusively to a black
audience.
Exit polls show that about two-
thirds of “Barbershop’s” audience
in its first weekend was black. The
non-black audience appears to
have grown in the second w eek
end, said Peter Adee, president of
worldwide marketing for MGM
studios.
Phatten up your DVD collection
'T
ub —
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T , A •
SAMUEL I . IACKSON
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A ll th ese g reat m ovies available now.
www.paramount.com/homevideo
Art and a v a ila b ility subject to change w d h o u t notice. TM A C opynght C 2002 by Param ount Pictures
All Rights Reserved