Ebony Fashion Fair Raises $15,000 for Black Actors Theatre
A tradition that travels by Greyhound stopped off in Anaheim last week to help out a group born on a bus trip six years ago.
The Ebony Fashion Fair, celebrating its 30th season with a 181-city tour, opened its trunks and pulled out a spectacular array of finery at the Disneyland Hotel last Thursday to benefit the Orange County Black Actors Theatre.
“We (the theater) got started when we took two busloads of people from Orange County to L.A. to see a play,” said Charles Moore, an actor and theater board member. “And it occurred to us that if that many people in Orange County are interested in seeing a minority play, we can do our own right here.”
The fashion show, produced by Ebony magazine, has served as the theater’s largest fund-raising event each year since 1982, according to theater founder Adleane Hunter.
More than 700 people attended the show, raising about $15,000, according to Janice Macon, event chairwoman.
The money will be used “wherever the need is,” said Zondra Ann Marshall, volunteer managing director of Black Actors Theatre. One of those needs is a basic one. “Like the boll weevil, we’re looking for a home,” Marshall said. “We need a stable facility that we can have some control over.
“It’s difficult to expand and grow if you don’t have a stable base.”
The group now stages performances at a variety of Orange County locations, including Curtis Theatre in Brea, where “Zooman and the Sign,” a play about gang violence, previews on April 30.
“These are professional productions, not community theater,” Hunter said. The group also offers classes for adults and children and has recently started an actors’ forum to help performers refine their craft.
“So far, more than 100 children and 150 adults have participated in our programs,” Marshall said. “And we’re growing every day.”
Still, Moore said, “a lot of people don’t even know we’re here. So this (fashion show) is also important because it gets the word out.”
The Orange County Black Actors Theatre and the Ebony Fashion Fair are ideal partners, Marshall said, because they have so much in common. “Our group grew out of a need, the neglect of black actors, technicians, and others in the theater,” she said. “The same thing spawned the fashion show. When it began, black models had far fewer opportunities. Both the theater and the fashion show give audiences a chance to see more black role models.”
The theme for the show was “Fashion Sizzle,” divided into such categories as “Lighting the Fire,” “Stirring the Blaze” and “Sparks Are Flying.” The models--10 women and two men--kept the heat turned up by flaunting the fashions, not just wearing them. They strutted, twirled, kicked and wiggled to show off the bright colors, body-hugging cuts and sexy cutouts, encouraged by whoops and cheers from the crowd.
