ANGIE LE MAR
Comedienne, actress, writer
Sharp, funny and above all stylish, Angie Le Mar is one of Britain’s top comediennes. Whether on TV, Radio or in her dynamic live shows which regularly sell out 1,000-seater theatres, Angie is a proven hit with male and female, international audiences and is equally at home with quick-fire comedy, acutely observed character sketches and solid acting performance.
Angie founded Straight to Audience Productions to draw not just on her unsurpassed reputation as a performer and writer but also on her acknowledged expertise in direction, production and marketing, to serve the growing international market for vibrant, top quality black entertainment. This market is far wider then just the black community itself, but one the mainstream media has been unable to tap into...until now.
Straight To Audience was launched in May 2001 with the video release of Angie Le Mar The Movie making her live stand up available to eager fans for the first time. The success of the video allowed Angie to develop her work as a writer, director and producer of shows with other artists including, Will the Real Wayne Rollins Please Stand Up, Big Sister which used the Big Brother format as a vehicle to showcase up-and-coming young comics, and 26 episodes of Sharp Cuts, a radio comedy/drama which Angie wrote and starred in for Choice FM.
The success of Sharp Cuts led to the development of The Brothers , a radio drama which attracted 40,000 new listeners to the show and convinced Angie that there was a market for a live production. The theatrical version of The Brothers sold out its first run at The Hackney Empires Bullion Room and returned by popular demand to the Theatre's 1200-seater Main Space where it became the theatre's fastest selling show in ten years, with extra nights having to be added to meet the demand.
Angie's wide ranging career achievements - from being the first British performer to storm the legendary Harlem Apollo to making history in London’s West End with the first ever sell out show by a black comedienne - not only enable her to deliver top quality performance and production values on stage, screen and the airwaves, but also to attract a large and loyal fan base along with greatly increased audiences wherever her work appears.
The Angie Le Mar Show on Choice FM, Britain’s Leading urban talk and music station has trebled the stations listenership in the weekend morning slot and has attracted guests ranging from Stevie Wonder, Danny Glover and John Singleton to India Irie and Maya Angelou.
Angie's TV work includes memorable appearances on top-rated shows such as BBC’s Grumpy Old Women, Must Try Harder, The Real McCoy, and her starring role in four successful series of Get Up Stand Up (Channel Four). BBC 4 The Front room.
Angie was also the only broadcaster to get an exclusive interview by Hollywood legend Whoopi Goldberg; and her coverage of Whoopi's autobiography helped make it a UK best-seller.
In the theatre, Angie's award winning stand up comedy has been celebrated with two star-studded Audience With... events. While she is equally well known as the writer, director and star of the ground breaking Funny Black Women on the Edge - the unique sketch show which broke box office records at the Edinburgh Festival, had two sell out runs at Theatre Royal Stratford East, will return by popular demand for one final celebration at the newly refurbished Hackney Empire for International Women’s Month in Spring 2007.
Angie has also played in the West End with The Vagina Monologues as well as her one woman show.
Other Angie Le Mar productions at The Hackney Empire include Do You Know Where Your Daughter Is?, which opened in August 2006. The show features a cast of teenage actors in a hard-hitting and very topical drama focusing on the tensions of mother daughter relationships and the often devastating consequences of peer pressure and street violence.
An upcoming play called Forty - written, directed by and starring Angie - is the story of five women who discover that what was intended to be a celebration of old school ties turns into a night of score settling, personal revelation and ultimately forgiveness.
Angie Le Mar is Britain’s First Lady of Black Comedy and as such has won numerous awards, including several Black Entertainment Comedy Awards (BECAs) for Best Stand Up Female and twice for Most Original Material, The Men and Women of Merit award and the prestigious EFBWO - European Federation Of Black Women In Business. BACA Award comedy Drama for The Brothers. Women of Excellence International Award Jan 007.
Voted, 100 Great Black Britons. Top 50 Black Powerful Women, New Nation Newspaper. Pride Magazine ,Top 50 UK Talent to look out for.
PETRA LETANG
Petra's theatre credits include:
Fallout, Rampage, Breath Boom (Royal Court), Beautiful Thing (Nottingham Playhouse and tour), Local Boys (Hampstead Theatre), Generations of the Dead (Young Vic), Badnuff (Soho Theatre), How Love Is Spelt (Bush Theatre) and President of an Empty Room (National Theatre)
TV credits include:
Eastenders, Jonathan Creek (BBC1), Babyfather (two series - BBC2), The Bill, The Last Detective (ITV) and Family Affairs (Channel 5)
Film credits include:
Wondrous Oblivion (APT Film Ltd)
Radio credits include:
Romeo & Juliet in Southwark, Ilford-Romford and All Stations, Miss Bitterfly, The Silence of the Stars and Telltale (BBC)
JO MELVILLE
Dancer, Actress, Singer, Producer, Writer and Mother
Josephine has had an extremely varied career from dancing in Dubai to performing in Macbeth in America.
Jo began her career as a dancer, touring in places as far as Egypt, Bahrain and Dubai. She crossed over into acting, of which her many Theatre credits include, Hair at the Theatre Clwyd, O Babylon for Talawa Theatre Company, Moon on a Rainbow Shawl and Party Girls both at The Theatre Royal Stratford East. Godspell in Oldham Manchester, Meetings for Nitro (formally Black Theatre Co-Op), The Coup for The National Theatre, Unfinished Business for Talawa, Fruit Salad at The Greenwich Theatre and Hackney Empire, Funny Black Women for Theatre Royal Stratford East and most recently re-mounted at The Hackney Empire for Straight to Audience Productions. Jo has also completed two tours of the USA in Committed Artistes Productions of Macbeth. As a founder member and Director of The BiBi Crew, who wrote, produced and performed comedy shows, including On a Level, which were staged in London and toured nationally. The BiBi Crew were also invited to perform at The BAM Majestic Theatre in Brooklyn, New York.
Josephine's TV credits includes Eastenders for BBC 1, The Bill for LWT, Prime Suspects II for Granada T.V. Downtown Lagos for BBC1, Rappin at the Royal for Channel 4 and Casualty for BBC 1.
Writing credits include Smokey for Carib Theatre Company, Airport for Radio 4 Club Class for Channel 5. Josephine has co-written the play "Shoot 2 Win", which was commissioned by Theatre Royal Stratford East. This played at The Theatre Royal in January 2002 and went on to an eight-week national middle scale tour.
Josephine has extensive experience of educational workshops, creating and facilitating and has worked with schools, youth organisations, colleges and corporate businesses.
As a co-founder member of Aarawak Moon Productions, Josephine co-produced numerous productions of their renowned Blaggers and Junior Blaggers shows and several productions of The Lunar Lounge.
The lights of her life are her children Troy and Tyler and her husband. To love and be loved is the greatest love of all.
CHIZZY
Chizzy studied Criminology at Middlesex University and Criminal Law at SUNY, New Paltz, New York. Upon graduating, she decided to follow her true passion- ACTING, gaining a coveted spot with BBC Talent in their search for comedy performers in 2002.
TV credits include:
Her TV credits include Romans Empire, Green Wing, The Complete Guide to Parenting, Stupid, 15 Storeys High and Eastenders. She has also starred in the feature films The Worlds Most Unromantic Man and Jack Brown and the Curse of the Crown.
THEATRE credits include:
Theatre credits include The Weave, Mixt Nutz at the Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh, Blaggers and numerous rehearsed readings for Tell Tarra. She also works regularly for the Soho Theatre with their education department.
RADIO credits include:
Sharp Cuts for Choice FM and promos for Nike and The Carphone Warehouse.She is also a character model and has been practising Karate for 9 years.
YVETTE
Yvette has recently been a part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Full Works Festival where she appeared in Much Ado About Nothing (Swan Theatre, Stratford Upon Avon and Novello Theatre, West End). Also Romeo and Juliet (RST, Stratford Upon Avon & Theatre Royal, Newcastle). A Funny Black Woman veteran, Yvette appeared in the first production of FBW in 1994 and subsequent productions to date. Other theatre credits include: The Big Life (Apollo Theatre, West End); Mother Courage (National Tour); Off Camera (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Fruit Salad (Greenwich Theatre); Incompatibly Yours (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith); The Thing About Shirley (Hackney Empire); Getting Any (National Black Theatre Festival, North Carolina, USA); Laughter Lounge (Tricycle Theatre); Sisters (Riverside Studios); Amen Corner (Bristol Old Vic); Small Offers (Yaa Asantewaa Arts Centre); Taking Charge (Drill Hall); Princess Black (Lewisham Theatre).
Television includes: Shoot the Messenger, Casualty, Flava, Club Class, Touching Evil, Chef, Devon Dozens.