Oui Be Negroes
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Oui Be Negroes is an African-American improvisational sketch comedy ensemble, founded by Artistic Director Shaun Landry and Director Hans Summers. They worked together for many years in Chicago with the Underground Theatre Conspiracy, and had proposed the idea of an African-American-driven sketch and improvisational comedy troupe, which would be geared specifically toward social and political humor.
Contexts
[edit]The Underground Theatre Conspiracy (UTC) was founded by Hans Summers in 1985 with performers he had worked with at The Players Workshop of The Second City. The show has the title "Fooglewoogle-The Multi-Media Comedy". After two runs, Shaun Landry was added to UTC's roster of performers. That was in 1986, when Shaun was one of three African Americans performing improv comedy in the city of Chicago.
In 1990, Hans and Shaun decided to relocate the company to Seattle.
History
[edit]According to Landry, the 'Oui' name part of the ensemble comes from African Americans who went over to France in the '20s and ‘30s and did well for themselves. Landry explains that most people giggle when they hear the name, but it also makes 'very nice liberal white folks' just a little nervous. In 1993, Landry actively went seeking actors of color and ran upon them at The Second City Outreach Program. There, she assembled the original ensemble, and along with Summers, they mounted Oui Be Negroes, the first show at Café Voltaire in Chicago.
Oui Be Negroes presented the satirical show with names like "Can We Dance with Yo Dates",[1] "One Drop is All It Takes", "Once You Go Black", "All Coons Look Alike to Me" (inspired by the popular coon song of 1896). "The Artists Formerly Known as Oui Be Negroes" and "Absolute Negritude" in Chicago from 1994 through 1999 explored black culture and the history of it before relocating the troupe to San Francisco.[2] OBN has toured from New York, Los Angeles, Austin, and Boston, in addition to performances outside of the U.S. in Canada and the Netherlands. In 2000, Oui Be Negroes relocated from its birthplace in Chicago to San Francisco, California. There, they continued to produce sketch and improvisational shows with an edge such as "X", "To Pigmeat Markham Thanks for Everything, Spike Lee".
In 2009, Landry & Summers went to Los Angeles, where they produced the Oui Be Negroes show as well as duo performances as Landry & Summers at Improv Olympic West, The Second City, and the Avery Schreiber Theatre in North Hollywood. Their first extended duo show in Los Angeles entitled "Yes, We Are F**king" played. Oui Be Negroes celebrated their 15th anniversary by returning to Chicago to perform at the 12th Annual Chicago Improv Festival. Landry & Summers continued to perform in 2010 with Interraciallicious at M.I.'s Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica, California, and as a featured act for DuoFest 2010 in Philadelphia.
References
[edit]- Improv Making up for Lost Time by Sam Hurwitt San Francisco Chronicle July 15 2007
- Whose Improv Is It Anyway Beyond the Second City Amy Seham University Press of Mississippi (July 2001)
- Cool As Hell Theater Podcast NPR
- Small Theater Sometimes has Big Rewards by Pat Craig Contra Costa Times January 25, 2002
- Improving their improv A bunch of comics will share funny feelings in Kansas City's Spontaneous Combustion festival Brian McTavish Arts & Entertainment Writer, Kansas City Star 09-09-97
- Oui Shall Overcome: Black improvisers no longer play second fiddle in Chicago by Ed Will Denver Post Staff Writer February 23, 1999
- African American Troupe Laughs at Itself by Patti Hartigan, Boston Glob February 7, 1997
- DO BE DO BE DO - Chicago Sun Times 02-2007
- The Artists Formally Known as Oui Be Negros and The Playground by Jack Helbig - Chicago Reader March 18, 1999
- Specific
- ^ "Oui Be Negroes In Can We Dance With Yo Dates?". Chicago Reader. 9 March 1995. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
- ^ Johnson, Allan (September 6, 2000). "So, Woman Walks into a Room...and Finds a Hundred Other Performers Who are Taking Comedy Just as Seriously". Chicago Tribune. ProQuest 419140372.