Living the Chifferobe
Over the years, one of my “go-to” jokes has been a reference to a throwaway line in Robert Townsend’s Hollywood Shuffle. I used it when I’m running late for something and get called on it. “Where you been?”, they say and my response a thousand times over has been that I was out back bustin’ up a chifferobe.
The first thing I thought when I heard that Robert Townsend may be performing at our theater is that I’d probably owe him some royalty money. My crack team of lawyers told me that I’m fine because his line is a parody of the reference in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ where Mayela Ewell asks Tom Robinson to bust up said chifferobe.
Over the years, I’ve been pretty cool about meeting an odd celebrity here and there, but this dude was different. He’s not only a genuine OG in his field, but he also provided me with years of excellent comedy content. Now, I get to meet him and help promote his show, ‘Living the Shuffle.’
FUN FACT - He has such a strong social media game and such a huge following that between that and the social mojo of his co-Producer, Don Reed, I just held on for the ride. His popularity and skill as a performer sold the show.
As happens in theater, we needed some media shots to help spread the word of the show. So, a week before the first performance, Robert came to town for a quick tech run and to work out a few quirks in the show. He had been rehearsing plenty for this, but he needed to get a feel for the space where it was to be performed. During that time, he was kind enough to let me drag him around downtown Berkeley to grab a few shots.
The whole time, he was pleasant and present, engaging with passers-by that recognized him and bullsh*tting with his friend, Don Reed, who was with us. Dude was totally comfortable in front of a camera and gave me everything that I could have hoped for with my tight deadline.
We did take some shots on the stage, but it was so bare and unfinished for the images to be of use. So, we waited until a few days until the tech stuff was more ready and had another go at it. Now keep in mind these images were taken during a cue-to-cue. That’s an unsexy term that means it was a run specifically for the tech team to get their light cues and image cues ready for specific points in the show. It’s perhaps the most stressful part of a show’s development, more technicians and artists have fought to the death during this stage of production than any other. This day, though, no one was murdered.
I’ve met enough artists in my time to get a good feel of the kind of person they are within only a few interactions. From day one, Robert and his whole team were super pleasant, their responses to requests were prompted, and their gratitude for our actions was quick and warm. Just a pleasure! Honestly, in this field, I’ve met very few folks that I’d consider a bad person. The worst thing I usually encounter is someone who is just concerned with himself. Robert is the opposite of that. His whole career has been an example of pushing others towards success. The grand number of folks that flew up from Southern California to see him on opening night was a testament to that.
About the show itself? Let some of these quotes do the talking…
90 minutes of captivating tales and good humor - Broadway World
Townsend’s imagination catapults him forward in life again and again. It’s there when he reads “Oedipus” in class in school with such Royal Shakespeare Company panache that the other kids scramble to one corner of the classroom as if they’ve discovered a fox in the henhouse. It’s there when he almost bombs his first audition, for a Chicago troupe called the Experimental Black Actors Guild, but then demonstrates the improv skills he first honed in his bathroom — all before he even knows the term “improv.” It’s there when he’s cast as extras in a Pepsi commercial and an action movie but then so thoroughly envisions his character and situation that directors give him meatier roles. - Lily Janiak, SF Chronicle
There are plenty more great reviews here, and here, and here.
In brief, it’s a show that has legs. It’s a high-quality piece of art with a huge market that is certainly going onto greater things. We’ve already extended him once, there’s some talk of other extensions or shows but it’s all up in the air. You can totally expect more from this show.
“Living the Shuffle”: Written and directed by Robert Townsend. Through Dec. 15. 95 minutes. $30-$100. The Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. 415-282-3055. www.themarsh.org