The purple carpet was laid out, purple balloons blown up and the Carver High School marching band could be heard throughout downtown Winston-Salem.
Yesterday at 5:30 p.m., stretch limos started to pull up to the curb in front of the Benton Convention Center and the National Black Theatre Festival officially started its 20th anniversary gala.
After an hour-long reception, a grand procession of 50 celebrities of television, film and stage were led into the banquet hall by Otesha Creative Arts Ensemble, under the direction of Hashim Saleh. A crowd of about 800 guests stood to watch the drummers, dancers and one giant hooded figure on stilts make their dramatic entrance.
Leading the parade of celebrities was Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin, the widow of the festival’s founder, Larry Leon Hamlin. He died in 2007. She was escorted by his son, Larente L. Hamlin.
W.T. Jenkins, the president and chairman of the board of the North Carolina Black Repertory Company, welcomed the crowd and introduced “three strong-willed, talented women,” Sprinkle-Hamlin, Gerry Patton, the executive director, and Mabel Robinson, the artistic director.
“This festival has truly developed into an international celebration and a reunion of spirit,” Jenkins said. He called Winston-Salem, where it has been held since 1989, “black-theatre holy ground.”
Jenkins introduced two “key people in Winston-Salem who are committed deeply,” to the festival, Mayor Allen Joines and Vivian Burke, the mayor pro tem.
“This feels like coming home to some of you because you’ve been here so many times,” Joines said, “but if it’s your first time, take home some of our hospitality.”
Joines called Hamlin a visionary.
“But he didn’t just have an idea, he did it, himself,” Joines said.
That idea has brought about 500,000 people to the city to participate in the festival since it was founded, Joines said.
“It shows the world that we are a city of diversity and inclusivity and that we are a city of the arts,” he said.
When Burke followed Joines to the stage, she said, “It feels like Larry is floating around.” She talked about how much the festival and Larry Leon Hamlin had helped the city. “He’s our stimulus.”
Part of why the festival is such a success is the contributions of sponsors, Nigel Alston, the chairman of the festival’s fundraising committee, said.
“We really had our work cut out for us this year,” he said before he acknowledged those who gave. They received a loud and long round of applause.
Mabel Robinson and Gerry Patton shared the responsibility of recognizing Hamlin’s dreams, visions and passion and the part his family played in furthering them.
“He had an appetite for the stage that was introduced by his mother and supported by his family,” Robinson said in introducing the Hamlin family.
Sprinkle-Hamlin was described by Patton as the woman Hamlin “entrusted with the vision” and the “love of his life.”
One of the evening’s highlights was the brief appearance by Dr. Maya Angelou. After her standing ovation, she told the story of Hamlin coming to her for help to start the festival in 1989.
“Had I not had some incredible dreams, myself, I would have laughed at him,” Angelou said as she talked about the beginning days and the work it took to attract the stars and the crowds the festival now draws. Two of those stars who keep coming back year after year, Ted Lange and Wendy Raquel Robinson, served as co-chairmen of last night’s gala.
One of the biggest stars last night may not have ever seen the lights of Hollywood, but she has a natural flair for pleasing a crowd.
Annie Hamlin Johnson, Hamlin’s mother, told the audience, “You all didn’t know Larry like I did,” and then went on to share stories about the Larry she knew.
She started teaching him to act when he was three years old, she said, “and from that time on, it was in his blood.”
Several awards were also presented throughout the evening.
The first annual Larry Leon Hamlin and Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin/Winston-Salem Urban League Endowed Scholarship at the UNC School of the Arts was presented to Shanomie Blackwood.
Other presentations included the Sidney Poitier Lifelong Achievement Award to Woodie King, Jr.; the Larry Leon Hamlin Producer Award to Vy Higginsen; the August Wilson Playwright Award to Celeste Bedford Walker; the Lloyd Richards Director Award to Ed Smith; the Living Legend Award to André De Shields, Fatima Dike, Paul Carter Harrison, Joan Lewis, Robert Macbeth, Barbara Montgomery, Juanita Moore, Melba Moore and Clarance (C. Lee) Turner; the Outstanding Achievement In Film to Julie Dash; the Outstanding Achievement In Costume Design to Reggie Ray; the Outstanding Achievement In Lighting Design to Shirley Prendergast; the Outstanding Achievement In Scenic Design to Felix Cochren; the Theatre Longevity Award to Berkeley Black Repertory Group; the Special Recognition Award to LaChanze and the Marvtastic Philanthropy Award to Hanesbrands Inc.