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"Women Comedians Helping Women's Charities"
Added: (Wed Oct 26 2005)
A group of community minded funny women in London have come up with a great idea for a show. "Hell on Heels" is a monthly charity benefit but here's the twist - for a different women's charity every month. The show's producer New Yorker Stephanie Kasen says "We really wanted to bring female comedians and improvisers together to provide a hilarious and inspiring evening of comedy but give it a focus and a purpose.”
Also the performers want to use their talent to do something on a regular basis for a variety of charities they admire and support. The format of the show requires a celebrity guest who will help raise awareness and of course, much needed money for the charity.
Stephanie's years of producing comedy improv and television in New York have stood her in good stead for this project. "It's a lot of work to pull together a worthwhile charity, a celebrity guest and the cream of London's comedy improvisers but Londoners have been more responsive than I could have imagined."
Hell on Heels launched 1 October and the first show was a huge sell-out success! It featured Oscar nominated "Mona Lisa" star Cathy Tyson and all proceeds were donated to Women's Aid (www.womensaid.org.uk), the national charity working to end domestic violence against women and children.
The next Hell on Heels is 9 November and it features Angie Le Mar, Britain’s first ever black woman comic. Whether on TV, Radio (Choice FM), or in her dynamic live show which regularly sells out 1,000 seat theatres, Angie Le Mar is a comic legend. In Hell on Heels, Angie will share with the audience stories from her life and the comediennes will improvise sketches in which ever way the monologues inspire them. For example a story from Angie’s life about a bad job interview for a secretarial job might inspire scenes about interviews, offices, bosses or funny days in the workplace. All proceeds for the November show will be donated to Dress for Success, (www.dressforsuccess.org), whose mission is to advance low-income women's economic and social development and to encourage self-sufficiency through career development and employment retention.
Deborah Frances White, Artistic Director of the Spontaneity Shop, which puts on Hell on Heels, says “Celebrities have been very responsive. We are especially thrilled to have Arabella Weir from The Fast Show as our guest for our 7 December show in which we will donate all proceeds to Breast Cancer Care.”
The Spontaneity Shop would love to hear from any charities that feel they have an association with women's issues who would benefit from the money and awareness raised by "Hell on Heels". They would also love to hear from female celebrities who have a favourite charity and would be the star monologist for the evening. Putting on a show every month certainly beats giving two pounds by direct debit. The Spontaneity Shop intend to make "Hell on Heels" a London institution!
Shows are 7.30pm November 9 starring Angie Le Mar (Britain’s first black woman comic) and December 7 starring Arabella Weir (of “Does my bum look big in this?” fame)
Venue: Studio 5, Ealing Studios, Ealing Green, London W5
Tube: Ealing Broadway.
Box office: Ticketweb 08700 600 100 or www.ticketweb.co.uk
For more information see www.the-spontaneity-shop.com/shows
For further information please call Deborah Frances-White on 020 7428 0992 or 07939 035 486.
Notes for Editors:
Bio of Spontaneity Shop:
The Spontaneity Shop, formed by Tom Salinsky and Deborah Frances White in 1996, is the UK’s premier improv company. They are currently working with ITV on their fabulous new show Dreamdate (directed by Geoff Posner from “Little Britian”) and can be seen every other Thursday in their anarchic improvised show “Coming Ready or Not” at Ealing Studios.
Bio of Stephanie Kasen
Stephanie Kasen is a television producer from NYC where she produced nationally syndicated daytime programmes for Sony Pictures TV and Universal TV for years. She recently moved to London where she is having a great time producing for The Spontaneity Shop. Stephanie is also a performer in Hell on Heels and is a proud member of the NY based all female improv group Ms. Jackson, winner of the Emerging Comics of NY award for 2004.
Bio of Artistic Director Deborah Frances White
Deborah co-founded The Spontaneity Shop in 1996 and has produced and performed in many shows since then - notably a GALA BENEFIT for The Royal Court Theatre starring Jonathan Price and directed by Keith Johnstone and Phelim McDermot. She has also produced and performed Keith Johnstone's GORILLA THEATRE at The Royal Shakespeare Company Summer Season, The Gilded Balloon at The Edinburgh Festival and The TV2 International Laugh Festival in New Zealand. Deborah also teaches improvisation at RADA and The Actor’s Centre and trains for many companies including the BBC.
Bio of Angie Le Mar
Sharp, funny and above all stylish, Angie Le Mar is Britain's first black woman comic. Whether on TV, Radio or in her dynamic live show which regularly sells out 1,000 seat theatres, Angie is a proven hit with male and female, black and white audiences and is equally at home with quick-fire comedy, acutely observed character sketches and solid acting performance. 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.
Bio of Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir is a comedian, actress, and writer famous for her role in “The Fast Show” and a number of books including “Does My Bum Look Big In This”, a catchphrase of one of her characters in the show. She was also a regular cast member of the BBC Radio 4 comedy series Smelling of Roses.
ENDS