1.

informal

a person who generates income for a business or organization by brokering deals or attracting clients or funds.

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Creativity requires money in order to be translated into art. Even if you deal in recycled, repurposed, or reclaimed art making; at some point you will come face to face with the fact that you have to spend cash to make art.

While art itself will always be a constant within the order of the American public sphere; times have never been leaner for independent artists, those who use art as a social practice, art in schools, arts organizations in urban neighborhoods, and community based performance groups, its even true for The Lower Bottom Playaz, Inc, the premiere North American African theater troupe in Oakland CA. and a West Oakland institution.

As a producing artist who employs other performers and understands intimately the importance of artists having the means necessary to access creative production; I live my life in search of Rainmakers and Angels. Unless an artist is independently wealthy, grounded in a mainstream success that provides access, or non-productive they need Angels and Rainmakers–or even better Rainmaking Angels.

Meet Richard Bottoms— my Rainmaking Angel for FENCES by August Wilson. He is the largest single backer for this project. He came into the game at the fourth quarter and quite literally saved the show when the anticipated backer — backed out. His advice to me was simple and what I needed to hear when doors were closing so fast windows were shattering; he told me, “Jump and the net shall appear” and “Never give up , Never surrender”. It might sound trite and cliched to you, but I assure you not so much when its chased by the question, “How much do you need to say, ‘f%$k ’em all’?”

After the quarterback talk and the infusion of cash from Bottoms the impossible became achievable. The Lower Bottom Playaz, Inc the oldest North American  African Theater Troupe in Oakland CA got off their deathbed and  continued their history making march through August Wilson’s, American Century Cycle. FENCES opens Thanksgiving Day in Oakland CA at The African American Museum and Library at Oakland. The production has a lot of helping hands among them the folks who gave to fundraisers, Alameda County Arts Commission, Theater Bay Area’s Ca$h Grant, The City of Oakland,  The African American Museum and Library at Oakland, and Dr. Washington Burns, MD, are all a part of the ongoing effort to help the Lower Bottom Playaz be the first theater troupe in history to stage the entire American Century Cycle in chronological order of the decades presented. But the truth be told it took Bottoms, the singular believer, to overstand the hugeness of the troupes current undertaking of the elevation of America’s Shakespeare, August Wilson,  by their homage of staging The Cycle from Gem of the Ocean to Radio Golf..

Bottoms is new to Wilson, but not new to supporting talent, admiring pluck, and enabling access. We are overjoyed for his presence which helped us get over the hump in the ten-play cycle. We invite you to show your appreciation of his efforts by coming to see FENCES by August Wilson in Oakland. Spend a part of  your Thanksgiving weekend with us as we give thanks for access, as we celebrate the ability to tell our stories, and as we continue to make the tradition of theater available for the enjoyment, education,  and upliftment of future generations.

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Richard Bottoms, kudo’s for helping The Lower Bottom Playaz, Inc, “Theater at its most committed”,   continue to shine our light! Contact Richard Bottoms at rbottoms@glasshandmedia.com

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