Once Upon a Time in Harlem

Billy Rhythm, the quintessential American, teams up with Tharbis Jefferson, a "Copper Colored Gal" from the latest Cotton Club revue, to win a dance contest at the Savoy Ballroom. Unfortunately, their competition will stop at nothing to win, including murder.Once Upon A Time In Harlem is a jitterbug love story woven between the lives and times of legendary black entertainers, black and white thugs, and the common man in swinging 1930's Harlem. It takes place when Cab Calloway is at the beginning of his long and storied career and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, already over 50, is still unknown to most people outside of New York. "Air steps," Jujitsu type dance moves, are just making the scene. The white and black gangland violence in the play? It all happened in an almost forgotten time in America's most mythic city: Harlem.Winner of the Jaz Dorsey Fusion Award from the African American Playwrights Exchange, this radio play version is based on the 3-act stage play and screenplay and is suitable for the high school classroom and above. Perfect for Black History month.