Rise Together and TuffCrowd Entertainment Recently Teamed Up For An Exclusive Social Awareness Event At The Los Globos Theatre In Downtown Los Angeles
Last week we joined LA activist Craig Greiwe and performing artist Halla for Rise Together –a one night event at the Globe Theatre jam-packed with informative content on a variety of social issues facing Angelenos. The show was written and directed by Halla and performed with the help of his collective, TuffCrowd Entertainment. Performances featured spoken word, music covers and dramatic vignettes. From start to finish, the program informed the audience of issues such as limited housing, gentrification, and homelessness all the while reminding them that the power to impact these problems rests in their hands with daily action, but also through political action in reference to the upcoming local elections in 2022. The best aspect of this event was their ability to convey these messages without losing the entertaining qualities; it made for a great experience overall.
Check out our quick Q&A with Halla and Craig below.
Michael “Halla” Williams Founder and CEO of TuffCrowd Entertainment
Q: How did the ideas for the show come together for you?
I met with Craig after he checked out one of our shows and he gave me a lot of information and statistics on issues facing the city. I didn’t really know any of that stuff before meeting with him and he just asked if there was a way to do what I do and mix in a little of what he does. I just took the facts he gave me and mixed it in with the vision. You know they call it putting the candy in the medicine; that’s what we’re doing here.
Q: Do all of you work together consistently or was it just for this event?
No, this is what we do. I write, produce, and direct all the plays and TuffCrowd puts them on. There’s 52 of us from 10 years old all the way up to 40. I’m not the only writer in the crew so if someone comes up with an idea TuffCrowd will produce it, but this one I wrote it myself.
Q: What was it like for you seeing this all come together?
It was a blessing. The whole process took about a month. I wrote it in like a week; we tried different things and had to make some adjustments just because certain people couldn’t make it, but the entire process of doing it was just a blessing. It’s a family; working with Craig and everyone at Rise Together was dope.
Craig Greiwe Co-Founder of Rise Together
Q: What was it like seeing the show come together and witness it live?
It’s incredible! When I first saw Halla’s work I knew we wanted to partner with him and bring his voice forward. Having him express his passion and his art in the form of Rise Together has been incredible to watch it come to life. Halla had the topics and passion. The show narrative was all his; it flows and captures the passion, anger, and frustration along with the hope and the [potential] of everyone in the city. It’s been a true honor to partner and watch him and the collective bring it to life in the past few weeks.
Q: Was this the first Rise Together event? Do you plan to do more of these with Halla?
Yes. This is definitely the first show that we’ve done with Halla and we want to keep doing more shows around the community. We hope to reach the [people] of LA with shows, rallies, and talks that touch their lives with the things that matter to them like arts, music, and entertainment. No matter where you are we want to reach you and engage you in helping save this city.
Rise Together is a new 501(c)4 looking to up-end politics as usual in Los Angeles, by leveraging the long dormant power of the public narrative. The organization seeks to use innovative and cost-effective consumer marketing to re-engage and re-invest the general public in advance of the 2022 elections, to convince them that progress is possible, and it comes from the middle. And so goes the public, so goes the city: with that change, we can shift the ground under campaigns, inspire and educate the public, and protect the city from extremism. We can ensure that 2022 is an election focused on the people’s concerns, and hold officials and candidates accountable.
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