Press Release

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
Diversity 2004 Presents Rain Pryor In
"Fried Chicken & Latkes - A One-Woman Experience"
Tuesday Sept. 14

Rochester, NY--September 7, 2004-- Rain Pryor, actress, singer and comedienne, and daughter of comic genius, Richard Pryor, will perform her critically-acclaimed show, Fried Chicken & Latkes - A One-Woman Experience Tuesday, September 14 from 6 - 7:30 p.m. at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center. The performance is presentedby the Greater Rochester Diversity Council in conjunction with the Diversity 2004 Conference.

Tickets on sale now, $25 per person.
Buy online at www.rochesterdiversitycouncil.com
or call 585-224-2727.
Seating is first-come, first-served. Proceeds benefit the Greater Rochester Diversity Council's diversity education programs.

Following a highly successful run of her show at the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills, CA to standing ovations every night, Rain is now touring the country with the show. She wrote, created, and co-produced her show including adding some of her own original music and lyrics to the production.

Rain was a Los Angeles Times "Critics Choice" and her singing voice and sense of timing were hailed as rare gifts. Rain's work and life were recently and lovingly profiled on CBS's Sunday Morning Show. Rain has been a working actor all her life who started on stage and made her television debut on the hit ABC series Head of the Class. Rain played series regular T. J., a role she created during an audition for the show back in 1989. Rain also starred for several years opposite Sherilyn Fenn and Lynn Redgrave, as Jackie, the lipstick lesbian drug addict on the Showtime series Rude Awakening. Over the years, she has guest starred on shows such as The Division, Chicago Hope, Kids Incorporated, and Frog Girl for ABC. She has appeared in numerous independent features as well as Universal Pictures release of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and the ground-breaking Melvin Van Peebles Film, Panther.

On stage, Rain was seen this past year in the Los Angeles production of Eve Ensler's, Vagina Monologues at the Coronet Theatre and has performed on stages all over Los Angeles, most recently performing her show and Cookin' with Gas, with the Groundlings improvisation troupe during the same period! Rain received acclaim for her singing and acting working in Michael Jackson's, Sisterella at the Pasadena Playhouse. Rain's work in Sisterella, earned her nomination from the NAACP Theatre Awards for best supporting actress in a musical. Other favorite roles have included The Who's Tommy at the La Jolla Playhouse; the starring role of Joan at the Globe Playhouse, Westside Story and The Runaways.

This past year, Rain successfully produced her own one woman Cabaret show, Visions of My Youth, which she performed to sold-out crowds. She finished a Film F**stop which is in festivals around the country. Rain is also currently in rehearsals for "Fried Chicken & Latkes," the movie with producer and director Jude Artenstein.

Show Synopsis
Irreverent hilarity" --Los Angeles Times
"Dynamic, touching, wildly funny! -- Maestro
"A vivacious geniality and tuneful voice that channels Bette Midler and Foxy Brown in equal measure." LA Weekly

Fried Chicken & Latkes is a one-woman experience based on the life of actress Rain Pryor. It is a hero's journey from the standpoint of a person born into a world of "Us" vs. "Them" but not quite an "us" and not quite a "them. Told through song and character, the story takes us on a journey of racial identity, family, career, spiritual growth and love. She gives us a glimpse into the universe that was her childhood and is her life, morphing effortlessly into the people around her. We all end up completely identifying with her story.

Rain grew up as a Black and Jewish girl in Beverly Hills. The year was 1969, the year was shout and protest against man's inhumanity to man and, the only thing of color in Beverly Hills were the cars people drove. Through hate, racism, fear, loss and love - Rain took our same journey with poignant and hilarious twists and turns. Rain dives into her search for heritage and meaning by "becoming "her grandma Bernie - discussing everything from her shana madel's marriage to the black comedian Richie Pryor, to the fact that Jews have just been Jews for six thousand years. She equally inhabits her other grandma, "Mamma" - discussing "niggers," white folk, and running a whore house in Peoria Illinois - the two cultures that helped her to triumph over racial lines and stereotypes.

Fried Chicken and Latkes teaches us that living an authentic life is not about "where do I stand" - it's about "here, I stand" It will take you back in time and move you forward making you laugh, think, and cry.

Greater Rochester Diversity Council
The Greater Rochester Diversity Council (GRDC) has organized some of the nation's leading workforce diversity conferences. The GRDC's mission is to be a catalyst to enhance professional development, understanding, promotion and management of diversity as an essential part of business success. Its primary focus is to create a learning community within the business world to address diversity and its benefits.

Diversity 2004 Conference
September 13-15, Rochester Riverside Convention Center

• More than 40 sessions and workshops with the nation's leading diversity experts
• Keynotes: Dr. David Satcher, Sondra Thiederman, William Guillory, Martin Luther King's daughter - Yolanda King, Elodia Tate, and Essie Calhoun from Principal Sponsor, Eastman Kodak
• CEO/Leadership Forum & Results of National Diversity Survey
• Symposium - Eliminating Health Outcome Disparities

For complete details and to register visit www.rochesterdiversitycouncil.com

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Media Contact
Jean Dalmath
585.586.6650
jdalmath@dalmath.com