Looks like Perry’s movie “Madea’s Family Reunion” blew out the competition this weekend earning just over $10 million!
What is even more impressive is Perry’s bio. Here is a piece of it below:
“From homelessness to sheer bliss, thirty five-year old playwright, director, producer and actor Tyler Perry is truly riding high! Within the span of only six years, he went from being “out on the streets” to “selling out” theaters wherever he goes. He has done it with not only one show – but with seven shows having successfully toured the nation and thus creating a change in the history of Black theater.
This New Orleans native has had a stellar decade and is showing no signs of letting up any time soon. In 1992, he wrote a series of letters to himself in an effort to find a catharsis for his own childhood pain. Those same letters would eventually culminate to become Tyler’s first hit musical, “I Know I’ve Been Changed,” a rousing stage play about adult survivors of child abuse. The story combines a delicate mix of comedy and drama while addressing the often times uncomfortable issues which surround one’s recovery from painful childhood scars.
Perry, feeling that he was onto something, eventually saved twelve thousand dollars, moved to the city of Atlanta with a script in his hand and a dream in his heart. However, after renting out a theater and starring in the production, he soon found out that it was not going to be as easy a task as he had thought. When only thirty people showed up in the audience over the entire weekend, Tyler came to the realization that theatrical promoting was definitely not his calling.
However, one thing that he did know was that “this” was what he was supposed to be doing. And when God leads, He will provide. Out of the thirty in the audience, one wanted to invest. This newfound investor would soon find out that it took more than money to make a show work and as a result, the show would fail, repeatedly.
Because of having put all of his eggs in one basket, Tyler would eventually find himself homeless on one or more occasions over the following six years. Broke and at times starving, he relentlessly held on to his faith in God and continued to believe that it would all “come out all right” one day. “I know the Lord will make a way!” Perry would often exclaim.
When he did finally reach a point where he was going to give up, he reluctantly decided to do one last show. It was that one faithful decision which would change his life forever.
In the summer of 1998, what was supposed to be the “final” production of Tyler Perry’s “I Know I’ve Been Changed” opened at the House of Blues in Atlanta and sold out eight times over. Two weeks later, the play would move to the prestigious Fox Theater and sell out 9,000 more seats for just two shows! “I Know I’ve Been Changed,” would go on to gross several million dollars in revenue and ultimately raise the level of thinking concerning Black theater productions. Critics and audiences alike would eventually abandon the insulting title of “Chitlin Circuit”, when referring to Black theater, bestowing upon it instead the respectable title of “Urban Theater.”
The Washington Post wrote rave reviews for both the production quality of “I Know I’ve Been Changed” and Tyler’s acting performances, calling it “on the whole” the most “well-produced Gospel show” they had “ever seen”. To date, Mr. Perry continues to receive fan mail from people who talk about how seeing that show changed their lives. Evoking conversation between family members and encouraging them to talk about secrets that were long buried and hidden. In essence…helping entire families to heal.” (more…)
