'Shoot for the stars': Regina Hall's new movie, bestselling Straub headlines book fest and more arts news

Actress Regina Hall’s advice for someone trying to get into the moviemaking industry is to think big and “shoot for the stars,” and the creators of her latest movie say they could never have imagined how that way of thinking might work out.

Adamma Ebo is writer/director/co-producer and her twin sister Adanne is co-producer of “Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul.” The movie will be in theaters and stream on Peacock starting Sept. 2 after screening last week at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival.

It’s the sisters' first movie, they’re 31, and Adanne Ebo told a packed festival crowd that when a potential producer asked about who they saw playing the lead role, the answer was “'a Regina Hall type.' And now Regina’s in our movie!”

Hall — known for the “Scary Movie” and “Best Man” franchises plus “Girls Trip” and more — stars as Trinitie Childs, described as “the proud first lady of a Southern Baptist megachurch” that once served a congregation in the tens of thousands. But after the church closes due to scandal, she and her husband, Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs (Sterling K. Brown), have to rebuild the church and make a comeback.

Hall proudly introduced the Ebos at the Oak Bluffs festival: “They are such smart and creative and provocative filmmakers and I have to say that I am honored, really, to be able to be a part of their first feature. … I'm so happy that the world will get to see their work.”

Adamma Ebo called “Honk For Jesus” “this crazy little movie” and told the predominantly Black audience that “this is a love letter to our culture and a lot of subcultures, and it's also a critique of that culture and all of the complicated things in between.”

“I made it for Black folks,” she said at the festival and Hall quickly called out with a laugh, “But we want white folks to come and see it, too!”

What does Hall like about the movie? “It’s a touching story. I love that it’s a peek into a world (with) no judgment. I love movies that leave me wanting to discuss, wanting to talk about it,” she said. Hall was impressed by “the way they took this story, and the way they were able to make these characters and they were bigger than life, then they kind of broke it down smaller and smaller until they got to the heart of what it means to be human.”

Straub, Ozeki, Villaroa headline book fest

Acclaimed writers Emma Straub, Ruth Ozeki and Linda Villarosa are among 16 authors who will be appear in person as part of next month’s Provincetown Book Festival. The event will take place Sept. 16-18 at the Provincetown Public Library.

Straub has written several bestselling novels including May’s “This Time Tomorrow” and “All Adults Here.” Ozeki is known for 2021's “The Book of Form and Emptiness” and other novels, and Linda Villarosa is a New York Times journalist whose work includes “Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation.”

All events are free. The festival will open Friday night, Sept. 16, with a reading and reception for the recipient of the Rose Dorothea Award, given annually by the Board of Library Trustees to “a person with a strong connection to the Outer Cape who has made a significant contribution through the written word,” according to the festival announcement. The 2022 recipient is Paul Lisicky, a fiction writer and author of the memoirs “Later: My Life at the Edge of the World” and “The Narrow Door: A Memoir of Friendship.”

Others listed as "featured" will include novelists Julia Glass (“Vigil Harbor”), Kerri Maher (“The Paris Bookseller”) and Dolen Perkins-Valdez (“Take My Hand”). They will be joined by poets Elizabeth Bradfield (“Broadsided Press: Fifteen Years of Poetic and Artistic Collaboration, 2005-2020”) and Rio Cortez (“Golden Ax”). Novelists Saumya Dave (“What a Happy Family”) and Sara Novic (“True Biz”) will also appear at the festival.

Those listed as featured nonfiction authors will include Ben Shattuck (“Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau,” biographer Scott Bane (“A Union Like Ours: The Love Story of F.O. Matthiessen and Russell Cheney”), and biographer Melissa Homestead (“The Only Wonderful Things: The Creative Partnership of Willa Cather and Edith Lewis”). In the “queer writer” category, the announcement said, will be Edgar Gomez (the memoir “High-Risk Homosexual”) and Joe Okonkwo (the short story collection “Kiss the Scars on the Back of My Neck”).

Events on Saturday, Sept. 17, will include a giant used-book sale on the Provincetown library lawn and, at 10 a.m., five regional writers participating in a “Reading Local” event curated by Patrick Nolan, vice president and publisher of Penguin Books.

ASL interpretation of festival events will be available by sending requests to Nan Cinnater at ncinnater@clamsnet.org by Sept. 10. Reservations and information: provincetownbookfestival.org.

Are you 55+ and want to be an actor?

Cape Rep Theatre is offering a new free educational program this fall called the Bold Company (BoldCo) designed for Cape Codders 55 and older who want to learn the craft of acting. The program will involve “a fun and friendly” rehearsal and production process, according to an announcement of the new initiative, and will be led by associate artist Julie Allen Hamilton.

The eight-week BoldCo, the announcement says, is for “those with little to no experience but lots of enthusiasm.” The focus will be on a rehearsal and production process ending with a public performance. Opportunities are available for those interested in backstage work as well.

Rehearsals will begin Sept. 12 and be held from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesdays and Fridays, with a Nov. 6-7 performance. Proof of vaccination will be required for participation. Registration and information: staff@caperep.org or 508-896-1888.

The company has regularly offered similar experiences for youth with the Young Company or YoCo and the Veterans Company with Vetco. Information on the company: https://caperep.org/.

People love hydrangeas and fundraisers

Garden-lovers flocked this summer to the eighth annual Cape Cod Hydrangea Festival in record numbers, which meant successful fundraising for area nonprofits, according to festival founder C.L. Fornari.

More than 20,000 people attended the private garden visits and other events, she reported, with 75 gardens open from one end of the Cape to the other and 27 nonprofits getting proceeds from the visits.

“To date, we know that nonprofits earned $110,000 from the open gardens and related fundraising this year,” Fornari said in a press release. “People traveled from all over the U.S. to be on Cape Cod during the festival this year.” Many said they learned about the festival from a “CBS Sunday Morning” report, she said.

Fornari herself reported people from 27 different states and a few from Canada visiting her garden over three days.

The 2023 festival is already scheduled for July 14-23. Information: https://www.capecodchamber.org/hydrangea-fest-info/.

Contact Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll at kdriscoll@capecodonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @KathiSDCCT.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape Cod art: Regina Hall movie, Emma Straub at Provincetown book fest