Empire Delivers Laughter & Healing With Unique Comedy For Historic Gathering of Children of 9/11
For the first time ever, all the children who lost a parent on September 11th, as well as children from schools neighboring the former World Trade Center and emergency service personnel families, were united for an afternoon of laughter, music and magic in a unique 90-minute interactive show called "FundaySunday," produced by Empire Entertainment.The show was created by cancer survivor and ComedyCures Foundation founder, Saranne Rothberg, and was sponsored by Rotary International. The matinee performance took place on a Sunday afternoon at the historic Town Hall in New York City.
Leading entertainers such as New York City's percussion and hip hop dance troupe the Rhythmics, Antigravity's renowned hula hoop artist Anna Jack, basketball tricksters the Harlem Wizards, Velcro percussionists the Bang Group and international circus comedy sensation Karl Saliter were among the many artists who agreed to perform at this unprecedented gathering.Other featured acts included the ComedyCures Humor Ambassadors Slideshow Comics, vocal celebrity impersonator Rick Younger, blues harmonicist David Harp and crowd motivator MC Darrell and dancers who maintained high-energy throughout the show.Saranne Rothberg hosted the program with her ComedyCures signature remarks. Thirteen year old Star Search winner and Sony recording artist, Tiffany Evans brought the crowd to their feet with a soulful rendition of the song, "Tomorrow," and the world famous Harlem Gospel Choir sang a powerful and uplifting "Higher and Higher," as a finale leading the dancing crowd down the aisles.
For this unique event, Empire booked, contracted, coordinated all talent and handled all production and logistics.Empire understood Rothberg's vision to create a fun and exciting environment for the children, as this was their special day. Empire secured all the décor, a custom colored "yellow carpet," for the kids to walk down along with guest celebrities, and a step and repeat area for press coverage of the event. Empire booked and helped coordinate various talent, magicians, costumed performers and stilt walkers who welcomed the families to their fun- filled afternoon. Surprise guests, Johnny Davis of the 49ers and Bill Willoughby of the Denver Rockets came to support ComedyCures and to share in this wonderful experience to unite the 9/11 children.Rothberg founded ComedyCures while undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer recognizing that comedy and laughter served as a great coping strategy. Since then, Rothberg and the ComedyCures Foundation has brought joy, laughter and therapeutic humor programs to kids living with illness and life threatening illnesses for thousands of people. Rotary International District 7230 NYC/WTX Relief Fund recognized the ComedyCures mission and gave a generous grant to fund this live event program, dedicating the day to therapeutic humor in celebration of their centennial year. Thanks to Rotary, Rothberg was able to give families directly impacted by 9/11 an afternoon of laughter.
Empire is a leading producer of creative programs for unique charitable events.
Guests received their first taste of technological innovation at registration, where they were welcomed by name on a reactive LED screen installation covering the full width of the entry wall. A large lunch café was created with a décor scheme that incorporated custom-built, ceiling-high steel LED frames draped with foliage to create smaller, intimate restaurant-style spaces that displayed both technology and nature.
A series of breakout sessions presented content targeted to attendees’ varied interests, while imagery displayed throughout the venue showcased real-life applications of how products designed to empower developers help to unleash the power of data and reimagine possibilities that will improve our world.
Every element of Microsoft Connect(); from registration, breakfast and keynote, to lunch and evening cocktails, were custom-designed to communicate exacting brand messaging and to deliver a high-touch guest experience to this important audience. The keynote and breakout sessions were livestreamed through an onsite studio built for this purpose and content was watched online by millions around the world.
Empire is proud to collaborate with Microsoft on this annual, top-tier business communication event.
To view excerpts of Connect(); 2017, please visit https://www.microsoft.com/connectevent
