The Sacramento Bee-"Stage presence"
By Fahizah Alim
April 30, 2003

Antoine Burks came to California five years ago looking for a career as a playwright.

Fate rewrote his script when Kevin Johnson, Sacramento revitalization impresario and former NBA All-Star, gave Burks the opportunity to manage the restoration and operation of Oak Park's historic Guild Theater.

A million-dollar face-lift for the 88-year-old brick theater and an infusion of vital new energy -- both spiritual and physical -- are central to Johnson's vision for a resurgence of Oak Park.

The 200-seat, state-of-the art theater is the centerpiece of Johnson's $4.5 million "40 Acres" construction project, located at the former Woodruff Hotel and Guild Theater, just off Broadway on the corner of Third Avenue and 35th Street.

The complex also houses a Starbucks; a six-chair barbershop called Uncle Jed's Cut Hut; an ethnic bookstore, Underground Books; and Upper Rooms, a chic 12-apartment complex.

A restaurant in partnership with Randy Paragary is scheduled to open later this year.

Johnson is understandably proud of his contributions in helping to revitalize Oak Park's core, though the completion of the renovation project was delayed by the permit process, and there were disputes with some prospective tenants.

On Friday, community and business leaders and residents will join in the celebration of the opening of Johnson's 40 Acres Art Gallery and Cultural Center in the heart of Oak Park's commercial district.

The event will begin with a 10 a.m. news conference with resolutions presented by Mayor Heather Fargo and state Treasurer Phil Angelides, and speeches by Howard Shultz, chairman of Starbucks, and Johnson. Opening ceremonies, which start at 10:30 a.m., will include a performance by members of the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra and the release of 40 doves.

"Forty Acres will have a significant economic impact on the Oak Park community," says Johnson. "The $4.5 million project alone will be providing more than 50 jobs to Sacramentans, most of whom are from the Oak Park area.

"Just as importantly, 40 Acres will attract consumers from all over the region to Oak Park to benefit from the services offered by the Guild Theater, African American bookstore, barbershop and restaurant. The area will certainly be stimulated economically."

Returned to its original dignity, the Guild Theater is envisioned as an urban center for the performing arts and cinema.

Burks, a 32-year-old, 6-foot-6 tower of energy, is among a cadre of young and talented people Johnson has tapped.

Burks, who is originally from Indiana, joined the St. HOPE Development Co. 18 months ago after working as a writer for the Sacramento Observer. He became an immediate convert to Johnson's mission of empowering the community by involving its local residents.

"I feel like I have been presented with a challenge to educate and enlighten the community to things that they ordinarily would not be exposed to in Oak Park," Burks says. "We intend to form partnerships and bring entertainers who ordinarily wouldn't come to a neighborhood like this."

A full-house crowd attended the first poetry series held at the theater this past weekend. And a variety of events have been scheduled for May, including a comedy show and a children's jazz orchestra.

St. HOPE Corp. has recruited young people such as Burks and several college interns as program coordinators and managers for each of the businesses in the cultural center.

Most of them are members of his St. HOPE's Neighborhood Corps, which is like an "inner-city Peace Corps," says member Daysha Britt, 25, who also works as a program coordinator for the theater.

The Neighborhood Corps, also known as the " 'hood corps," offers young people across the country opportunities for professional development tied to community revitalization.

And Johnson plans to expand it.

"I came here from New York to attend McGeorge law school," Britt says, "and I met Kevin at church. I was a theater major in college and was looking for part-time work."

Part-time work became a full-time calling.

She and Burks have spent endless hours putting the finishing touches on the theater, including numbering the plush bordeaux-hued theater seats.

"The whole idea of novice leadership is amazing," Britt says, "putting young people together with the right experts to get the job done."

Included in the community empowerment aspect of Johnson's endeavors are the children who participate in his St. HOPE Academy after-school educational program.

"The children have taken tours of the project through all of the stages and shadowed the employees to see how this corner has been transformed," says Lori Mills, head of the academy.

"Community service is emphasized at the academy, and the children get a strong message of how they can be agents of change in their own community when they are involved in projects like this. They take ownership. That is what giving kids hope is really all about."

Hope is a self-explanatory theme of Johnson's ambitious and multifaceted approach to education and community development. He also likes to explain why he chose 40 Acres as the name for his project.

In 1865, at the conclusion of the Civil War, Gen. W.T. Sherman reserved for former slave families 40-acre tracts along with animals that were no longer useful to the military. This was referred to as "40 acres and a mule."

Later, President Andrew Johnson ordered all land titles rescinded. The former slaves were forced off the land, and it was returned to the former plantation owners.

"By naming our complex '40 Acres,' we are attempting to turn that broken promise and bitter piece of history into something positive," Johnson says. "We are making our promise to move forward and economically develop an underserved inner city."