Lisa DeNeal: ‘Tension’ building for TV debut

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Troy Charles performs as the rapper Tension. | Photo provided

Updated: October 20, 2011 9:58AM

Gary will be spotlighted at 5 p.m. Wednesday when rapper Tension makes his national television debut on BET’s video and hip-hop show, “106 and Park.”

Tension will perform his single “Mammay Doe” during the show’s “Wild Out Wednesday” segment. He will be joined on stage by Gary dance group Kruciial Kreatiionz, which has appeared on the show many times and recently passed a Chicago audition for the next season of “America’s Got Talent.”

Tension’s real name is Troy Charles, and he is a graduate of Roosevelt High School. The video for “Mammay Doe” features the Roosevelt marching band.

“I contacted the band director, Sandra Dillon, and addressed the Gary School Board about having the band shown in a positive light,” he said. “We filmed the video a week after the approval, and the band was great.”

Tension would love for you to vote for him during the “Wild Out Wednesday” segment. You can text 79922 Artist C.

Two major fundraisers are planned in the next two weeks.

† On Oct. 28, the Ambassadors for Edgewater will host the 10th annual Ambassadors’ Ball in the Celebrity Ballroom at the Radisson Hotel in Merrillville. Academy Award-winning actress Patty Duke is the featured speaker.

The theme for this year’s ball is “The Time is Now to Focus on Mental Health.”

Duke, at age 16, won the 1962 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Helen Keller in “The Miracle Worker.” Duke will tell how she overcame bipolar disorder in an acting career of more than 40 years.

The evening includes an appetizer reception, dinner, dancing, a silent auction and a special raffle, with prizes that include round-trip airfare for two from Southwest Airlines, and four Walt Disney World tickets, good at all Disney theme parks in Florida.

Tickets for the Ambassadors’ Ball are $100 each or $750 for a table of eight. For more information, call Renae Vania-Tomczak at 885-4264, Ext. 2604, or email info@edgewatersystems.org.

† The Gary Literacy Coalition will sponsor its second dinner-theater event at 6 p.m. Nov. 3 at the Genesis Convention Center.

This year’s play, “A Figment of Reality,” was written by GLC board member Ben Clement and directed by West Side Theatre Guild director and filmmaker Mark Spencer.

“A Figment of Reality” tells the story of Sarah Jane Palmer and her father, Gussie, as they arrive in Stockholm, where she receives the Nobel Prize for Literature. Conflict erupts when it is revealed why she received the prestigious honor.

Proceeds will help the ongoing effort to improve literacy in Gary.

Call the Gary Literacy Coalition at 885-2229 for tickets or more information.