SHOWTIME(R) BRINGS ITS HIT DRAMA "THE CHI" AND HOT NEW COMEDY "BLACK MONDAY" TO 2018 ESSENCE FESTIVAL(R)

THE CHI Creator Lena Waithe To Give Empowerment Stage Keynote, BLACK MONDAY Star Regina Hall To Debut First Footage

NEW YORK - June 28, 2018 - SHOWTIME is bringing its hot new comedy BLACK MONDAY and hit drama THE CHI to 2018 ESSENCE Festival. On Friday, July 6, THE CHI creator and executive producer Lena Waithe will headline a keynote conversation on the ESSENCE Empowerment Experience Stage and will later appear in the Great Hall to discuss THE CHI. All 500 fans who attend Waithe's Q&A at the Great Hall will receive $25 gift certificates to the SHOWTIME streaming service. On Saturday, July 7, BLACK MONDAY star Regina Hall returns to the Festival after the success of Girls Trip to debut the first footage from the highly anticipated new SHOWTIME comedy series exclusively for Essence Festival attendees, followed by a moderated Q&A. At the BLACK MONDAY conversation, SHOWTIME will give out 40 tickets to select fans for a meet and greet with Hall at the Fan Zone immediately following her Q&A. The debut season of BLACK MONDAY and season two of THE CHI will premiere on the network in 2019.

The schedule of SHOWTIME events:

Friday, July 6 - THE CHI

2:30-2:50 p.m.: Keynote Conversation With Lena Waithe: The Vanguard of New Hollywood moderated by Cori Murray, Entertainment Director, ESSENCE (Empowerment Experience Stage)

4:15-5:15 p.m.: A conversation with Lena Waithe on THE CHI (Screening Room in the Great Hall)

Saturday, July 7- BLACK MONDAY

1:40-2:00 p.m.: Introducing BLACK MONDAY, with a conversation with Regina Hall moderated by Yolanda Sangweni, Entertainment Editor, ESSENCE (Center Stage)

Created and executive produced by Emmy(R) winner Lena Waithe (Master of None) and executive produced by Academy Award(R), Emmy and Golden Globe(R) winner Common (Selma), THE CHI explores the humanity behind the headlines sensationalizing the South Side of Chicago. Ayanna Floyd Davis (Empire, Hannibal) serves as executive producer and showrunner for season two. Produced entirely in its namesake city, THE CHI is a timely coming-of-age story centering on a group of residents who become linked by coincidence but bonded by the need for connection and redemption. The ensemble cast includes Jason Mitchell (Mudbound, Straight Outta Compton), Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine (Queen of Katwe), Jacob Latimore (Sleight), Alex Hibbert (Moonlight), Tiffany Boone (The Following), Yolonda Ross (Treme, The Get Down) and Armando Riesco (Bull). In addition to Waithe, Common and Floyd, Aaron Kaplan (Santa Clarita Diet, Divorce) also serves as an executive producer, along with Rick Famuyiwa (Dope), who also directed the pilot episode, and Derek Dudley and Shelby Stone of Freedom Road Productions. The series is produced by Fox 21 Television Studios. To learn more about THE CHI, visit SHO.com and follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Join the conversation using #TheChi.

The new comedy series BLACK MONDAY stars and is executive produced by Emmy(R) nominated and Golden Globe(R) winning actor Don Cheadle with two-time Tony Award(R) nominee and Grammy(R) winner Andrew Rannells (Girls) and Regina Hall (Girls Trip) also leading the cast. The series was created by David Caspe (Happy Endings) and Jordan Cahan (My Best Friend's Girl), who will serve as executive producers and showrunners. Emmy nominees Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (Preacher, Superbad), who will also executive produce, directed the pilot. BLACK MONDAY takes us back to October 19, 1987 - aka Black Monday, the worst stock market crash in the history of Wall Street. To this day, no one knows who caused it... until now. It's the story of how a group of outsiders took on the blue-blood, old-boys club of Wall Street and ended up crashing the world's largest financial system, a Lamborghini limousine, Don Henley's birthday party and the glass ceiling. BLACK MONDAY also stars Paul Scheer (The League), Yassir Lester (Making History), Michael James Scott (Aladdin on Broadway) and Eugene Cordero (Kong: Skull Island), with recurring guest star Casey Wilson (Happy Endings) and guest stars Ken Marino (Wet Hot American Summer) and Kurt Braunohler (Bunk). With an 10-episode order, BLACK MONDAY, a co-production between SHOWTIME and Sony Pictures Television Studios, will premiere in 2019.

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