Robert Townsend is still crazy. Even though he is the president and CEO of productions at the Black Family Channel, the comedian/actor/director/screenwriter isn’t too big to jump on stage, grab a mike and interrupt a last-minute rehearsal. Townsend has 15 shows in production at the independent cable network-enough to make anyone crazy and enough to earn him a “Securing the Future” award from the eta Creative Arts Foundation at its benefit gala on South Chicago Avenue. “I’m also making the ‘Five Heartbeats’ into a Broadway show,” Townsend said. Not one to rest on his laurels, Townsend rushed over to the Arie Crown Theater to shoot concert footage of comedian Chris Tucker. Others honored for mastering multi-tasking included Mellody Hobson, president of Chicago-based Ariel Capital Management, and historian Howard Dodson, chief of the Schomburg Center in New York. Tsk, Task: Channel 2’s Steve Baskerville knows something about the cold weather, but he doesn’t know much about what to wear in it. The guest auctioneer couldn’t identify the furs up for bid. However, he did recognize that the models were foxes.
