Tyler Perry

===Stage===
Around 1990, Perry moved to [[Atlanta]], where two years later ''I Know I've Been Changed'' was first performed at a community theater, financed by the 22-year-old Perry's life savings of US$12,000 ({{Inflation|US|12000|1990|fmt=eq}}).<ref name="Forbes05">{{cite news |first=Brett |last=Pulley |title=A Showbiz Whiz |date=2005-09-15 |url=https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2005/1003/075.html |work=Forbes |access-date=2010-03-25 }}</ref> The play included Christian themes of forgiveness, dignity, and self-worth, while addressing issues such as child abuse and [[dysfunctional families]]. The musical initially received a "less than stellar" reception and was a financial failure.<ref name="USAToday08">{{cite news | first=Scott | last=Bowles | title=Tyler Perry holds on to his past | date=September 10, 2008 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2008-09-09-tyler-perry_N.htm |work=USA Today | access-date =March 25, 2010 }}</ref>

Perry persisted, and over the next six years he rewrote the musical repeatedly, though lackluster reviews continued. In 1998, at age 28, he succeeded in retooling the play and restaging it in Atlanta, first at the [[House of Blues]], then at the [[Fox Theatre (Atlanta, Georgia)|Fox Theatre]]. Perry continued to create new stage productions, touring with them on the so-called "[[Chitlin' Circuit]]", now also known as the "urban theater circuit"<ref name="BiographyCom" /> and developing a large, devoted following among African-American audiences. In 2005, ''Forbes'' reported that he had sold "more than $100&nbsp;million in tickets, $30&nbsp;million in videos of his shows and an estimated $20&nbsp;million in merchandise", and "the 300 live shows he produces each year are attended by an average of 35,000 people a week".<ref name="Forbes05" />