theater
-
P-Valley: Loretta Devine to Portray Everybody's 'Grandmuva' in 'Trap Music Meets Film Noir' Adaptation
Whenever I sum up Loretta Devine’s highly respected, dense and ongoing career, I cite her as “Everybody’s Mama.” No one can portray a matriarch quite like Ms. Devine can. Don’t believe me? Clock her IMDb page. Next up, she’ll be portraying the queen of the strip club industry in a new drama based on Katori…
-
Behind Picket Fences: In Sam Kebede’s EthiopianAmerica, the American Dream Masks a Common Nightmare
There is palpable energy prior to a theatrical production; a current of excitement that buzzes through an audience anticipating new work on the stage. At the press night for EthiopianAmerica, the newest production from the Chicago-based Definition Theatre Company staged at Victory Gardens, there was also a profound feeling of family, as several members of…
-
Ava DuVernay's ARRAY Continues To Walk The Walk—Will Build a New Theater and Implement Grants for Filmmakers of Color
If there’s one thing to take from Ava DuVernay’s career journey, it’s that she has proven she is here to create a true legacy. Having already positioned herself as a huge film juggernaut, the award-winning filmmaker has made history (and bank!) in various ways, but always makes a note to pause and pass the baton…
-
Redefining the Role: LaTanya Richardson Jackson Finds a Well-Deserved Spotlight in Broadway's To Kill a Mockingbird
Many know her as one-half of one of Hollywood’s most enduring marriages, but LaTanya Richardson Jackson (wife of Samuel L. Jackson), is an acting powerhouse in her own right. Just ask the audiences currently experiencing her talent nightly in Broadway’s acclaimed production of To Kill a Mockingbird. Scripted by award-winning writer, producer and director Aaron…
-
‘Racism Is a Soft Target’: Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwright Lynn Nottage on the Prescient Moment That Became Sweat
With the endless amount of political rhetoric currently in our orbit, it’s often easy to forget about the people behind it—not just the politicians themselves, but the countless people whose fears make their power possible. It’s the grim reality we faced in 2016 when fear became the battle cry fueling the ascendancy to the presidency.…
-
Review: Dael Orlandersmith's Lady in Denmark Bears the Strange Fruit of Billie Holiday's Legacy
When Dael Orlandersmith said she wanted to write a play about a Danish white woman who loved Billie Holiday, people balked. Why would a black female playwright who has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her meditations on race, colorism and culture want to … well, write outside of her race? “I said, ‘Why can’t…
-
Telling Untold Stories: Playwright and Performer Dael Orlandersmith Gets Under Our Skin
A community in the aftermath of unrest. The painful legacy of abuse, as experienced by black boys and men. The intimately insidious effects of colorism. The remembrance of a life lived and love lost, inspired by a chance encounter with a famously tragic jazz singer. Playwright and actor Dael Orlandersmith’s particular skill is to tell…
-
Watch: Star of Broadway’s Aladdin Keeps Getting His Wishes Granted With New Roles in Hamilton
James Monroe Iglehart won the Tony in 2014 for his role as the Genie in Broadway’s Aladdin. Earlier this year, he moved on to join the cast of Hamilton, where he plays both the Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson, roles that earned original cast member Daveed Diggs both a Tony and a Grammy. Iglehart…
-
Donald Trump at the Apollo Sounds Like the Recipe for a Race Riot
If he has his way, Donald Trump may have laid the groundwork for a race riot right by Red Lobster. According to the New York Daily News, the Trump campaign has been actively trying to book the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem for a rally. Apparently, organizers have been calling “every day,” though there is…