Seven Black Plays on Broadway -- A Mid-season Review

 


Jackie Jeffries & Charles Reese

Seven Black Plays On Broadway
Fall 2021

Dear All!

Some of my good friends and me had a delightful conversation about the New York theatre season thus far. West coast-based actor and 'cultural architect for community engagement' Charles Reese traveled 3,000 miles to take in the unprecedented number of plays by Black writers on Broadway. Also aboard was Jackie Jeffries, president of AUDELCO, Inc, the producer of the Annual Viv Awards that honor excellence in Black Theater. 

Listen to our conversation here that originally aired on Nov 25 at 9 pm on my radio show Backstage Stories heard on on WBAI 99.5 FM and streaming at www.wbai.org.

Below are details about the seven Black plays on the Great White Way!

Best regards,
Marcia Pendelton

 

Pass Over
by Antoinette Chinonyee Nwandu
directed by Danya Taymor
Jon Michael Hill, Namir Smallwood, Gabriel Ebert

In PASS OVER, Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu’s "powerful and provocative" (Arifa Akbar, The Guardian) new play, Moses and Kitch talk smack, pass the time, and hope that maybe today will be different. As they dream of their promised land, a stranger wanders into their space and disrupts their plans. Evoking heartbreak, hope, and joy over its 95 minutes, PASS OVER crafts everyday profanities into poetic and humorous riffs, illuminating the unquestionable human spirit of young men looking for a way out. 

Final Performance: Oct 10, 2021 | August Wilson Theatre

Ruben Santiago-Hudson's Lackawanna Blues
written, performed and directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Artistic Advisor at MTC)
with Junior Mack


Tony Award® winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson returns to MTC for the Broadway debut of his brilliant solo play celebrating the strong, big-hearted woman who raised him: Miss Rachel. In a 1950s boarding house outside Buffalo, Nanny, as she was affectionately called, opened her doors to anyone and everyone in need of kindness, hope, compassion, and care. Giving a tour-de-force performance accompanied by live music written by acclaimed composer Bill Sims Jr. and performed by Blues Hall of Fame Guitarist Junior Mack, Santiago-Hudson embodies more than 20 vibrant characters, creating a richly textured reminiscence that’s inspiring, uplifting, and right at home on Broadway.

Final Performance - November 12, 2021 - The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre

Chicken & Biscuits
by Douglas Lyons
directed by Zhailon Levingston (youngest director in Broadway history!)

With Cleo King, Norm Lewis, Michael Urie, Alana Racquel Bowers, Ebony Marshall-Oliver, AIGNER

MIZZELLE, Devere Issac Rogers, Natasha Yvette Williams –37 Broadway debuts

Broadway’s dishiest family is coming together for Grandpa’s funeral – hopefully without killing each other!

Rivaling sisters, Baneatta and Beverly, are burying their father—but it’s the non-stop family drama that might be the death of them. Beverly just wants to show the congregation what she’s been “blessed with.” Baneatta’s husband tries to keep the family peace while preparing the eulogy. Baneatta’s youngest son brings his very white, very Jewish boyfriend who is maybe, sort of, okay definitely afraid of Baneatta. Meanwhile, Beverly’s daughter couldn’t mind her own business if it was on a leash. But when a family secret reveals itself at the church altar, things really go crazy…and even Baneatta can’t deny the truth.

This show boasted over 30 Broadway debuts onstage and behind the scenes.

Final performance: November 28, 2021 - Circle in the Square Theatre
www.chickenandbiscuitsbway.com

Thoughts of a Colored Man
by Keenan Scott II
directed by Steve H. Broadnax III

With Dyllon Burnside, Bryan Terrell Clark, Da’Vinchi, Luke James, Forrest McClendon Esau Pritchett, Tristan Mack Wilds 

The first time in Broadway history that a play has been written, directed, starring, lead produced Black men

Creates a new form of theater called SLAM NARRATIVE.

As the sun rises on a single day in the pulsing heart of Brooklyn, seven Black men are about to discover the extraordinary – together. By Keenan Scott II, one of today’s boldest new voices, THOUGHTS OF A COLORED MAN blends spoken word, slam poetry, rhythm, and humor into a daringly universal new play. Welcome to the vibrant inner life of being Black, proud, and thriving in the 21st century.

This richly theatrical mosaic shines brilliant light onto these men, a tight-knit brotherhood, revealing their most triumphant selves. Their vibrant and vulnerable experiences and feelings reverberate far beyond the barbershops and basketball courts of their community. They reveal the deeply human hopes, joys, sorrows, fears, and dreams of all men, all people.

Now playing at The John Golden Theatre, 252 W. 45th Street, NYC
www.thoughtsofacoloredman.com

Save up to 35% off regular ticket prices with code THWTG0603. Redeem at telechargeoffers.com | call 212.947.8844 | at the Golden Theatre Box Office.

Trouble in Mind
by Alice Childress
directed by Charles Randolph-Wright
with LaChanze, Michael Zegen, Chuck Cooper, Danielle Campbell, Jessica Frances Dukes, Brandon Michael Hall, Simon Jones, Alex Mickiewicz, Don Stephenson.

Follow an experienced Black stage actress through rehearsals of a major Broadway production in Alice Childress’s wry and moving look at racism, identity, and ego in the world of New York theatre. At the forefront of both the Civil Rights and feminist movements, the prescient Trouble in Mind opened to acclaim off-Broadway in 1955, and was announced to move to Broadway in 1957...in a production that never came to be. 

Now playing through January 9 at Roundabout Theatre Company
Tickets start at $39 with code TIMWTGP
www.roundabouttheatre.org

Clyde’s
by Lynn Nottage
directed by Kate Whorisky
Uzo Aduba, Ron Cephus Jones, Edmond Donovan, Reza Salazar, Kara Young

In this stirring new play from the team of two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage and director Kate Whoriskey (Ruined, Sweat), a truck stop sandwich shop offers its formerly incarcerated kitchen staff a shot at reclaiming their lives. Even as the shop’s callous owner tries to keep them under her thumb, the staff members are given purpose and permission to dream by their shared quest to create the perfect sandwich. You’ll want a seat at the table for this funny, moving, and urgent play. It’s an example of Nottage’s “genius for bringing politically charged themes to life by embodying them in ordinary characters living ordinary lives” (The Wall Street Journal).

The last 16 performances will be simulcast! Simulcast tix go on sale Dec 1
Production plays at Second Stage's Helen Hayes Theatre  thru Jan 16 
www.2st.com

Lynn has written the book for MJ the Musical –  Previews begin Dec 6 at Neil Simon Theatre

Skeleton Crew
by Dominique Morisseau
directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson

Chante Adams, Joshua Boone, Brandon J. Dirden, Adesola Osakalumi, Phylicia Rashad

Performance begin Dec 21 at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Get $49 tickets with code DETRIOT at www.telechargeoffers.com, 212.947.8844, at the Friedman Box Office

Dominique's Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations is still running at the Imperial Theatre (www.ainttooproudmusical.com) and watch for Confederates beginning February 22, 2022 at Signature Theatre directed by Stori Ayres (Confederates by Dominique Morisseau at Signature Theatre)

Tony Award® winner and five-time Emmy Award nominee Phylicia Rashad will return to Broadway this winter in Manhattan Theatre Club’s Broadway premiere of Skeleton Crew, written by Tony Award® nominee Dominique Morisseau and directed by Tony Award® winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson. In 2008 Detroit, a small automotive factory is on the brink of foreclosure, and a tight knit family of workers hangs in the balance. With uncertainty everywhere, the line between blue collar and white collar becomes blurred, and this working family must reckon with their personal loyalties, their instincts for survival and their ultimate hopes for humanity. The New York Times gives this astonishing work a Critic’s Pick and cheers, “A very fine new play… warm-blooded, astute, deeply moral and deeply American.” And The Amsterdam News hails it as “a prime example of how theatre imitates life… intense, touching and funny.”




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