Jill Rafson expressed the company’s enthusiasm for the project despite the delay, stating, “We’re so excited about the incredible team that is coming together for Wine in the Wilderness.” She added, “Unfortunately, scheduling conflicts have arisen that will prevent the production from taking place this spring, but we look forward to sharing this piece with audiences as part of next season.”

Wine in the Wilderness promises to be a captivating exploration of art, race, and identity. The play revolves around artist Bill Jameson, who finds inspiration in a model named Tomorrow Marie for the final piece of his triptych on Black womanhood. However, Tomorrow Marie is no ordinary muse; she challenges Bill’s perceptions and forces him to confront deeper truths about himself and society. Set against the 1964 Harlem riot backdrop on a sweltering summer night, the play delves into themes of empowerment, cultural upheaval, and artistic integrity.

Alice Childress, the playwright behind Wine in the Wilderness, is known for her insightful and thought-provoking works. Her play Trouble in Mind recently made waves on Broadway (starring LaChanze), showcasing her talent for addressing complex social issues with nuance and depth. Now, with Wine in the Wilderness, audiences can expect another powerful narrative that sheds light on the Black experience in America.

Adding to the anticipation is LaChanze’s directorial debut in New York City. The Tony Award-winning actress and producer brings her profound understanding of Childress’s work to the director’s chair, promising a production that honors the playwright’s vision while offering a fresh perspective.

Classic Stage Company’s decision to postpone Wine in the Wilderness comes after a successful 23/24 season that included productions like I Can Get It for You Wholesale, featuring music and lyrics by Harold Rome, and Fiasco Theater’s rendition of William Shakespeare’s Pericles, directed by Ben Steinfeld. These previous successes only heighten expectations for what is to be a compelling and thought-provoking theatrical experience.

As theatre enthusiasts eagerly await the arrival of “Wine in the Wilderness” in the 2024-2025 season, the delay serves as a testament to the complexity and dedication involved in bringing meaningful stories to the stage. The journey to opening night may be postponed, but the anticipation and excitement continue to build for this upcoming production that will surely leave a lasting impact on audiences.

The post Classic Stage Company’s Production of <em>Wine in the Wilderness</em> by Alice Childress Postponed appeared first on Broadway Black.

Dot, which has been called a “testament to the enduring bonds of family,” tells the story of “Dotty,” a family matriarch who’s dealing with dementia and squabbling children during the holidays. The play features a stellar cast including Marjorie Johnson who originated the title role when the production premiered at the Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, Ky. Johnson’s stage credits include The Little Foxes on Broadway and Hoodoo Love, M: The Mandela Saga, The House of Bernarda Alba off-Broadway. She’s also appeared on the big screen in American Gangster, Boiler Room, Life Breath, Hill and Gully, and Fleecing Led Zeppelin.

Sharon Washington, Stephen Conrad Moore, Libya V. Pugh, Colin Hanlon, Michael Rosen, and Finnerty Steeves join Johnson in the New York production. Susan Stroman, who won a Tony Award for The Producers, will direct Dot.

This isn’t Domingo’s first foray into playwriting. The Tony-nominated actor also penned a one-man autobiographical play A Boy and His Soul, for which he won a GLAAD Award: Outstanding New York Theater: Broadway & Off–Broadway. He also wrote and starred in Wild with Happy.

Dot is scheduled to run through April 3, 2016 at the Vineyard Theatre. For tickets and more information visit vineyardtheatre.org.

Featured photo by Carol Rosegg

So nice to share opening night with my Selmafam. @vineyardtheatre pic.twitter.com/YJqzTD9APB

— Colman Domingo (@colmandomingo) February 22, 2016

The post First Look: Colman Domingo’s DOT at Vineyard Theatre appeared first on Broadway Black.

Abasiama came to America with high hopes—for her arranged marriage and for her future—intent on earning a degree and returning to Nigeria. But when her husband is seduced by America, she must choose between the Nigerian and the American dream.

Still, Broadway Black got the chance to sit down with Udofia and discuss why she took a break from singing, how she defines her work, and what exactly is “Nigeria-dar.”

Broadway Black (BB): You’re just like…a master of everything!
Mfoniso Udofia (MU):  Oh, my mother is like ‘Be careful Mfoniso, don’t become a jack of all trades and master of none!’  Because I did, I liked to dabble!

BB:  What’s the last incredible show you saw?
MU: I just saw The Color Purple and Cynthia Erivo… it’s like my Nigeria-dar went off! She was so good, like incandescent. From this little body came this gorgeous, gorgeous voice.  The Color Purple itself, by Alice Walker, the book tore me up. The movie destroyed me. Then watching it… I think I forgot how deep the story was and the type of healing that story demands.  Alice Walker is a beast.  Reading her canon is good for the Black body.

BB: So did seeing Color Purple inspire you at all [to want to return to acting/singing]?
MU: For a hot HOT second!  But I don’t sing like that, and that was a big thing when I was auditioning.  I think people want me to sound a very particular way, because of what I look like.  So it’s gonna demand a breaking of our gaze which sometimes is easy and sometimes is not.

BB: There’s been a lot of talk about the white gaze over the different productions.  What would you say to someone who is trying to work under what we might veil as a “white gaze?”
MU: Having the uncomfortable conversations, in the beginning, is important and right at the start dismantling privilege.  I do think that is something that Playwrights Realm was wonderful working with me going, ‘Listen, the play I’m writing right now, the gaze from which I’m writing it is not the gaze that most western theatergoers might understand and I am not interested in changing the internal heartbeat that way’ and I was actually listened to.  But, you can’t make an assumption that you are understood. I push from the beginning so that in the middle when I’m pushing it can’t be like ‘Oh, I didn’t know this might be coming one day.’ I’m pretty upfront.

BB: What is unique to you and your storytelling?
MU: I make sound. It’s poetry, really. I may break the form of what feels like spoken word. My father was giving me narratives to read when I was young and I think I started thinking in poetry and it’s leaked into my writing. I love it because it confounds itself.  The line will play on six different levels.   The way poetry and prose fuse…

BB: If you had to give it a name…?
MU: If I had to give it a name… [You can hear her struggling to create the vocabulary for her art] You’re asking me to create on the spot, you’re watching the creative mist [she laughs]…. It is “true north.” My poetry is the container in Sojourners and is true north in Run Boy Run.

BB: What do you want your audience to take away from Sojourners?
MU: I want them to have critical sight into what the African-Nigerian body actually is. How certain immigrants might have come here to build a life.  Especially since now, we’re having really interesting conversations on immigrants and there’s a particular sense of phobia in certain pockets, so to really understand what it’s like. I want audiences to understand that the WAY immigrants come into this country, they’re varied, there might not even be a desire to stay, and that building within the Amerian dream is a particular crisis.  I hope this play complicates the idea of the American Dream and makes us understand that when immigrants are coming in they’re coming in with their own dreams and will become a fuel for the American Dream.
Also, I do hope people start to grapple with the African body vis-à-vis the African American body and we start to build language and see where connections fail and where connections can be made between those two communities.

Sojourners is currently playing at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater through Feb. 13.  For tickets, visit TicketCentral.com.  For more on what Mfoniso is up to, check out her website mfonisoudofia.com.

On the set of #Sojourners today with playwright @mfudofia! Tonight the first preview for her stellar new play happens at @playwrightsrealm! This off-Broadway play is a dynamic debut for a playwright who is bound to have many more produced! Can’t wait to share all of what we talked about today. Look for it on BroadwayBlack.com! #BroadwayBlack

A photo posted by Broadway Black (@broadwayblack) on Jan 21, 2016 at 11:23am PST

The post Sing Girl Sing: One on One with Sojourners Playwright Mfoniso Udofia appeared first on Broadway Black.

As we previously reported, Uggams was scheduled to play the family matriarch who’s dealing with dementia and squabbling children during the holidays. However, she opted to join the cast of the smash hit Fox network drama, “Empire,” in a recurring role instead.

In the Vineyard Theatre’s production, Johnson will be joined by Stephen Conrad Moore and Sharon Washington.

Johnson’s stage credits include The Little Foxes on Broadway, and Hoodoo Love, M: The Mandela Saga, and The House of Bernarda Alba off-Broadway. She’s also appeared on the big screen in “American Gangster,” “Boiler Room,” “Life Breath,” “Hill and Gully,” and “Fleecing Led Zeppelin.” Johnson has received a Best Actress Audelco Award for her portrayal of “Winnie Mandela” in M: The Mandela Saga, a Best Supporting Actress Audelco Award for “The Candy Lady” in Hoodoo Love, and a Philadelphia Critics Award Nomination for “Mrs. Antrobus” in The Skin of Our Teeth.

Dot, which has been called a “testament to the enduring bonds of family,” isn’t Domingo’s first foray into playwriting. The Tony-nominated actor also penned a one-man autobiographical play A Boy and His Soul, for which he won a GLAAD Award: Outstanding New York Theater: Broadway & Off–Broadway. He also wrote and starred in Wild with Happy.

Susan Stroman, who won a Tony Award for The Producers, will direct Dot. The play premiered in the Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, Ky., earlier this year.

Dot is will begin previews on February 4 with an official opening on February 23 at the Vineyard Theatre. The play is scheduled to run through April 3, 2016. For tickets and more information visit vineyardtheatre.org.

The post Marjorie Johnson Returns to Colman Domingo’s DOT appeared first on Broadway Black.

I don’t know about y’all, but I was biting my nails waiting to see who was going to step into the role of “Mother Courage” in Classic Stage Company’s production of Mother Courage and Her Children. The answer to that question is six-time Broadway alum, Kecia Lewis.

The post Kecia Lewis Assumes The Role of “Mother Courage” appeared first on Broadway Black.

Playwrights Horizons recently announced casting for Familiar, which will feature Ito Aghayere, Joby Earle, Melanie Nicholls-King, Roslyn Ruff, Harold Surratt, Myra Lucretia Taylor, Joe Tippett, and Tony Award winner Tamara Tunie (Spring Awakening). Rebecca Taichman is set to direct.

Previews are scheduled to begin February 12 with an opening night set for March 3 and run through March 27 at Playwrights Horizons’ Mainstage Theater. Familiar had its world premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre in February 2014.

The synopsis is billed as:

It’s winter in Minnesota and a Zimbabwean family is preparing for the wedding of their eldest daughter (Ruff), a first-generation American. But when the bride insists on observing a traditional African custom, it opens a deep rift in the household. Rowdy and affectionate, Familiar pitches tradition against assimilation, drawing a loving portrait of a family: the customs they keep, and the secrets they bury.

Gurira has made it known that she is very interested in getting stories about women of color out there for the world to see. “I want to see women of African descent shine,” Gurira told “Elle” magazine in a recent interview. “I want to see them [in roles] that are intense, that are full, that are complex—that allow them to exercise their chops. I want women of color who are preparing for auditions to stop asking, ‘Where are the monologues? Where are my stories?'”

Tickets to Familiar aren’t yet on sale, but information regarding tickets and the show can be found at the official website , by phone at (212) 279-4200, or by visiting Ticket Central Box Office at 416 West 42nd St., Manhattan.

The post Danai Gurira’s Familiar Announces Casting appeared first on Broadway Black.

Now the one-man show is making its New York premiere Dec. 16-20, at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). The North American debut began in October at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The tour will culminate at Chicago Shakespeare Theater in February as part of the Shakespeare 400 Chicago, a yearlong international arts festival commemorating the 400 years since his death in 1616.

Joseph – whose credits abound with Royal Shakespeare Company (Julius Caesar, Othello, Henry IV, Hamlet, King Lear) and National Theatre in London (Royal Hunt for the Sun, The Emperor Jones) – “inhabits the curious, daringly determined life” of a composer, social satirist, poet, playwright and general man of refinement. Sancho, a distinguished man of letters who wrote two plays, would quote Shakespeare more than any other author. Among Sancho’s friends were Shakespeare actor and theatre owner David Garrick. Sancho himself became a grocery owner and property owner.

Written and performed by Joseph, the show is billed as an opportunity to cast new light on the often misunderstood narratives of the African-British experience. According to UK’s The Public Reviews, “Joseph is a superb storyteller… he brings Sancho to life in a revealing, poignant and funny show.”

Joseph’s experience involves working-class parents who emigrated to England from the Caribbean’s St. Lucia. He trained at Studio ’68 of Theatre Arts in London before attending the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. In an interview, Joseph recalled being asked what he would like his legacy to entail. His answer was to inform Black youth about Black Britain before 1948 so they “would know something of what came before.” When Joseph came across the Thomas Gainsborough painting of Sancho in the book “Black England” by Gretchen Gerzina, he had found his calling. Joseph, 51, now is the same age as when Sancho died. Sancho was 39 when Gainsborough created his portrait – a sitting of about 100 minutes. In just under that time, Joseph re-creates a picture of noteworthy history.

In his author’s note, he writes:

“Charles Ignatius is quite simply a perfect example, and by no means the only one in British history, of the strange, sometimes uncomfortable relationship that the UK has always had with its colonies and colonial peoples. On the one hand exploitation was rife and unbridled, and on the other, the natural and common humanity of the British would not allow them to fully embrace the horrors of the American model of slavery, at least on British soil. And so Sancho’s life was filled with the joy and pain of being at once free and simultaneously caged within his race and place in eighteenth-century society.”

Performances will be at the BAM Fisher Theatre, 321 Ashland Place, in Brooklyn. Click HERE to purchase tickets. Get updates on the show’s Facebook page.

Newsnight on BBC talks about the impact of British theatre, including a brief interview with Joseph and excerpts from Sancho.

The post UK’s Paterson Joseph Paints Sancho’s Life In One-Man Show appeared first on Broadway Black.

Cabin in the Sky is an all-Black musical and his being billed as:

“Cabin in the Sky followed Porgy and Bess in celebrating African‐American music and dance traditions. The musical tells the story of ‘Little Joe’ Jackson, a charming ne’er‐do‐well who dies in a saloon brawl and is given six months on earth to prove his worth to the Lord’s General (Norm Lewis) and his long‐suffering wife Petunia (LaChanze), while resisting the temptations of the Devil’s Head Man (Chuck Cooper)”

Cabin in the Sky will also include J. Bernard Calloway, Marva Hicks, Carly Hughes, Forrest McClendon and J.D. Webster. Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago‐Hudson directs with choreography by Camille A. Brown.

The musical, written by Lynn Root, was originally produced on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre in 1940 with music by Vernon Duke, lyrics by John La Touche, and choreography by George Ballanchine to “celebrate African American achievement in music and dance.” The original cast included singer-actress Ethel Waters, famed dancer/choreographer Katherine Dunham, film/television actor Rex Ingram, and composer/singer J. Rosemond Johnson. The musical closed on March 8, 1941 after 156 performances.

Two years later, the musical hit the big screen during a time when Blacks rarely appeared in leading roles in film. According to “Beyond Racial Stereotypes: Subversive Subtexts in ‘Cabin in the Sky’” by Kate Marie Weber, as part of his New Deal, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration advocated for more Black actors in major roles as a way to create more jobs for Blacks in the film industry. Additionally, the NAACP met with Hollywood executives to demand better roles for Black actors and actresses. As a result, “Cabin in the Sky,” starring Waters, Ingram, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, and Lena Horne, became one of the few films, at that time, produced by one of Hollywood’s major studios with an all-Black cast.

Encores! production of Cabin in the Sky runs Feb 10 – 14, 2016. Tickets for the performance can be purchased here.

The post LaChanze, Norm Lewis & Chuck Cooper Will Star in Cabin in the Sky appeared first on Broadway Black.

Brecht’s play follows trader “Anna Fierling” as she pulls her canteen wagon and her children through the carnage of Europe’s religious wars. According to the Classic Stage Company’s web site, “She’ll do anything to hold onto her money-making wagon, even if it means the loss of her children. Experience a timeless tale of war updated to the modern-day conflagration in the Congo, with a new and vibrant score by Tony Award-winning composer Duncan Sheik.”

Pinkins, who was last seen in Joel Drake Johnson’s Rasheeda Speaking, has enjoyed a long and successful career on the stage. She has been nominated for three Tony Awards, winning one for her performance as “Sweet Anita” in Jelly’s Last Jam. She also has won the Obie, the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards among many others. Pinkins has appeared on Broadway in Merrily We Roll Along, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, The Wild Party, House of Flowers, Radio Golf, A Time To Kill, and Holler If Ya Hear Me, the musical inspired by the work of Tupac Shakur.

Although Broadway has become a second home for Pinkins, Mother Courage isn’t her first appearance in an Off-Broadway production. She’s also performed in the role of “Mopsa, the Shepherdess,” in The Winter’s Tale in 1983. And, in 2012, Pinkins starred in the Off-Broadway production of Katori Hall’s Hurt Village, the gritty drama about life and change in a Memphis housing project.

Joining Pinkins on stage in Mother Courage will be Joshua Boone, Curtiss Cook, Jr., Kevin Mambo, Jacob Ming-Trent, Geoffrey Owens, Michael Potts, Deandre Sevon, Mirirai Sithole, and Zenzi Williams.

Mother Courage opens on December 9. For tickets, visit here.

The post Tonya Pinkins Stars in Great Anti-war Drama, Mother Courage appeared first on Broadway Black.

Some notable reviews are:

“Mesmerizing and unmissable.”– New York Magazine

“Scorching and powerful.” – The Guardian 

“A riveting, superbly acted production. Lupita Nyoug’o’s tremendously accomplished performance cuts to the bone. Under Liesl Tommy’s sensitive direction, Danai Gurira’s moving play flickers with light, humanity and hope.” – The New York Times

“Eclipsed pulls us into and holds us captive in a vivid world whose stark horrors are rendered with unflinching honesty and delicate poignancy….” – The Hollywood Reporter

And patrons have repeatedly chimed in:

Powerful, well-acted, and heartbreaking work. Every member of the cast and crew should be proud. #Eclipsed #EclipsedPlay

— hellresidentNY (@hellresidentNY) November 6, 2015

Congrats @aleostar on the successful opening of #Eclipsed !! You always bring out the legends!!Brava! pic.twitter.com/OuWvyGXno4

— Deborah Cox (@Deborah_Cox) October 15, 2015

I just saw the most gut-wrenchingly beautiful/painful/important play I've ever had the privilege to witness. #eclipsed @PublicTheaterNY

— Stephanie Beatriz (@iamstephbeatz) October 20, 2015

Watched #Eclipsed play and it's a must see. Great performances all around from #pascalearmand… https://t.co/oxvnvg1ga9

— Ama K Abebrese (@Ama_K_Abebrese) October 28, 2015

Gurira, Zimbabwean-American playwright and star of AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” introduced the play at Yale Repertory Theatre in Fall 2009, during which Nyong’o had an understudy role and Liesl Tommy served as director. In a New York Times interview spotlighting the trio, Tommy stated: “I think with this play what we’re teaching folks is that there are plenty of interesting stories that happen on the vast continent of Africa, and that you can relate to them without seeing yourself, your race, or a version of yourself in it.”

With critics and audiences stunned, the production – written, directed and performed entirely by female artists – heads to Broadway early next year for a limited engagement at John Golden Theater.Nyong’o, who took home an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the 2013 film “12 Years A Slave,” will make her Broadway debut continuing her portrayal of the newest wife, simply known as “The Girl,” of an unseen rebel tyrant.

Gurira debuted on Broadway in 2009 for August Wilson‘s  Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. She followed it up with In the Continuum, which earned her Obie and Outer Critic Circles awards. Her work Familiar will open at Playwrights Horizons in the spring.

Eclipsed – the only new play by a woman on Broadway this season – will open March 6, with previews beginning Feb. 23. Set to run through June 19, it is produced by Stephen Byrd and Alia Jones-Harvey of Front Row Productions.

Public Theater art director Oskar Eustis is quoted as saying: “Broadway will be better for having Eclipsed on it, and I hope it will break a barrier that will stay broken, if it proves that shows like this can make it on Broadway.”

Eclipsed has won an NAACP Award, the Helen Hayes Award (Best New Play) and Connecticut Critics Circle Award (Outstanding Production of a Play). The cast currently includes Pascale Armand, Akosua Busia, Zainab Jah and Saycon Sengbloh.

Tickets for the Broadway run are on sale HERE.

The post Eclipsed Enters Final Week At Public Theater, Broadway On Horizon appeared first on Broadway Black.