Twinkie, who cast the late Whitney Houston’s last movie, “Sparkle,” as well as the films “Notorious” and “Stomp the Yard,” also encourages Black artists to know their craft. For Ms. Byrd, this means knowing your history and where the contemporary artist stands in relation to all those who came before. Ms. Byrd’s last piece of advice is for the artist to give him- or herself a break and acknowledge at the end of the audition that a best effort was given and to say “you’re welcome,” when thanked for coming in. Most artists stay in ingratiating mode and simply say, “no, thank YOU,” but Twinkie, who is credited with launching the careers of Laz Alonso and Michael Kenneth Williams, encourages artists not to gloss over the fact that “you’re welcome” is self-affirmation of a job well-done.

Actor Anthony Mackie has spoken on the “importance of being a Black actor and the importance of theater to an actor” in an article featured in the Guardian in 2011. After a turn on Broadway in “A Behanding in Spokane,” Mr. Mackie took a hit from Black writer and New Yorker theater critic Hilton Als, who stated candidly: “The sad fact is that, in order to cross over, most black actors of Mackie’s generation must act Black before they’re allowed to act human.” Mackie’s advice is to think beyond someone else’s definition of you as an artist because, “you can’t limit yourself.”

And then of course, there’s that ‘drops mic’ moment detailed by the NY Times blog in 2012, given to us by Lady Vi, Ms. Viola Davis, on the Tavis Smiley show, when he expressed “ambivalence” over the movie, “The Help.” Ms. Davis, with the dignity and humanity she brings to every role, illustrated why she should be allowed to write roles as well as act them. She offers: “That very mindset that you have, and that a lot of African-Americans have, is absolutely destroying the Black artist,” she said. “The Black artist cannot live in a revisionist place,” she added. “The Black artist can only tell the truth about humanity, and humanity is messy. People are messy. Caucasian actors know that. We as African-American artists are more concerned with image and message and not execution.” With that, Viola tells artists to focus on craft, as only someone who has been doing so for decades can.

Finally, a rule for the artist in us all, straight out of the mouths of babes as detailed on BlackCelebKids.com from an interview with Backstage.com. Yara Shahidi (Black-ish) brings us full circle with: “Never jeopardize who you are for a role.” Artists would be wise to heed these words of the successful young artist and not trade one’s “moral compass, or anything like that, to have a role.”

The post Auditions in Black and White appeared first on Broadway Black.

The movie is an adaptation of the Broadway play of the same name that concluded its run last year. Bryan Cranston will reprise his role as President Lyndon B. Johnson, which earned him a Tony Award.  Steven Spielberg has signed on to produce the film, and Jay Road will direct. Production on the adaptation is expected to begin this fall.

The film covers President Johnson from when he became the 36th president following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, through his first year. It will include the passing of monumental Civil Rights legislation in Congress and be followed by LBJ’s landslide reelection win.

According to Deadline, “Mackie’s role in the script will be significant, and portrays a far more collaborative and complex relationship than was depicted in the Best Picture nominee, Selma.”

At the Morehouse Film Festival, Mackie’s commitment to acting was on full display.  He said, “If you want to be a movie star, then you go BE a movie star…you let no one challenge that. You let no one question that. But if you want to be a working actor… if you want to take the time and commitment to spend four months in Poughkeepsie doing a play no one will see… if you want to take the time and commitment to do a Broadway show for people to say ‘You know what, the show was alright; it was directed well but I don’t like YOU’…that’s the type of dedication you have to put into this to be successful.”

Assuredly, Mackie will bring that focus and determination to this iconic role. It will definitely be the television event of the year.

The post Anthony Mackie Will Portray MLK In ‘All The Way’ For HBO appeared first on Broadway Black.

When his brother is shot, mentally disabled Langston Bellows (Gbenga Akinnagbe, The Wire) is left without a protector in Brooklyn’s housing projects. Now under the control of his abusive mother (Alfre Woodard, 12 Years A Slave) he must take his future into his own hands. Langston strives for independence from his prior life, from his mother, and from his fractured mind.

Woodard was last seen on Broadway in Regina Taylor’s Drowning Crow (the 2004 adaptation and updating of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull), opposite Anthony Mackie (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, A Behanding in Spokane), Aunjanue Ellis (Joe Turner’s Come And Gone, The Tempest), Ebony Jo-Ann (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Mule Bone, The Sunshine Boys, Gem of the Ocean), Stephen McKinley Henderson (King Hedley II, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fences, A Raisin in the Sun), and Tracie Thoms (Rent, Stick Fly). She made her professional theatre debut in 1974 at Washington, D.C.’s Arena Stage. Her breakthrough role came three years later (1977) in the off-Broadway production of Ntozake Shange’s classic for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf.

Alfre’s film and television career is vast and diverse. She won her Screen Actors Guild Award in 1995 for her work in the film version of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson.

Knucklehead screens Thursday, March 26th at the Peter Jay Sharp Building BAM Rose Cinemas. To purchase tickets and get more information, CLICK HERE.

The post Alfre Woodard’s Back To NYC In ‘Knucklehead’ appeared first on Broadway Black.