A noisy and sharp comedy, “Ain’t No Mo,” will be staged on Broadway this fall, imagining the moment when the United States proposes to relocate blacks to Africa.
Hollywood director, producer and screenwriter Lee Daniels directs production as a lead producer. This will be Daniels’ first Broadway venture.
The play, written and starred by Jordan E. Cooper, left Broadway in 2019 and was staged in a public theater. Jesse Green, the New York Times’ leading theater critic, described it as “thrilling, embarrassing, ambitious, astute, and frustrating.” Scary, devastating, deep. “
The new work will be previewed on November 3rd and will be released at the Velasco Theater on December 1st. Broadway productions, like Off-Broadway productions, Stevie Walker WebbSome members of the design team are unfamiliar with the show.
The play consists of a series of comedy vignettes organized in the airport scene. A flight attendant, played by Cooper, is helping passengers board a so-called “compensation flight” at Gate 1619 (the year the enslaved Africans arrived). Virginia). Vignette explores the American race. Green described it as “a spiritual portrait of the life of a black American today, with all fear, hope and contradiction.”
Daniels, who worked on projects such as the TV series “Empire” and the movie “Precious”, went to see the program in public while scouting the writer, but was impressed. “I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing or seeing. It was the boldest thing I’ve seen on stage and it worked,” he said. .. “It examines the value of black life in our culture in a way we have never seen before.”
Daniels described Cooper, now 27, as “the encounter between Normanria and James Baldwin” and worked with the playwright of the BET sitcom “The Miz Pat Show” (Cooper is credited as a showrunner, creator and executive producer). It is). Daniels said he decided to bring “Ain’t No Mo” to Broadway. This is because when he started he thought black writers couldn’t go to Broadway. He is anointing certain plays, but this is not the case. “
Daniels starred in a play with Brian Moreland (“The Thought of a Colored Man”). He states: “Jordan E. Cooper has found a way to unleash a very difficult conversation with laughter and joy. The coming season will be heavy and it will be fun to enjoy comedy on Broadway.”
