When Jonathan Majors was a student at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, he taped a photocopied black and white headshot of Oscar-winning actor, director and activist Sidney Poitier on his wall.
“That’s the thing about Sidney, a lot of people know him from all his beautiful film work, but this is a theater-trained actor, that’s how I got to know him,” Majors tells Variety of the impact Poitier had on his career. “That’s why he was up in my dorm room — because I didn’t know anything about film — I just knew this man played Walter Lee [Younger from ‘A Raisin in the Sun’] on Broadway — the Hamlet, the King Lear of the African American canon.”
When Poitier died in January, at age 94, tributes poured in from across the industry and among the salutes was the Gotham Film and Media Institute’s posthumous presentation of the 2022 Icon tribute, which Majors,...
“That’s the thing about Sidney, a lot of people know him from all his beautiful film work, but this is a theater-trained actor, that’s how I got to know him,” Majors tells Variety of the impact Poitier had on his career. “That’s why he was up in my dorm room — because I didn’t know anything about film — I just knew this man played Walter Lee [Younger from ‘A Raisin in the Sun’] on Broadway — the Hamlet, the King Lear of the African American canon.”
When Poitier died in January, at age 94, tributes poured in from across the industry and among the salutes was the Gotham Film and Media Institute’s posthumous presentation of the 2022 Icon tribute, which Majors,...
- 12/6/2022
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
Tonya Pinkins and Francois Battiste are among the cast announced today for the Public Theater’s upcoming production of A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry’s classic drama to be directed by Robert O’Hara (Tony nominated for his direction of Slave Play).
The production, which marks a Public Theater debut for Hansberry, reunites O’Hara with some of his cast from a 2019 Raisin In The Sun staging at the Williamstown Theater Festival, including Battiste, who will play Walter Lee Younger, and Mandi Masden, as Ruth Younger. Pinkins, a Tony winner for Jelly’s Last Jam, will play Walter Lee’s mother Lena Younger (played by S. Epatha Merkerson in the Williamstown staging).
The play begins performances at the Public’s Newman Theater Off Broadway with a Joseph Papp Free Performance on Tuesday, Sept. 27. The engagement officially opens on Wednesday, Oct. 19 and runs through Sunday,...
The production, which marks a Public Theater debut for Hansberry, reunites O’Hara with some of his cast from a 2019 Raisin In The Sun staging at the Williamstown Theater Festival, including Battiste, who will play Walter Lee Younger, and Mandi Masden, as Ruth Younger. Pinkins, a Tony winner for Jelly’s Last Jam, will play Walter Lee’s mother Lena Younger (played by S. Epatha Merkerson in the Williamstown staging).
The play begins performances at the Public’s Newman Theater Off Broadway with a Joseph Papp Free Performance on Tuesday, Sept. 27. The engagement officially opens on Wednesday, Oct. 19 and runs through Sunday,...
- 8/22/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
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