
Tickets are available through March 20, 2022. The play is produced by Brian Moreland, Ron Simons, Diana DiMenna, Kandi Burruss, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and Samira Wiley. When Thoughts of a Colored Man opened on October 13, it made history as the first Broadway show in history to be written, directed by, starring, and lead produced by Black men. The ensemble cast currently features Esau Pritchett, Dyllón Burnside, Bryan Terrell Clark, Da'Vinchi, Grammy Award nominee Luke James, Tony Award nominee Forrest McClendon, and Grammy Award nominee Tristan "Mack" Wilds. Welcome to the vibrant inner life of being Black, proud, and thriving in the 21st century." 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. Broadnax III, Thoughts of a Colored Man is described as follows: "As the sun rises on a single day in the pulsing heart of Brooklyn, seven Black men are about to discover the extraordinary – together. Thoughts of a Colored Man, the new Broadway play by Keenan Scott II and directed by Steve Broadnax III, will officially open on Wednesday, October 13th at Broadways Golden Theatre.

Kadeem Ali Harris, Reynaldo Piniella, and Christian Thompson will join the Broadway company starting January 4, 2022, replacing Da'Vinchi, Dyllón Burnside, and Luke James who will depart the show on January 2, 2022, due to prior commitments.ĭirected by Steve H. Thoughts of a Colored Man, now running at the Golden Theatre, will welcome new cast members in the new year. Of all the new fall 2021 Broadway plays depicting African-American experiences, Thoughts of a Colored Man so far is the best.Christian Thompson, Reynaldo Piniella, and Kadeem Ali Harris will join the cast of Thoughts of a Colored Man on Broadway. Broadnax III extracts fine performances from the cast and keeps everything moving fluidly. The action all takes place on a minimalist set, mostly using Sven Ortel’s projection designs. The stories of some of the other men are less compelling, such as that of Anger (Tristan Mack Wilds), a college basketball coach who works with athletes that are more into getting big endorsement deals than anything else. He has learned that tolerance and understanding go a long way in a rough neighborhood and wants everyone to realize this. Pritchett is a wise father figure to all the guys who come into his shop, and we know he’s lived through too much grief and speaks from experience. He doesn’t allow foul language in his shop, and reprimands one of the younger customers for using the “f” word gay slur in front of Happiness because he wants everyone to feel welcome in his establishment. He’s struggled as much as the other men, just in a different way.Įsau Pritchett gives one of the show’s most straightforward performances as Wisdom, an older barber shop owner who has lived through decades of African-American struggles. The reality is being a gay man of color is a double whammy. McClendon and his Tony-nominated role a decade ago in The Scottsboro Boys.īryan Terrell Clark is truly dynamic as Happiness, a well-educated gay man who, unlike the other guys in the show, is from an upper middle-class family and has enjoyed many privileges, but finds himself in the awkward position of being looked down on by other black men because they think he’s had it too easy.

McClendon gives a sincere, touching performance as a man who puts his family’s needs above his own and even tries to buy his younger brother a pair of $200 sneakers. Standouts include the first-rate Forrest McClendon as Depression, a man in his 30s who still lives with his mother and works at a Whole Foods for minimum wage.
#Thoughts of a colored man closed series
The entire show is presented as a series of vignettes and some work better than others. We have Love (Dyllón Burnside), Happiness (Bryan Terrell Clark), Wisdom (Esau Pritchett), Lust (Da ’Vinchi), Passion (Luke James), Depression (Forrest McClendon) and Anger (Tristan Mack Wilde). The stories are all things we’ve heard before-from poverty to success to coping with societal expectations, biases, dead-end jobs, etc.-but they ring true to life and propel the stories with enough heartbreak to keep audiences both sympathetic and interested.Įach character is named after an emotion. The stories of seven African-American Brooklyn men are interwoven into Keenan Scott II’s thought-provoking Thoughts of a Colored Man, a 90-minute drama that recently opened on Broadway.
