Photo by Krista Schlueter |
The curtain was raised at the Belasco Theatre (111 W 44th St.) last night for the first preview performance of Ain’t No Mo’, produced by Lee Daniels. The show played to a sold-out and star-studded house with high energy and laughter heard down the street. From the brilliant and mischievous mind of Jordan E. Cooper, the youngest American playwright in Broadway history, Ain’t No Mo’ is the unprecedented, unpredictable comedy that speeds through the turbulent skies of being Black in today’s America, blending sketch, satire, and avant-garde theatre The production will continue in previews with opening night set for December 1, 2022.
Guests in attendance for the first preview performance included Queen Latifah, Clive Davis, Edie Falco, Miss Lawrence, NeNe Leakes, Melba Moore, Victoria Pedretti, Sara Ramirez, Bevy Smith, Tasha Smith, Danny Strong, Leyna Bloom, Patricia Williams, and many more.
Direct from a smash-hit run at The Public Theater, Ain’t No Mo’ dares to ask the incendiary question, “What if the U.S. government offered Black Americans one-way plane tickets to Africa?”
The cast includes Jordan E. Cooper as Peaches, Fedna Jacquet (Passenger #1), Marchánt Davis (Passenger #2), Shannon Matesky (Passenger #3), Ebony Marshall-Oliver (Passenger #4), and Crystal Lucas-Perry (Passenger #5). Understudies are Nik Alexander (u/s Peaches & Passenger #2), Jasminn Johnson (u/s Passenger #3 & Passenger #4), Michael Rishawn (u/s Passenger #2 & Peaches), Kedren Spencer (u/s Passenger #5 & Passenger #1), Brennie Tellu (u/s Passenger #4 & Passenger #5), and Emma Van Lare (u/s Passenger #1 & Passenger #3).
The design team for Ain’t No Mo’ includes three-time Tony Award® winner Scott Pask (scenic design), two-time Tony Award nominee Emilio Sosa (costume design), Adam Honoré (lighting design), Jonathan Deans & Taylor Williams (co-sound design), and Mia M. Neal (wig design). Wagner Johnson Productions serve as Executive Producers and General Management.
The New York Times heralded Cooper as one of “a generation of Black playwrights whose fiercely political and formally inventive works are challenging audiences, critics, and the culture at large to think about race, and racism, in new ways.”
Tickets are available via www.aintnomobway.com, www.telecharge.com, or by calling 212-239-6200.
“Thrilling, bewildering, campy, shrewd, mortifying, scary,
devastating and deep.”
- Jesse Green, The New York Times
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