Anika Noni Rose, Angela Eisa Davis and April Yvette Thompson have two things in common: one, they're all extremely talented and intelligent actresses, and two, they've all been featured in the New York Times within the last three days. I don't know about you, but I see that as monumental triumph. And if you don't agree, then ask yourself: when was the last time a major newspaper featured in-depth articles and/or praise for three black female artists under the age of 40 and doing work where they weren't playing maids, singers, or victims of horrid black men. I know, that's a lot to think about. But I'll help make your answer easy—NEVER!
Anika Noni Rose won a Tony for her role in Broadway's Caroline or Change, most of us know that. And in the inner-circle of what's real in American theater, she didn't receive her just-do for her film work in Dreamgirls. She, by the inner-circle standards, was under-praised. And according to the Times, Rose is the only thing in the current Cat on a Hot Tin Roof worth remembering.
Eisa Davis, niece of activist Angela Davis, sings, writes and acts. And right now she's on Broadway staring as the middle-class mother in Passing Strange. A mother struggling to exert her inner-artist as her son darts off to Europe in search of "The Real". A journey Davis says parallels her experience growing up in the shadow of her famous aunt.
April Yvette Thompson, actor-writer, brings so much ferocity and insight to her solo show Liberty City that you walk away from the theater thinking: you took an expected excursion to 1980 Miami; and more interestingly, if you could have the courage to unearth the good and bad of family like Thompson, you'd be a much healthier being.
I came into theater in the late 90s when the ambitions of many actresses were still being tested with roles like the slave-witch Tituba in The Crucible. Change certainly arrived with Suzan-Lori Parks' Venus, Kia Corthron's Breath Boom and Regina Taylor's Night in Tunisia. But besides the occasional two-scene offering from August Wilson, decent roles for black actresses were still few and far between. And when they did happen, there were at least one hundred others competing for the rare opportunity to express their emotional depth, wit and intelligence on stage.
It doesn't require much research to see many black female roles are just as horrific as the roles for black men. Hookers, hoochies, the first-murdered in a slasher flick. It's no wonder you see every black actress in eye-shot making guest appearances in a Tyler Perry project. Opportunity is definitely slim. And the urgent need of African-American actresses to work in anything that doesn't insult their integrity or craft, is profound. Trust me, I'm told this on many occasion.
So I say it's a revolutionary day in theater when you can sit in an audience and see African-American actresses exercise their right to be brilliant, three-dimensional and undeniably black. It's even more triumphant when you can open the Times, within a three-day period in the year 2008, and see three African-American actresses spotlighted, highlighted, and receiving their just-do.
