The Tony and Grammy Award-winning artist sits in front of a small group of actors, watching intently as they rehearse their lines. Two characters, Mr. Bugz (played by J. Bernard Calloway) and Lamont (played by Morocco Omari) are yelling at each other. Their voices echo off the walls and can be heard down the hallway. The scene, close to the end of the play, is a sensitive one. That’s one of the reasons Porter asks the press to briefly stop circling and taking pictures.
2 comments:
First of all, go Billy Porter! We love to see Carnegie Mellon Drama alum putting on various hats and doing more and more in various different theaters around the country. That being said, I'm usually rather weary of directors that actually act, but this article in fact praises that very fact- so kudos to him . The coolest thing about the work that Billy Porter does is that he's been able to craft an industry and ope up a genre that's usually frowned upon for queer people of color. I always love hearing about the shows that come out of the Huntington because they do break barriers and they usually have a lot of directors that go there to try material that revolutionizes theater. I have a couple friends that have recently started working at the Huntington so I'm excited to hear what they have to say about this production, the process, and how Billy Porter runs a rehearsal room and technical rehearsal.
I didn’t know that Billy Porter had directed at the Huntington before. His perspective on directing using his full brain power is an amazing way to describe it. Directors are involved in all of the creative decisions. Therefore, they have to take in many inputs in all of their senses. I think it's interesting that in the play Gerry and Lamont both think the best version of their music genre is behind them. As a young person about to begin my career in the theater industry, it's hard for me to imagine the best parts being in the past. I’m curious how this plays out for them and what sort of ramifications it has on them as people. The best being in the past seems like such a uniting idea even though they have different musical tastes, that it would draw them together. I’m curious to see how this plays out, especially since the article describes the play as people trying to figure out how to get along. I wish I could see this production and I’m going to look into reading this play.
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