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Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington are set to co-star in the Broadway revival of “The Piano Lesson,” producers Brian Anthony Moreland, Sonia Friedman and Tom Kirdahy announced on Tuesday.

Jackson’s wife Latanya Richardson Jackson will make her Broadway directorial debut and direct the fall production of August Wilson’s acclaimed drama, becoming the first woman to ever direct an August Wilson play on Broadway.

The fall production will star Jackson as Doaker Charles, Washington as Boy Willie, and Danielle Brooks as Berniece.

“The Piano Lesson” will begin performances on Monday, September 19, 2022, at the St. James Theatre.

“August Wilson dedicated his life and devoted his talent to dramatizing our stories and our experience,” Richardson Jackson said in a statement. “In doing so, he forever changed what it means to be Black in America. His plays built empathy, created community, and showed us the power of representation. The Piano Lesson...

Tony-nominated actor Thomas Jefferson Byrd who is best known or his many roles in Spike Lee’s films was found killed in Atlanta. He was 70.

According to media reports, Byrd was found unresponsive early Sunday morning. Paramedics pronounced him dead as they found multiple gunshot wounds in his back.

Byrd was a frequent collaborator with Lee, appearing in eight of his films including Clockers, Get on the Bus, Girl 6, He Got Game, Bamboozled, Red Hook Summer, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus and Chi-Raq. He also appeared in the Netflix series adaptation of Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It. His film credits also include the 1996 crime drama Set It Off as well as the Oscar-winning pic Ray.

A graduate of Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Byrd made his Broadway debut in the revival of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, starring alongside Whoopi Goldberg, Carl Gordon, Charles S. Dutton and Stephen McKinley Henderson.

The rage currently aimed at police violence and systemic racism is centuries in the making. And in order to understand and meaningfully contribute to the movement, non-Black audiences have become increasingly interested in educating themselves on the racist and socioeconomic inequities that nurture the environment that allows these injustices to thrive. Black content creators, however, place more value in humanizing Black people over providing an education to those seeking one, as if to say that despite differences in skin color “we’re not all that different from each other.”

That is not to say that the below series don’t tackle the subject of race and identity; some do directly. There are real-life differences of habit and racial perspective. But most of them operate inside the conversation that emphasizes the universality of Black stories — humor, love, family, conflict, and every other kind of experience.

From Bernie Mac’s “The Bernie Mac Show,...

The rage currently aimed at police violence and systemic racism is centuries in the making. And in order to understand and meaningfully contribute to the movement, non-Black audiences have become increasingly interested in educating themselves on the racist and socioeconomic inequities that nurture the environment that allows these injustices to thrive. Black content creators, however, place more value in humanizing Black people over providing an education to those seeking one, as if to say that despite differences in skin color “we’re not all that different from each other.”

That is not to say that the below series don’t tackle the subject of race and identity; some do directly. There are real-life differences of habit and racial perspective. But most of them operate inside the conversation that emphasizes the universality of Black stories — humor, love, family, conflict, and every other kind of experience.

From Bernie Mac’s “The Bernie Mac Show,...

Another one bites the dust! See you next year… maybe.

So, what did you all think? I live-tweeted the entire broadcast. Good times, as I’m sure those who were following me will agree

Not too many major surprises. I fully expected The Social Network to win, since it did so well in all the pre-Oscar awards ceremonies. In fact, I think the only major award it won was in the Best Adapted Screenplay category for Aaron Sorkin.

It was a night fit for a king… The King’s Speech cleaned up nicely in the major categories… Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Picture. As I said on Twitter last night, rumors of Harvey Weinstein’s strong-arm tactics are apparently true!

Inception did well… but in the technical categories, inspiring the ire of many fanboys and girls, many who felt that the film was robbed in the...

I’d forgotten about this contest! Terrible of me, I know!

It was likely because I only got 1 single entry. So, either most of you couldn’t identify all the film titles and faces in the video, or the $50 gift cert wasn’t enticing enough, or you just didn’t give a shit.

Regardless, as a refresher, I put together the below video compilation last month, highlighting black cinema in 2010. Your task was to name every film used in the video And the names of the faces in the Rip section towards the end of it.

As I stated then, all the answers could have been found right here on the blog, because we’ve talked about all of them.

I was later supposed to repost the video, along with a list of all the films and the RIPs in the video, so that you all can compare with your guesses.

The soap world lost a number of greats both in front of and behind the camera this year. Here is the annual We Love Soaps TV tribute to those who passed away in 2010 including Michael Gene Adams, Danny Aiello III, Himan Brown, Dixie Carter, Christopher Cazenove, Jill Clayburgh, Gary Coleman, Jacqueline Courtney, John Forsythe, David Froman, James Gammon, Harold Gould, Carl Gordon, Suzanne Grossman, Park Yong Ha, Peter Haskell, June Havoc, Carol Pfander Henderson, Bernard Kates, Larry Keith, Antonie Kamerling, Mick Lally, Simon MacCorkindale, Nan Martin, Kevin McCarthy, Rue McClanahan, Caroline McWilliams, Werner Michel, James Mitchell, Gordon Mulholland, Roger Newman, Michelle Nicastro, Leslie Nielsen, Vince O'Brien, Niek Pancras, Nancy Pinkerton, Addison Powell, Carla Princi, Bob Rappaport, Frances Reid, Lynn Redgrave, Rosa Rio, Zelda Rubinstein, Paul Ryan Rudd, Jean Simmons and Helen Wagner.

In case you haven't heard, actor Stephen Tobolowsky and I do a podcast for /Film called The Tobolowsky Files, which has been the subject of some humbling praise recently. While we're currently on hiatus until October, that didn't stop the folks at The New York Times from taking note of Stephen's amazing storytelling (which has also been published in The Awl). Today, Stephen has written an op-ed for The New York Times entitled "They Had Great Character," a tribute to five character actors (Kevin McCarthy, Carl Gordon, Maury Chaykin, James Gammon, Harold Gould) who have passed recently, and a meditation on what it means to be a character actor: My first day on “Groundhog Day,” Bill Murray shook hands with me and said, “Hello, nice to meet you — now show me what you’re going to do.” I jumped into a few enormously energetic moments of Ned Ryerson and Bill...

American actor Carl Gordon has lost his battle with blood cancer. He was 78.

He passed away on 20 July at his home in Jetersville, Virginia. The cause of death was non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Gordon didn't start acting until he reached his late thirties, and found success on Broadway in plays including the 1971 production of Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death.

He was perhaps best-known for his role as uncle Doaker in the 1990 Broadway production of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, The Piano Lesson, and as patriarch Andrew Emerson on U.S. TV sitcom Roc from 1991 to 1994 - a show which also featured a young Jamie Foxx.

Gordon continued his TV career after Roc, making guest appearances on hit U.S. TV dramas ER, The Practice and Law and Order.

He is survived by his wife, Jacqueline Alston-Gordon, five daughters and a son.

Star of both stage and screen, Carl Gordon, who most of us will likely remember as Charles S. Dutton’s father, Andrew Emerson, on early 90s TV show, Roc, has died at 78 years old.

The cause, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, says the New York Times.

His few listed stage credits include work in 2 August Wilson plays - The Piano Lesson (1990) and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2003); his onscreen roles were relegated mostly to TV movies and sitcom roles, from the aforementioned Roc, to episodes of Law & Order, ER, Jag, and more.

Gordon is survived by his 3rd wife, Jacqueline Alston-Gordon; a son, five daughters, nine grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Rip...