In 2020, the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers spurred a wave of calls for change in many sectors of society, including the arts. Theaters were closed at the time because of the coronavirus pandemic, but when they reopened, there was a significant increase in work by Black writers; and a number of celebrities, many but not all of them Black, stepped forward to co-produce those shows, hoping that their influence would help attract media attention and ticket buyers.
In 2021, Blair Underwood co-produced “Pass Over,” about two Black men trapped by fear of a police encounter; Kandi Burruss co-produced “Thoughts of a Colored Man,” about a day in the life of a group of Black men; and Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Jonas co-produced “Chicken & Biscuits,” a comedy set in a Black church.
“Being a Black woman, I thought it was important to see more diversity in the Broadway community,” said Burruss, who has since produced four more shows, including this season’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” revival. Burruss said she promotes her shows to potential ticket buyers and introduces the lead producers to potential investors.
In 2022, the dam burst open with “A Strange Loop,” a musical about a gay Black man’s journey of self-discovery. The show had already won a Pulitzer Prize but was still a tough sell to audiences. The lead producer lined up a large group of boldfaced names as co-producers, including RuPaul Charles, Alan Cumming, Ilana Glazer, Mindy Kaling, Billy Porter and Steven Spielberg, as well as Cheadle and Hudson.
A 2023 revival of “Purlie Victorious,” a 1961 play by Ossie Davis, followed the “Strange Loop” model, with multiple celebrity co-producers, including LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Samuel L. Jackson, Phylicia Rashad and Kerry Washington, as well as the play’s star, Leslie Odom Jr., and Alan Alda, who was in the play’s original production.
“Broadway is a big deal,” Burruss said, “and I feel like people who are celebrities want to be in that space.”
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nytimes.com ’
