NEW YORK (AP) — Most playwrights who dip their toes into musical theater for the first time go small. Not Katori Hall: Her first assignment was to capture the life of a musical giant — Tina Turner. “I’m not really scared of much, which is probably why I felt like ‘Oh yeah, I’ll try this. […]
On Sunday night, the marvelous Andra Day became just the second Black woman to win the Golden Globe for Best Drama Film Actress through her exceptional role in The United States vs. Billie Holiday. What makes this victory even more outstanding is that The United States vs. Billie Holiday marks the Grammy-nominated artist’s first starring […]
H.E.R.’s original song “Fight For You”, written for Judas and the Black Messiah, appropriately pulls inspiration from the late sixties and seventies. Inspired by soul artists like Marvin Gaye, Sly and the Family Stone, and Nina Simone, the song is filled with freedom and hope. The encouraging, upbeat song speaks of unity, empowerment, and justice. […]
Viola Davis has just received her fourth career acting nomination at the Academy Awards, breaking the record for the most number of overall acting nominations for a Black actress in the history of Hollywood. Davis is also the only Black woman with two Best Actress nominations. While Davis is very much deserving of these accolades, […]
FX has ordered a pilot for Octavia E. Butler’s 1979 classic novel Kindred, which will be written and produced by playwright and Pulitzer Prize finalist Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. According to Variety, the show will follow Dana, a young Black aspiring writer who has left her constricted familial life behind and relocated to Los Angeles to chase […]
Following the buzzing teaser last week, the official trailer for Amazon’s upcoming anthology series THEM has been released today, and it is bone-chilling. Executively produced by Lena Waithe and created by Little Marvin, the limited series explores racism and terror in 1950s America. When a Black family moves from North Carolina to an all-white Los […]
23-year-old poet Amanda Gorman, who made history as the youngest inaugural poet, will join Oprah Winfrey in conversation this Friday for “The Oprah Conversation” on Apple TV Plus. “The Hill We Climb,” the touching poem that Gorman recited during Biden’s inauguration, will be discussed. She’ll speak about the creative process behind the poem, and share […]
Inspired by Afrofuturism, African artists Ziki Nelson, Tolu Foyeh, and Hamid Ibrahim joined forces to create Kugali, a Pan-African comics company. “The idea was that in the scientific genre, there were hardly any Black people. It was as though they were passing on the message that there were no Black people in the future,” said […]
In an interview with Kukuwa Ashan of Electric Lit, Kaitlyn Greenidge discusses her recently released novel, Libertie––one of JARO’s most anticipated reads of 2021. A gripping story about the meaning of freedom, Libertie follows free-born Libertie Simpson and her life in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn. Her mother, a physician, yearned for Libertie to follow in her footsteps. […]
Kwesi Botchway, a distinguished artist from Accra-Ghana, spoke with Artnet’s Naomi Rea to discuss his current exhibition “Homecoming: The Aesthetic of the Cool” and why painting Black faces is such an integral part of his work. Heavily encouraged to paint at a young age by his mother, Botchway’s journey with art began in childhood. He […]