The intention behind casting Ayo Edebiri and Don Cheadle in ‘Proof,’ and what it says about Broadway and entertainment
TheGrio...
The revival of the Tony Award-winning play has already earned rave reviews for Cheadle and Edebiri’s performances.
David Auburn’s Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning play “Proof” is getting a new life on Broadway thanks to a revival starring Golden Globe award-winner Don Cheadle and Golden Globe and Emmy award-winner Ayo Edebiri. For those curious to see the two actors make their Broadway debuts in such a tightly wound, beloved family drama, there’s an interesting wrinkle that makes the play hit even harder for viewers.
Cheadle and Edebiri were guests on Michelle Obama’s “IMO Podcast” in late May (she and Barack Obama are executive producers of the Broadway revival) and one of the early revelations the two actors laid on the former First Lady was that the directors of the revival specifically wanted Edebiri for the role of Catherine. There was only one potential issue with that casting choice for audiences.
“The original play was written for a white cast, a white family,” Obama said around the 9-minute mark.
It didn’t deter show director Thomas Kail, show co-producer Mike Brosner, and Auburn, who all made a simple call: they wanted the rising star Edebiri in the play as one of the leads.
“Once they decided that, they sort of dictated who the family would be in some ways,” Cheadle told Obama.
Broadway has seen numerous revivals come and go, all with unique twists on characters. Megan Thee Stallion, for example, took on the role of Zindler in an adaptation of “Moulin Rouge,” a part traditionally played by a man. When the lens turns to Hollywood, however, Black actors and actresses have seen varying degrees of backlash for being cast in roles that were considered “white” solely because of decades of prior adaptations, despite the original text, such as Homer’s “The Odyssey,” not mentioning skin color, but nationality.
In other words, fiction is fiction until it isn’t.
Edebiri and Cheadle are the latest Black Hollywood stars to take on Broadway as Academy Award nominee Taraji P. Henson joined Cedric The Entertainer in an adaptation of August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.” Even as the trend seems to grow with more Black actors taking on unique roles on stage, Cheadle readily admits that being a theater kid will always be in him.
“I think that theater has never left my blood,” he said. “It’s never not been something I wanted to get back to at some time in some way.”
The full interview with Obama, Cheadle and Edebiri explores several different topics, from how Edebiri broke it to her parents that she wanted to pursue acting to Cheadle’s mother assuring him not to give up. However, the most poignant line comes from the First Lady, urging Black creatives to keep going.
“There are going to be a lot of people who don’t make it through these tough periods,” she began. “They’re just not situated. Especially when it comes to Black voices, Black writers, Black directors. Those of you who can stick in there and be there, we need them. We need you. We’re going to need storytellers and people with different perspectives, you know?”