Teagle F. Bougere recently portrayed James Baldwin in The American Vicarious production of Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley, in New York City, Chicago, Florence, and London. He co-starred with Catherine Zeta-Jones in the television series Queen America. Bougere's Broadway credits include The Crucible, A Raisin in the Sun, and The Tempest. He was featured in The Public Theater’s productions of Socrates and the much acclaimed production of Coriolanus in Central Park. His most recent New York stage appearance was the world premiere of The New Englanders at Manhattan Theater Club. Additional theater credits include Is God Is at SoHo Rep, Beast in the Jungle, the title role in the stage adaptation of Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man at The Court Theater in Chicago, The Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C., and The Huntington in Boston, Julius Caesar and Cymbeline for The Public Theater in Central Park, A Soldier’s Play at Second Stage, A Fair Country at Lincoln Center, Last Dance for Sybil (with Ruby Dee) at the New Federal Theatre, An Iliad (one-man show) at the Pittsburgh Public Theater, and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone and Blue Door at Berkeley Rep. His film and television credits include Hill ’n’ Gully, The Path, The Mist, Good Friday, Conviction, Cosby, The Job, Third Watch, Murder in Black and White, A Night at the Museum, The Imposters, The Pelican Brief, Two Weeks Notice, What the Deaf Man Heard, A Gifted Man, The Big C, The Blacklist, and Bull, as well as seven episodes for the Law & Order franchise.
Langston Hughes (1902 – 1967) wrote nearly fifty books of poetry, prose, and drama and is particularly known for his portrayals of Black American experience from the twenties through the sixties. His writing engages with jazz and blues and he shaped the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Among his countless notable works are the poetry collections The Weary Blues and Montage of a Dream Deferred; the “Simple” books of prose; his acclaimed autobiography The Big Sea, and the play Mule Bone, co-authored with Zora Neale Hurston. His residence at 20 East 127th Street in Harlem is a New York City Preservation Commission landmark.
Joe Morton is an Emmy Award–winning film, television, and stage veteran, best known as Rowan/Eli Pope in Shonda Rhimes' groundbreaking series Scandal. His recent screen credits include Going Dutch, Trinity’s Triumph, Zach Snyder’s Justice League, Our Kind of People, God Friended Me, and The Politician. He is known for his iconic roles in films The Brother from Another Planet, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Justice League, and Speed, among many others. He made his Broadway debut in the Tony Award–winning musical Hair, followed by a starring role in Raisin, for which he garnered a Tony nomination and Theatre World Award. In 2016, Morton returned to his theater roots portraying the iconic comedian Dick Gregory in the one-man show Turn Me Loose off-Broadway and was honored with the NAACP Theatre Lifetime Achievement Award. He reprised his role in Turn Me Loose at The Wallis-Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in fall 2017.
Pauletta Pearson Washington can currently be seen in the screen adaptation of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, starring her son John David and directed by her son Malcolm. She also stars as Mama Lu on the Kerry Washington–produced legal drama Reasonable Doubt on Hulu.
She previously appeared in the anthology film Tell It Like a Woman, National Geographic’s Genius: Aretha, and season 2 of Spike Lee’s Netflix series She’s Gotta Have It. Additional film credits include Steps, The Real MVP: The Wanda Durant Story, The Watsons Go to Birmingham, Beloved, Purlie, and Wilma. She was also a featured vocalist on the soundtrack for Philadelphia and a featured pianist in the soundtrack for Antwone Fisher. Washington has appeared on Broadway in Jesus Christ Superstar, Sophisticated Ladies, Shakespeare’s Cabaret, The All Night Strut!, and as an understudy to Lynne Thigpen in Tintypes. Her off-Broadway credits include Love, Loss, and What I Wore; Desperate Writers at the Union Square Theater; Soul Possessed at The Kennedy Center; Spiritual, A Christmas Show at Lincoln Center, A Night of Inspiration at Carnegie Hall; Two Trains Running with True Colors Theater Company; and The Old Settler at the Billie Holiday Theater. Washington was part of the original cast and touring company of Jerry’s Girls, and she has also created and performed her own one-woman show for both domestic and international audiences.
Meg Wolitzer is the New York Times bestselling author of The Female Persuasion, The Interestings, The Ten-Year Nap, The Position, and The Wife. She is a faculty member in the Creative Writing and Literature Program at The Lichtenstein Center at Stony Brook University, where she co-founded and co-directs BookEnds, a one-year, non-credit intensive for emerging novelists. Wolitzer, who was the guest editor of The Best American Short Stories 2017, is the radio and podcast host of Symphony Space’s Selected Shorts.
CREDITS
“Thank You M’am,” “Passing,” and “The Blues I’m Playing” are by Langston Hughes and are used by permission of the Estate of Langston Hughes and International Literary Properties.
