Article by:
Terrance Afer-Anderson
What was the urgent call that summoned the creation of Broadway In The HOOD.? One need survey the annals of African American entertainment history to grasp the significance of why this dynamic, community-based performance troupe was found.
In the late ‘50s, Sammy Davis, Jr. became a seasoned headliner at the Las Vegas Frontier Casino and Hotel. Yet, in those early years, he wasn’t allowed accommodations at the hotel where he generated substantial revenue, excluded as well from its restaurants and casino.
When Billie Holiday rehearsed with her band at the Las Vegas El Rancho Hotel, she had to enter the venue through its kitchen door, the established protocol for African American artists. Like Mr. Davis during those times, she was not allowed public accommodations, had to travel in a separate bus, segregated from her White band members, and worse, bore witness to lynchings in the South.
In 1956, during a performance by Nat King Cole in Alabama, members of the Ku Klux Klan rushed the stage and knocked the vocalist to his knees. In 1957, when he tried to enter the recently opened Las Vegas Tropicana Hotel, he was soundly turned away. When accompanying White publicist Al Freeman protested, alerting the staff, “That’s Nat King Cole.” The unimpressed security guard replied, “I don’t care if it is Jesus. He’s Black and he has to get out of here.”
Eventually, when Mr. Davis became an “A List” entertainer, he boycotted Las Vegas and other numerous city venues given to strident racial segregation. In 1939, at age 23, Ms. Holiday began her own early form of protest by daring to record the enduring Strange Fruit, providing powerful lyrical commentary on Black lynchings. In 1957, during a live telecast of a performance in the Copa Room of the Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, Mr. Cole, took the live and television audience on a tour of the room, revealing that he was forced to perform in a starkly segregated venue, populated by an all-White staff.
These exceptionally gifted artists, Mr. Davis, Miss Holiday, and Mr. Cole, and hordes of African American performers and entertainers, who endured the travails of sharing their creative brilliance amidst unforgiving, prevailing racist attitudes, paved a luminescent path for others to follow. Each exhibited a resilient vision that endures to this day, a legacy that prompts today’s African American entertainers, young and old, to ever strive for excellence, well-knowing the price paid that affords them stellar opportunities.
It was with such spirit that, in 2010, Broadway In The HOOD. (Helping Others Open Doors), the Emmy® and Tony Award® nominated troupe, chiefly concerned with culturally mainstreaming high-risk youth of color, locally and nationally, was found. Now 2023 Legendary stage, television and film actor and Tony Award®-winning Ben Vereen serves as its Director of Global Outreach.
Broadway In The HOOD is produced by A Source of Joy Theatricals, Inc. and is a 501 C3 national non-profit theatre program dedicated to making a positive impact in communities across the United States. It places special focus on youth between the ages of 10 to 20, residing in the worst of neighborhoods, communities plagued by violence, gangs, drugs, and grave disparities, inequities, and atrocities.
The urgent call for such an important institution was realized through the personal experience of its Founder, President and CEO Torrey A. Russell, who says that, when he was himself a high-risk youth, “The theatre saved my life.”
I had the opportunity recently to chat with Russell, on the occasion of his announcement that Broadway In The HOOD. would soon be moving into The Legacy Theatre. It will be the first African American owned and operated theatre in Las Vegas and will be billed as The Legacy Theatre of Excellence: Home of Broadway In The HOOD.
I was ecstatic to hear this news, as Russell blessed me with the extraordinary honor of having his historic troupe produce my own musical drama Hiram & Nettie as its first Las Vegas production.
A native of my hometown of Norfolk, Virginia, Russell endured a childhood fraught with challenge. His family moved from one low-income, public housing community to another. Neither provided the profound cultural arts awakening that awaited him. It was an experience that somewhat smacked of the travails of the pioneering entertainers who had come before him encountered.
“I believe it is systematically setup for people who are raised in those areas,” he said, “to not necessarily have a positive outlook on life.” Russell wouldn’t have it.
One of the first people to glimpse and help illuminate Russell’s own indomitable spirit, while still an impressionable youth, was Ms. Connie Hindmarsh, director, Norfolk Public Schools Performing Arts Repertory. The program was based at the city’s Lake Taylor High School.
While in middle school he had seen a production of Guys and Dolls there. He recalled, “I sat in the audience and said, ‘My God!’ I have to do something around this. I want to be on stage. I have to do something… anything, sweep the floors, fold costumes, “It doesn't make any difference; I just need to be involved anyway that I can.”
But there was a problem. The program was for high school students only.
It was his irrepressible resolve that won the day, at least an audition. The rest, as they say, is history.
I had to know more. So, I gave Hindmarsh a call. She observed that Russell not only had conspicuous, natural raw talent, “a good singer and dancer,” but took note that, “He was just bound and determined.”
Russell was the only middle school student accepted into the program. She recalled that one of his crowning later achievements as a Lake Taylor High senior was being cast as “Joseph,” in the Performing Arts Repertory production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Her voice full of revelry, she added, “He set his sights on being ‘Joseph,’ and, “He was ‘Joseph!” Fond memories still punctuating her voice, Hindmarsh further reflected, “Every day, I would cry at every performance.”
Student and teacher still have a close, very active relationship to this day. She shared they frequently talk over the phone and gushed when acknowledging Russell refers to her as “My mom.”
His memorable, impactful time with the Norfolk Performing Arts Repertory had Russell thirsting for even more. At age 15, he took a job that further whetted his appetite for the theatre. “My first real job,” Russell said, was for Broadway at Chrysler Hall, working behind the scenes for all the Broadway shows that came through Norfolk.”
Like Hindmarsh, his Broadway at Chrysler Hall supervisor Gay Jones, also know as “mom” had a lasting impact on his life. “I was inspired so much by Gay Jones,” Russell said. He served as the assistant ticket manager, answering the telephone and was offered a salary of some $5 an hour, which he promptly turned down, in exchange for tickets to touring productions that came to the city.
Eventually, he began working backstage for these touring Broadway shows. His thorough work ethic led to his later being able to tour nationwide on and off stage with such popular, legendary productions as Jesus Christ Superstar, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, his cherished Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, numerous other Broadway shows and all of stage, television and film star Tyler Perry’s stage plays.
On these tours, Russell demonstrated keen, masterful management and production skills, which didn’t go unnoticed by certain giants and legends in the entertainment industry. He said, “I have been blessed to travel the world with world famous, legendary African American actors, directors, producers, writers, civil rights and global leaders, such as Dr. Maya Angelou, Mr. Ben Vereen, Mrs. Gladys Knight and I’ve sat at the feet of Miss. Cicely Tyson, and so many others, who poured into me, inspired me, disciplined me, and nurtured me as their very own” he stated. “I realized that they beat the odds as well and did amazing things.”
Dr. Angelou and Miss Tyson had of course themselves endured social prohibitions and cultural inequities, linked entirely to the amount of melanin in their skin. Yet, like their youthful contemporaries, such experiences only further ignited their own passions to succeed.
Dr. Angelou once wrote, "A black person grows up in this country… knowing that racism will be as familiar as salt to the tongue." Later, her highly acclaimed autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, inspired by experiences in her youth, would become one of the most banned books in the U.S., due to its unabashed telling of truths. Still, she persevered and won a Pulitzer and three Grammy Awards.
Regrettably, multiple award-winning actress Miss Tyson too has memorable stories about racism. Once, as an aspiring actress who had already begun to gather significant notice, she had been booked for an interview with a reporter at a high-end hotel. When she went to the coat check to simply get some directions, she said the attendant, “Took one look at me and said, ‘Oh, we don’t take these here, you have to go around the back.'” As a part of Miss Tyson’s patient reply, she offered, “I will take this moment to let you know, just in case you don’t, that every one of us that look like me are not all in a position of servitude.'”
Having worked so closely with such giants as Miss Tyson and Dr. Angelou, and a host of others African American luminaries, did much to nurture Russell’s vision to further their legacies. “It's always been a dream of mine to honor those African Americans entertainers and people of color who paved the way,” he said. “Having come from Norfolk, I have grown up in an area where theatre is not necessarily a thing that a young black boy does.”
When the opportunity presented itself, he launched Broadway In The HOOD. as a means to not only train and provide opportunities for young people “who like me,” but to honor the distinctive legacy and visionary ideals of such resilient pioneers.
Broadway In The HOOD. has served as the epicenter of distinctive, dynamic community outreach for youth and young adults in underserved communities, locally, and across the U.S. It is committed to creating social awareness of the experience of at-risk youth and eliminating the violence, abuse and poverty that often predominates their environment. This is achieved by creating a safe, creative space and a vibrant platform for young people to comfortably explore the very essence of their being, to view their experience through an objective prism that affords discovery, growth, and healing.
The acquisition of The Legacy Theatre amounts to the attainment of even more stellar reach for this incredible troupe. Russell extends boundless thanks to the State of Nevada for making this all possible. The state legislature passed a bill for The Legacy Theatre to receive a grant for $1 million.
Russell also offers abundant, heartfelt, impassioned thanks to Nevada State Representative Daniele Monroe-Moreno, Cameron “CH” Miller, KCEP Power 88.1, The West Las Vegas Library Theatre, The City of Las Vegas, FAME Church Las Vegas, The West Las Vegas Arts Center, the entire Historic Westside community and the Nevada Black Legislative Caucus. Their support was pivotal in his efforts.
In a recent media interview, while commenting on the importance of the support received, Russell appeared near overwhelmed with enthusiasm, acknowledging the stunning support his troupe has received. He advised, “Words can’t express what this journey has been,” adding, “and what this will mean to our city… to every single young person that’s ever, like myself, dreamed of being onstage or being on-camera or learning the proper way to do these things.” He continued, “This will be a theatre for everybody!”
The Legacy Theatre of Excellence: Home of Broadway In The HOOD. will not just house an impressive, technically equipped theatre, but will also be home to a museum and a restaurant as well. It will be poised at the heart of Las Vegas, appropriately in the historic district.
Russell stated, “The goal of the legacy theatre is to be a theatre for the community and by the community, a theatre that's accessible, a theatre that both education and training is either free or very, very low cost and productions that will also be free or low cost.” He chimed in that an added focus was, “Being able to have the community build their own shows, original productions, that can later go on to tour or even go on to Broadway.”
To the uninformed, accessing New York’s Broadway might be an unrealistic pursuit, a perception given only to those who are unaware of Broadway In The HOOD.’s own legacy. Its alumni include such gifted artists as Justin Bryant, who was cast as the lead dancer in the Broadway production of Hamilton and toured with the show in such far-flung places as New Zealand and Australia; Moya Angela, a veteran of America’s Got Talent, who is currently appearing in the London production of Newsies; Du-shaunt “Fik-shun” Stegall season 10 winner of So You Think You Can Dance and Teshi Thomas and Jordan Toure, both having appeared on Broadway In The Lion King.
Inspired by Russell’s infectious commitment to the community and aspiring performers, many Broadway In The HOOD. alumni return to work with its students. To illustrate how important they see such service, Bryant has taken a leave of absence from Hamilton to spend several weeks this Summer to train the troupe’s young charges.
Russell observes that many internationally acclaimed African American legends, past and present once called Las Vegas home, the likes of Sammy Davis, Jr., Billie Holiday, Pearl Bailey and Joe Louis. He is making certain that, “The Legacy Theatre will trickle down to the descendants of those giants who helped paved the way.”
At present, Broadway In The HOOD. has 102 young people in training prepping for programming this Summer. They will be producing The Little Mermaid as their summer camp production, featuring an African American “Ariel.”
When the troupe makes its historic move into The Legacy Theatre, it will be able to comfortably accommodate some 300 young people. Russell and his creative team will work to endow each with the vision of those African American pioneers who sacrificed so much that those who follow might have an equitable chance at artistic success.
Russell sums up the establishment of The Legacy Theatre of Excellence: Home of Broadway In The HOOD. in his typical assertive, passionate and confident energy. He said, “Everybody would always say you need your own space… you need your own space. But I knew that we had to prove ourselves. Number one, we had to show that we're not just a fly by night operation, that we're going to be here… that we're going to do exactly what we say we’re going to do for the community. That is our mission. That is what we’re going to accomplish.” He wrapped up our interview by singing “Them that's got shall have. Them that's not shall lose. So the Bible said and it still is news. Mama may have, Papa may have. But God bless the child that's got his own, that's got his own.”
Surely, as is his practice, he will succeed, and more and more people of note are taking notice. There is no doubt that his special vision will create a legacy dutifully carried on by a legion of gifted, well-trained and resolute young artists determined to share his commitment to excellence.