Sidney Poitier’s life story is coming soon to the Broadway stage.
“Sidney” hails from playwright Charles Randolph-Wright and Tony Award-winning actor Ruben Santiago-Hudson.
With the Poitier family’s full support behind them, the play will chronicle the filmmaker’s youth in the Bahamas, to his historic successes during the Golden Age of Hollywood as Poitier would become the first black man to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.
According to producers, the show “explores the nature of sacrifice and commitment, pride and humility and the price for artistic integrity,” they told Variety. “Poitier has inspired many artists in multiple fields including encouraging Alice Childress to begin writing when they were both members at American Negro Theatre.”
Poitier, 94, has built an illustrious career as a film icon and revered activist. He challenged racial bias and roadblocks in the 1950s and ’60s by starring in hit movies such as “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “Lillies of the Field,” the latter of which earned Poitier his groundbreaking Oscar in 1964.
His daughter and budding filmmaker, Anika, will produce the play alongside Ron Gillyard and Barry Krost, while cast and production timeline remain to be determined.
Randolph-Wright, who brought Alice Childress’ “Trouble In Mind” to Broadway last month, said in a statement to Variety, “The first time I met Sidney Poitier was decades ago when he saw a show I co-wrote and directed in Los Angeles. We went to dinner and I literally could not speak. He said to me, ‘If in any way I have inspired you, you have more than paid me back with what I saw this evening.’ I have held onto those words my entire career. And now to place his astonishing life onstage is the ultimate challenge and the ultimate joy.”
He continued, “To have the trust of Mr. Poitier and his family is one of the greatest gifts I have been given — what an honor to get to dramatize the true measure of this monumental man. I look forward to the world discovering the astounding person that is behind one of our most prodigious heroes, a man who continues to inspire.”
Santiago-Hudson’s production of August Wilson’s “Jitney” scored the Tony for Best Revival in 2017. He added, “Sir Sidney Poitier is clearly one of the greatest actors in the history of cinema. His integrity and standard of excellence set the bar for generations to come. It is an honor to be a part of celebrating the incomparable Sidney Poitier’s monumental career in this play but also the man and his extraordinary life.”
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