BEST OF TASTY CLIPS: Ruben Santiago-Hudson finds himself at home on Broadway
By Bill Vaughan
Entertainment Writer
Despite a string of successful roles on series like “Billions,” “The Quad,” “Castle,” and “East New York as well as in feature films such as John Singleton’s “Shaft” and Ava DuVernay’s “Selma,” for actor/writer/director RUBEN SANTIAGO-HUDSON the theater is sanctuary.
“That’s where I’m the editor,” he admitted to TASTY CLIPS several years ago. “That’s where I get to be whole and I don’t have to play an attitude or a vision of what somebody’s thoughts of me are. I can just bare my soul.”
At the time, the Tony Award winner, currently on Broadway in the revival of August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” with Taraji P. Henson and Cedric The Entertainer, was promoting his tour-de-force “Lackawanna Blues,” that was appearing at the Manhattan Theatre Club.
In the piece, which evokes the spirits of his 1950s childhood in a small town on the banks of Lake Erie, Santiago-Hudson takes on more than 20 colorful characters — from would-be philosophers and petty hustlers to lost souls and abandoned lovers — in a brilliant celebration of the eccentric boarding house he grew up in.
If the title sounds familiar, it may be because of the 2005 HBO movie it spawned starring Terrence Howard, S. Epatha Merkerson and Louis Gossett Jr.
“I thought the movie was incredible and I thought all the actors just did an extraordinary job,” Hudson shared. “But for me to do it — I know how these people smelled. I know the texture of their overcoats and the pace and rhythm of their language. I give it all gravitas and integrity.”
Santiago-Hudson’s play brings to life a community with the common need to not survive but to strive. His hometown, some 10 minutes outside of Buffalo, was one of many decimated by the decline of the steel industry and the advent of integration.
He reminisced about seeing some of the top Black stars of the era like Billy Eckstine, Muhammad Ali and Lionel Hampton walking through the streets as he shined shoes outside of the local bars.
In fact, Lackawanna was likely listed in The Green Book, a bible for Black travelers now recognized for its ties to 2018’s Oscar winning Best Picture.
The admitted collector of diasporic memorabilia had not seen the film, but it did strike him wrong that it would focus on the driver rather than the extraordinary Dr. Donald Shirley.
“The distorted images of African-American people needs to be addressed,” Santiago-Hudson said. “I don’t know if they accomplished that, particularly when I hear brother hadn’t eaten fried chicken. Ain’t a white person in America who ain’t had fried chicken. And talking about he don’t know Aretha Franklin? Ain’t a white person that don’t know Aretha Franklin. Who didn’t hear ‘Respect?’”
“I’m not saying the film has to be a documentary, but we as artists, I know I do, have a responsibility and I will hold steadfast to that while I’m on this Earth. If people put a microphone in my mouth or let me walk on a stage and shine some lights on me, I am going to rectify some of the BS, some of the lies about my people.”
Santiago-Hudson feels we, as a people, are not writing our truths because white Hollywood has said that’s not marketable.
“It’s up to us to protect us and I don’t think we’re doing a great job of it,” he said frankly, “and if money is your master, you’re going to always be a slave.”
The prolific artist has directed “Oo-Bla-Dee,” a play about a 1940s all-female jazz band written by Regina Taylor; and wrote the screenplay for HBO’s Denzel Washington produced adaptation of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” by August Wilson.
Yet, he counts among his greatest accomplishments the trailblazing Ruben Santiago-Hudson Fine Arts Learning Center in Lackawanna; and his starring turn in the biopic “Forgotten Genius” about the unsung Dr. Percy Julian, who had more than 200 patents and was responsible for basically affordable steroids from his work in Africa with the Calabar bean.
Whether working in film, TV or in plays, Santiago-Hudson asserts “If I got three lines, I’m looking for the truth to instill to restore something that has been taken.”
For 12 years, Bill Vaughan has kept Wave readers up to date with the latest news in entertainment. Now, we are collecting some of those past columns into what we call the Best of Tasty Clips. To contact Vaughan, visit his social media pages on Facebook and Instagram or @tasty_clips, on X @tastyclips, and on LinkedIn to William Vaughan.
