Actress Tracey A. Leigh was attracted to perform in Andrew Dolan’s provocative-titled play, “The Many Mistresses of Martin Luther King” because of the layered complexities of race relations and love told through the eyes of a black student and white college educator and their respective families.
News4usonline.com caught up with Leigh, a veteran stage, film and television thespian with starring credits in Grey’s Anatomy and Criminal Minds, to discuss the dynamics of race, family and relationships that “The Many Mistresses of Martin Luther King” encompasses.
Playing in Los Angeles at the Atwater Village Theatre through April 29,”The Many Mistresses of Martin Luther King” is set in a university town with the backdrop of a white college professor (Broadway actor Philip Casnoff) tying the knot with his younger black student, which is played by the OBIE Award-winning Leigh.
This sets up a humorous, thought-provoking discussion of race, a subject that is still difficult for many people to talk about and reference accurately and unblinkingly. Race is always a hard issue to take on. But when it is told creatively, it is most often done in a way that is usually overtop or from a narrow perspective, says Dolan.
“I’ve always been fascinated by how people discuss race in America,” explains Dolan. “It’s the defining social issue in our history. I’ve seen many plays that address it, but I’ve always left profoundly dissatisfied because they almost universally pander to the expectations of liberal theatergoing audiences. I wanted to write a play that is not necessarily a reflection of the liberal perspective, and I wanted to write it without apology.”
In a lengthy phone interview, Leigh provides some insight on her role, the many working variables of the play, and what audience should expect to get out of “The Many Mistresses of Martin Luther King.”
N4O: What got you interested in wanting to be part of this stage production?
TL: “Someone asked me to read it, and I was fascinated by the idea of a group of very smart, intellectual people, they are in a college town, and this young woman, who is a student, marries her professor who is white. She herself is from the projects. She ends up marrying her white professor who has Republican views. He has somewhat maverick, radical views. This whole idea is…this white guy whose family has basically become black around him.
“His daughter has got together and gotten engaged to the son of another set of professors in the department, and they are also black. So he is not thrilled of his daughter, who is 17 at the time, getting together with this kid. I don’t think so much because he is black, but because she is young. So it’s the kind of mistake that they have, and the fact these two people shouldn’t be together. But they are very much in love. The difficulties they encounter with their various points of views and their different approach to the world-that is what drew me.”
N4O: What should audiences take away from this play?
TL: “Hopefully, they will be entertained because it is a great play. It is a lot of ideas that have been bandied around in the public sphere. Hopefully, they will see themselves and their points of view in the play, and also to be able to hear other points of views, and be able to take away a certain humanity that no matter what their positions are on certain things, they will have a bit of compassion and humanity for others as they talk about race and class in their lives.”
N4O: You play the role of Lashawna, the black student who falls in love with her white college professor. How did you turn this role into one that audiences can identify with?
TL: “First and foremost, she is like everyone else in that she has to find her own way in the world, find her own sense of self in a way also that is coming of age for her, someone who is trying to break out of the confines of the environment in which she grew up, and trying to help her younger brother get to the university…Her older brothers and sisters had children young, got married, had children out of wedlock. Her older brother is in jail. She is someone who sees her younger brother coming up and wants to give him an opportunity in the world that is very different than the one they knew growing up. I hope that this story of her trying to give her younger brother a chance in the world, and trying to grow and better herself, is something that folks can relate to.”
N4O: Are there certain parts of the character you’re playing that you can identify with personally?
TL: Some of the part very much. My life was very different than hers. I grew up in a very strict, sheltered environment. When I went away to school, I didn’t have many of the same resources that my character didn’t have. For an example, I didn’t go away for spring break. I was always the person who stayed behind and dog-sat or cat-sat for my friends. I didn’t have any resources to be going away. I was trying to find someone who I can relate to. The thing is in this story, intellectually, as far as their interest and their passion and their abilities to argue points…the college professor and Lashawna-they’re very much soul mates in this way.”
N4O: Do you prefer the stage [acting over television and acting] roles?
TL: “I started in theatre as a dancer…I love acting. I love the work, so whether it is a musical theater or whether it’s in commercials, whether it’s in T.V. or film, interacting with other people and learning about other people, and playing other people, is something I enjoy no matter what medium.”
N4O: How challenging was this role to learn and to take on?
TL: “Every role has its challenges, and the challenges are to make someone human. One of the challenges has been, and one of the challenges I like about new work is that you’re getting in at the ground level, and you have a chance to influence a character and create it on the page. You get to influence the development of a character. So the challenge for me is to develop this character in the space of her older professor who is so strong-making sure that she has a voice and that she can hold her own.”
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, social justice, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University.