Since age 18, Kecia Lewis has left an indelible mark on Broadway, and with every position, she’s making means for the Black girls who comply with her.
Destined for greatness, Lewis’ Broadway debut was performing within the legendary unique firm of Dreamgirls; different theater credit embody Huge River, As soon as on This Island, Chicago, Cinderella, and a number of various titles, together with the off-Broadway productions of The Pores and skin of Our Tooth, Mom Braveness, and Marie and Rosetta.
Past the stage, Lewis has appeared in recurring roles on quite a few tv collection, together with Regulation & Order: SVU and The Blacklist, however her coronary heart has at all times remained with theater.
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“I’ve been within the enterprise, this previous June 15 made 41 years, and I’ve been doing Broadway and movie and tv for all these years,” she instructed MadameNoire. I’ve at all times thought of myself a gifted actor, however wasn’t essentially celebrated in the best way I anticipated, particularly in my youthful years after I was lots much less humble. It was like, can’t they see I’m fabulous, however because the years go by, I found out, it’s not about that. “I didn’t get into this to be fabulous. I received into this as a result of I’m captivated with it.”
In 2024, Lewis joined the Broadway manufacturing of Hell’s Kitchen, the place she continues to shine as Miss Liza Jane. The position has earned her quite a few accolades and reward, together with a 2024 Tony Award for Greatest Efficiency by an Actress in a Featured Position in a Musical.
“I’ve been instructed many occasions that my character is the guts of the story,” she stated. “That Miss Liza Jane represents somebody that all of us, virtually everybody on this planet, have had, which is a mentor. She is somebody who cares about our main woman, Ally, our protagonist within the present, and he or she desires to see her excel. She desires to see her make the most of the items and abilities that she has and never waste them. She additionally desires her to concentrate on all those that have come earlier than her, and the way vital it’s for her to be conscientious about her reward, and that she is a part of a protracted line of Black girls who’ve contributed…on this means.”
“It’s a privilege to play Miss Liza Jane. I’ve had so many Miss Liza Jane’s in my life and Mister Liza Jane’s, if you’ll, that it’s an absolute privilege to have the ability to signify that for thus many individuals. Irrespective of who you’re, regardless of the place they arrive from, individuals simply establish along with her.”
Like many industries, Black girls proceed to battle for equality and higher therapy inside the world of theater. Just lately, Lewis demanded higher conduct from fellow thespian Patti LuPone after she referred to Hell’s Kitchen as “too loud.”
The jukebox musical options music and lyrics by Alicia Keys and is loosely primarily based on the singer’s life, and LuPone’s feedback happened when she starred in The Roommate stage play, which shared a wall with Hell’s Kitchen.
In the end, LuPone issued an apology after Lewis known as out the guy Broadway veteran for being “offensive, impolite, and racially microaggressive,” however admits that feedback like these barely contact the floor of the prejudices Black actors face each on and off the stage.