Photos: Inside Rehearsals for MS. BLAKK FOR PRESIDENT Off-Broadway

You can now get a first look inside rehearsals for Vineyard Theatre’s upcoming production of MS. BLAKK FOR PRESIDENT, with a cast led by Emmy Award winner and Grammy Award nominee Wayne Brady as Terence Alan Smith/Joan Jett Blakk. MS. BLAKK FOR PRESIDENT is written by Academy Award winner Tarell Alvin McCraney and Tony Award nominee Tina Landau. Landau also directs. In addition to Mr. Brady, the cast includes Nic Ashe, Tony Award nominee Gideon Glick, Kelvin Moon Loh Sawyer Smith and Adina Verson.

Introducing Joan Jett Blakk—the first (and only) Black Drag Queen Candidate for President of the United States of America. It’s the early 90s, the height of the AIDS epidemic, and Joan and the newly formed Queer Nation Chicago set off on an exhilarating and dangerous journey to drag queer politics out of the closet—and onto the floor of the DNC. Inspired—but not bound—by the true story of drag performer and activist Terence Alan Smith, MS. BLAKK FOR PRESIDENT is a joyous stampede through urgent and unfinished business. 

Part campaign rally, part nightclub performance, part confessional—and all party—this singular new work by Tarell Alvin McCraney and Tina Landau features a cast led by Wayne Brady as the incomparable Terence/Joan.

Photo credit: Tricia Baron