Feature: BROADWAY IN THE HOOD PRESENTS CHICKEN & BISCUITS FEB. 13-15

The love of friends and that special someone is celebrated on Galentine’s Day and Valentine’s Day. Enjoy the weekend of love with the Broadway in the Hood production of Chicken & Biscuits, a family drama infused with humor, coming to the West Las Vegas Library Theatre Feb. 13-15.

The comedy occurs during a pastor's funeral, disrupted by family drama. The Jenkins family reunites to honor the late great Reverend Bernard Jenkins—but when a long-hidden family secret comes to light, child things get messy! Get ready to laugh, cry, shout, and enjoy a big old helping of Chicken & Biscuits and a whole lot of love as the Jenkins family proves that the bonds of faith and family are stronger than any secret. Bring your church fan, your tambourine, and your tissues—and, of course, bring your special someone. Chicken & Biscuits celebrates the joy, the love, and the power of the black church, as well as the unbreakable bonds of family.

“We're kicking it off the season with a wonderful Broadway production. It's a play with music, and it's hilarious. Yes, it takes place during a funeral with a diverse family understanding the grieving process and dealing with family dynamics,” explains Torrey Russell, Founding Artistic Director and Executive Director of Broadway in the Hood. “This show features eight absolutely amazing actors. It is not just a comedy. It relates to stereotypes and different things and deals with the humaneness of understanding how we relate to love and learn from each other's diversity. The show features the relationship between a mom and dad, son and daughter, best friends, and the family patriarch over soul food. The show itself is actually soul food for your soul.”

Chicken & Biscuits, written by playwright and actor Douglas Lyons, debuted at the Queens Theatre in the Park on February 28, 2020 and made its Broadway debut at the Circle in the Square Theatre in 2021. That year featured seven other Black playwrights, a Broadway record, and Zhailon Levingston was Broadway's youngest Black director. The Broadway production starred Norm Lewis and Michael Urie. Chicken & Biscuits was the first production that opened on Broadway after the pandemic. Lyons made his Broadway debut as an actor in The Book of Mormon and branched out as a playwright 10 years later.

The lead, Wilfred Moore, is a pastor at Abundant Peace UCC Church in Las Vegas and a Clark County School District teacher. Moore has been a part of Broadway in the Hood since it started 13 years ago, and he is making his stage debut in Chicken & Biscuits.

Las Vegas legend Kim Flowers, one of the first African American showgirls to perform on the Las Vegas Strip, will also make her stage debut in Chicken & Biscuits. This pioneer has been active in the entertainment industry and opened many community doors.

The hilarious character Beverly is played by Michelle Marshall, a Tina Turner tribute artist making her stage debut in Chicken & Biscuits. Marshall will also perform in her own show, a resident show opening at Notoriety Las Vegas on February 18.

Demeasa Heard, named the Clark County School District's Teacher of the Year in 2023 at Sedway Middle School, will also perform in the play.

Russell is directing the production, and his assistant Emmanuel Munford and Sin City Scenic created the sets.

“We've had a chance to speak with the playwright, and this show is unlike any other Broadway in the Hood production. It is a feel-good, beautiful, fun-loving show dealing with stereotypes. It's so amazing how we from so many different levels look at the other side stereotypically, not even realizing that we do that,” added Russell.

The show is free and open to the public on Valentine's weekend, with showtimes at 7 p.m. February 13 and February 14 and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. February 15 at the West Las Vegas Library Theatre, 951 W. Lake Mead Blvd. The theater seats 300, and while no reservation is needed, guests will be seated on a first-come-first-served basis. Complementary parking is also available. For more info, visit broadwayinthehood.org.

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