‘Ain’t No Mo’ Renewed On Broadway After Celebrity Rally

Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride: That statement could easily describe being black in America, and Jordan E. Cooper brings that journey to life on Broadway another week after a successful social media campaign.

His play “Ain’t No Mo” gives a glimpse of what happens when blacks get the chance to leave America with a one-way ticket to Africa. Exploring race, class, incarceration, abortion and other issues, the production is part of “sketching, satire, avant-garde theater and a dose of drag.” his website reads. At times, “Ain’t No Mo'” is ridiculously funny; at other times, viewers might shed tears.

Cooper plays Peaches, a flight attendant on the final flight of African American Airlines Flight 1619. “Ain’t No Mo” made him the youngest black American playwright in Broadway history at just 27 years old.

But on Dec. 9, Cooper published online that his play received an “eviction notice” from Broadway just a week after opening. The news meant that the last performance of “Ain’t No Mo” would take place on Sunday, December 1st. 18,” the playwright said.

“This is a new original play by BLACK AF, and both things make it hard to sell on Broadway,” Cooper wrote in his post, adding that fans called the production “the best theatrical experience of their lives.”

Cooper launched the hashtag #SaveAintNoMo to draw attention to the upcoming closure and support the play. In response, celebrities such as Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith, Tyler Perry, Gabrielle Union, Dwyane Wade as well as Shonda Rhimes all bought out performances of “Ain’t No Mo”.

Meanwhile, Emmy Award winner Lena Waite helped host the show this week. Whitehe recently joined the list of influential producers of “Ain’t No Mo”, which also includes Lee Daniels and writer Jeremy O. Harris from The Slave Game.

Then, in an update on the Thursday night show, Cooper announced that the play’s Broadway run had been renewed. according to Term – that is, theatergoers now have time until December. 23 to see the show.

Ain’t No Mo premiered in 2019 at the New York Public Theater and Cooper received a special honor at the Obie Awards, which celebrates off-Broadway and off-Broadway productions.

A few years ago, Cooper had a run-in with the police that made him question his worth in America. He went to a 7-Eleven convenience store to buy a Slurpee when the officer made him think twice before making his next move.

“I remember reaching up to grab some red porridge and the cop tapped his gun and winked at me,” Cooper said, recalling that the incident happened around the time Elton Sterling and Philando Castile were shot by police in July. 2016

“If black people give so much to this country, then why are they considered useless?” he said he asked himself at the time.

According to Cooper, blacks have always “had the ability to turn shit into sugar.” So, he wanted to spread humor in turbulent times with “Ain’t No Mo”. He described the play as “a love letter to black culture”.

Cooper sought to create a space for black Americans, and not necessarily one that would be acceptable to other races.

“Black people were dragged into this country, stripped of our identity, and had to build our culture out of sticks and stones,” Cooper said. “We must laugh in the face of our pain and use black comedy to find light in these painful moments.”