A bouquet, a peace sign and a star-print suit crowd the front of the frame as the company of MS. BLAKK FOR PRESIDENT squeezes in front of the Vineyard Theatre logo wall, with director Tina Landau at the center, in opening-night photos the theater released on November 13.
The pictures, by Tricia Baron and Angela Orellana, catch the Sunday, November 8, opening from two sides. On stage it is the curtain call: Ato Blankson-Wood, still in Joan Jett Blakk’s stars and stripes, throws both arms wide while Nic Ashe, Gideon Glick, Kelvin Moon Loh, Sawyer Smith and Adina Verson soak up a standing crowd among the nightclub tables. Off stage, Blankson-Wood swaps the flag for a gray suit and a red tie.
Guests on the night included André Holland, Jelani Alladin, Nathan Lee Graham, director Rachel Chavkin, James Cusati-Moyer, Hillary Fisher and playwright Sarah Gancher.
The play is by Tarell Alvin McCraney and Landau, who also directs. It draws on, without being bound by, the story of Terence Alan Smith, the drag performer and activist who ran for president as Joan Jett Blakk in the early 1990s. With the AIDS crisis at its height, Joan and the newly formed Queer Nation Chicago carry the campaign all the way to the floor of the Democratic National Convention, and the evening plays as rally, club set and confession at once. Polanco Jones Jr. understudies the title role.
The notices have been warm. TheaterMania called the production “a marvel,” and Talkin’ Broadway declared “Ms. Blakk for President certainly has my vote.” Our review roundup gathers what the critics said, and our first look has the production photos.
The Vineyard has already added an extra week, so the run now ends with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, November 29. Tickets are on sale from Vineyard Theatre, 108 East 15th Street, and through the box office at 212-353-0303.
Next at the Vineyard is PETRA, conceived by Half Straddle from Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant and directed by Tina Satter, with performances from February 2027.
