The Billie Holiday Theatre at RestorationART in Brooklyn, in association with Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre Company in Atlanta, is presenting a new adaptation of Colman Domingo’s much heralded Dot.
Dot is directed by Tony Award-winning Broadway and film director Kenny Leon and stars Emmy Award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre alumna Denise Burse as the lead character Dot. Burse is best known for portraying Claretha on Tyler Perry’s House of Payne.
Dot is a dramedy that takes a light hearted approach to a very serious subject, Alzheimer's disease and mental health in the Black community. The show explores the interactions of widowed matriarch Dotty and her family. As Dotty struggles to hold onto her memory, a result of her Alzheimer's diagnosis, her children must fight to blance care for their mother with care for themselves.
WBGO's News Director Doug Doyle sat down with Denise Burse to talk about the show, the director, the cast, her career and her connection to legendary playwright August Wilson. Doyle also spoke with Dr. Indira Etwaroo, the Executive Director of the Billie Holiday Theatre. That interviews airs next week on the WBGO Journal, October 27th.
Burse says this is one of her more challenging roles.
"I'm particulary grateful to have the opportunity to do it now in my career and in my life because it comes a year after my stepfather passed from Alzheimer's. I think it was the way the universe sort of lined up to give me an opportunity revaluate some things that happened in that relationship. It was very difficult towards the end to watch a very vibrant, a renaissance man if you will, who was very accomplished in many many areas. He had been a musician who could play several instruments who taught both the marching band and concert band in high school and then moved to become an elementary school principal. So he mentored many many lives. To see him physically and mentally decline, it was very difficult to watch that. But even in the depth of the disease, there were moments when you really still got a glimpse of that sense of humor that he had. An those were fun memories for me. He was so vivid sometimes in his comments that left an in indelible mark on me emotionally that I really have had an opportunity to reflect on those going through the process of creating the character and understanding better why he behaved the way he did. There were moments that were very tender for me because I just wanted to feel that I had given as much love and support and compassion to him in an effort to really understand, because it was alway very new for us. It's a very intense diagnosis for everyone to sort of grapple with."
Burse has enjoyed working with a cast of talented performers in Dot. The cast includes Tinashe Kajese-Bolden as Shelly, Rhyn McLemore Saver as Jackie, Gilbert Glenn Brown as Donnie, Lee Osorio as Adam, Amber A. Harris as Averie and Benedetto Robinson as Fidel.
Burse says the playwright Colman Domingo did an amazing job of talking about a sensitive topic and still being able to inject humor in the show.
"He doesn't allow the drama to overwhelm you. He doesn't allow it to sit too long before there is something light-hearted happening. And that's a real gift because we an so often find our ourselves weighed down with all the sadness and the importance of what we're talking about."
Burse says it Colman Domingo was actually on set for a few days during rehearsals. She says it made all the difference in helping shape the show this time around.
The Emmy-winning actress has known director Kenny Leon for many years.
"We were still students when I first me him and to see his meteor rise is just phenomenal but also very touching for me. He started out on stage with me and the next thing we knew he was directing and then took over as artistic director at The Alliance in Atlanta and went on to form True Colors Theatre."
Leon's True Colors Theatre Company in Atlanta latest project is now at the Billie Holiday Theatre at RestorationART. RestorationART and the Billie are one of the last remaining institutions forged in the Civil Rights era. RestorationART was founded in 1967 through the efforst of senators Robert F. Kennedy and Jacob Javits. Many of today's successful actors, dancers and other artists hav developed their craft at the Billie including Samuel L. Jackson, Ruby Dee and Wendell Pierce.
Burse fondly remembers her first days at the Billie.
"I'm just so grateful for my relationship with the Billie Holiday Theatre because it was my start in theater when I moved from Atlanta to New York."
The Atlanta native says they would work on several shows at the same time.
"It was such an intense experience but so valid for me because you had to keep several scenarios in your head at once. I think when we came to the end of that we realized how much work we had done."
Burse that prepared for many future roles including her work on Tyler Perry's House of Payne where you had to learn scripts quickly while shooting two or three episodes a week.
Previews for Dot begin October 20th through October 24th with the Opening on Thursday, October 25th. Dot will run through November 18th at the Billie Holiday Theatre, 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn.
Click above to hear the entire interview with Denise Burse.
