3/9/2022
Performances and Artists
When discussing the themes of Broadway musical “The Color Purple,” Torrey Russell emphasizes how strongly they relate to everyone.
“‘The Color Purple’ is truly a story about resilience, about love, acceptance, community and understanding,” says Russell, founder of Broadway in the H.O.O.D., a Las Vegas-based, nonprofit theater company.
These themes feel especially significant in such uncertain times, he adds.
“It is so important at this time with everything going on in the world, not just in relation to race, but to our relations as human beings, to understand that love will prevail through every single thing,” Russell says.
Russell feels proud to perform this production’s powerful story of the traumas and gradual empowerment of a young Black woman in rural Georgia during the early 1900s.
“The story deals with a time in history that was so important, with America just coming out of slavery,” Russell says. “It’s about understanding the dynamic of the African American male and the African American female, where they were in this country then, and where we’ve come to now. For me, ‘The Color Purple’ is about hope and future and life.”
Embracing Community
With a roughly 30-member cast comprised entirely of Southern Nevada residents from age 6 to 70, the show centers on celebrating community.
These performers include newcomers to the stage, singers from church choirs and veteran performers who regularly light up venues on the Strip.
“The objective is to really highlight the community, and those who may never otherwise have the opportunity to perform at The Smith Center,” Russell says, adding that Broadway in the H.O.O.D. was one of the first off-Broadway theater organizations to receive the rights to perform this musical.
The show will be stripped down and highly immersive, he adds, to bring the audience into the story and help them connect with the characters.
“The approach to this production really is about simplicity,” he says. “It’s about understanding the power of women, the African American community and the power of the arts.”
A Light in Dark Times
Miraculously, Broadway in the H.O.O.D. — a beloved community resource for its theater productions, classes and summer camp — has continued its numerous outreach efforts throughout the pandemic.
At first depressed over the cancellation of a nationwide Broadway in the H.O.O.D. tour, Russell says he found strength to persevere after receiving a call from the parent of a student going through a deep, emotional crisis.
“I felt like, ‘OK, I’ve got to pull up my bootstraps for these kids, and these families and the community,’” he recalls.
So, Russell organized a virtual summer camp in 2020, and, with live productions impossible, he helped the theater company’s student members write and shoot their first movie and TV show.
On top of that, he hosted the annual summer camp in person for 2021, with the 70 participants learning singing, acting and dancing to put on the production “Annie.”
“Broadway in the H.O.O.D. has been a healthy outlet and a very positive way to express all of the frustration, all of the anger, all of the joy, all of the pain and all of the uncertainty that COVID has brought,” he says.
Russell offers deepest thanks to Broadway in the H.O.O.D’s many donors, sponsors, volunteers and participants for ongoing support that makes it all possible.
“Broadway in the H.O.O.D. has been a light in this time of such uncertainty and darkness,” he says.
LEARN MORE
To learn more about Broadway in the H.O.O.D, visit www.broadwayinthehood.org or @BroadwayintheHood on Facebook.