JLT & NYC Activities

Actress Ella Joyce (Roc, My Wife and Kids) visits with the August Wilson’s Women cast

Jannie Jones as “Ma Rainey”

Ella Joyce & AWW cast: (l to r) Kimberley Dalton Mitchell, Ella Joyce, Jannie Jones, and Thursday Farrar. Not pictured: Jamil A.C. Mangan and Michael Jones

The nine-show run (3/25-4/10) of August Wilson’s Women, at the Nuyorican Poets Café, closed on a very high note when actress, Ella Joyce of Roc and My Wife and Kids fame, caught the show along with Black Spectrum producer, Carl Clay, and casting agent Lawrence Evans, who recently returned to NYC from a very successful run of Ruined in Florida. Ella originated the roles of “Risa” in Two Trains Running and “Tonya” in King Hedley. It’s always a thrill and honor when your very busy colleagues make time to see your work. Ella was in town that weekend performing her one-woman show about Rosa Parks, A Rose Among Thorns, at Black Spectrum. JLT is working hard to bring Ella back for the 12th Annual Jamboree. She was a guest artist in 2003 at the 4th Jam, where she acted in three plays including Willie and Esther, which Carl subsequently produced at Black Spectrum. Two years later W & E was invited to the National Black Theatre Festival with Ella as Esther, Carl as Smitty, her no-good landlord, and Lorna Littleway, director.