Danielle Deadwyler joins the show to talk about playing Berniece in Malcolm Washington's directorial debut, The Piano Lesson. Based on August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, the film follows a sibling clash over a prized heirloom piano – the sole vestige of their family’s heritage.
Deadwyler shares her long-standing connection to Wilson's work, discusses how Berniece's character relates directly to her independent work as a performance artist (which explores the blurred lines of Black female labor in America), and describes the family-dynamic that Washington created for the cast and crew over the course of filming.
She also considers how being a middle child impacted the deep sense of familial responsibility she felt growing up, ruminates on how her hometown of Atlanta, Georgia shaped her as an artist, and reflects on the trajectory of her acting career -- which took off in 2020 and has shown no signs of slowing.
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