Since the announcement that Broadway's Ain't No Mo' was abruptly closing December 18, screen and stage favorites have emerged to rally support for the show. The play by Jordan E. Cooper, who became Broadway's youngest Black American playwright with the production, has since received an extension to December 23.
The latest to join the fight to #saveAINTNOMO is Queen Latifah, who will host the December 17 performance. Other performances have been bought out by Sara Ramirez, Shonda Rimes, Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade, Tyler Perry, and Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.
Says Cooper at the end of the December 15 performance of Ain't No Mo', when he heard the show was closing, “I wasn’t gonna take it without a fight. I put out a call to action to the community to help us out because we didn’t get a chance to find an audience before we got our closing notice. And I put an action out for everybody, to tell everybody, to go and buy tickets for everybody, to see what we can do beyond Ain’t No Mo’. It’s so much bigger than Ain’t No Mo’.”
Cooper launched the #saveAINTNOMO campaign to try and save the show in its final week of performances. As part of those efforts, Lena Waithe hosted a talkback December 13, while Emmy-winning Drag Race host RuPaul hosted a special performance December 15.
When the show's closing date was announced, Cooper posted to Instagram in part: “Ain’t No Mo’ needs your help. It’s a new original play that’s Black AF, which are things that make it hard to sell on Broadway. Now they’ve posted an eviction notice. ... But thank God Black people are immune to eviction notice.” The post encourages people to buy tickets to the show, saying “We’ve worked hard to make it accessible with an average ticket price of $50.”
The reason behind the show's sudden closure appears to be low ticket sales given critics' positive reviews. Stevie Walker-Webb directs the production which stars Cooper, Crystal Lucas-Perry, Fedna Jacquet, Marchánt Davis, Ebony Marshall-Oliver, Shannon Matesky, Nik Alexander, Jasminn Johnson, Michael Rishawn, Kedren Spencer, Brennie Tellu, and Emma Van Lare.
Ain’t No Mo’ is a play that posits, in series of comedy sketches: “What happens if the American government offered African Americans a one-way ticket back to Africa?”
The creative team features lighting designer Adam Honoré, scenic designer Scott Pask, costume designer Emilio Sosa, co-sound designers Jonathan Deans and Taylor Williams, and wig designer Mia M. Neal.
See photos of the production below.
Marchant Davis and company of Ain't No Mo'
Crystal Lucas-Perry in Ain't No Mo'
Fedna Jacquet, Shannon Matesky, Marchant Davis, Crystal Lucas Perry, and Ebony Marshall Oliver in Ain't No Mo'
Shannon Matesky and Crystal Lucas Perry in Ain't No Mo'
Jordan E. Cooper in Ain't No Mo'
Cystal Lucas Perry and Ebony Marshall Oliver in Ain't No Mo'
