In Chicken & Biscuits, the new play opening on Broadway this fall, a family gathers to honor the passing of a patriarch, and celebrates at the church gathering with his favorite dish. 

There’s something about communing over food that brings out the realness in people as tempers flare, buttons are pushed and secrets are revealed. It’s laughter mixed with tears, love—and lots of butter.

Encore Monthly asked playwright Douglas Lyons and two actors from the cast—Aigner (pronounced ON-YAY) Mizzelle and Alana Raquel Bowers—to talk about the play, the connection between culture and cuisine, and audiences’ reactions to the show as they enjoy a meal of—what else?—chicken and biscuits. Plus, a whole lot more at the popular East Side Manhattan eatery Root & Bone.

FR: Don’t you find that people open up whenever good food is involved? 

AM: Black people eat after and before everything important. And anything that happens at church, there will likely be food afterwards. If not, there’s likely to be a problem.

FR: What type of food?

DL: Why, chicken and biscuits! That’s why we’re here, Frank. But it’s different for everyone.

ARB: Food is normally where conflict and resolution happen in a lot of Black households. When you’re not able to just ‘Pass the beans, please,’ those are the times when the problems will be settled at the table because no one can leave until everybody is good, until the plate is clean.

FR: Is food character?

DL: It is! Especially in family situations. Recipes that are passed down are very important when it comes to Black families. Things that have been denied for Black people are in the soul of this food. That’s why it’s called soul food. Literally there are spirits in the making of the food.

ARB: Recipes are never written so you have to actually watch [your elders] physically make the dishes because they don’t know how much vanilla they put in the sweet potatoes…

AM: …Until it’s enough. And you cook it until it’s done. No timing. No measurements.

ARB: Learning how to make these meals is a huge responsibility. It’s a rite of passage. 

AM: But nothing vegan. 

FR: But there are vegetables, too.

AM: (Laughing) The vegetables are marinated in meat juices! They don’t care about vegan. I’m a bit of a rebel because I am a vegan.

FR: How do vegans exist in Black culture? 

DL: [Laughing] They don’t.

AM: They do. We just got to bring our own food. But you will get shamed. Oh, yeah.

DL:  But that’s part of the family dynamic and that’s what food brings out, those conversations that can lead to other things.

AM: Where those family buttons are pressed. The buttons are removed. The buttons are popped. 

FR: What makes this play different for Broadway?

DL: It will have the youngest African-American director in Broadway history [Devere Rogers, 27] and its first Black female sound designer [Twi McCallum]. And we have producers of color, too.

ARB: There are eight characters in the play and five are Black women, so that alone is beyond what you would expect from a commercial play. The story is about these women living their real lives rather than experiencing a certain trauma. It allows you to see Black women thrive in a way that you wouldn’t normally see. And a lot of it happens outside of the male gaze. But you can come from a completely different culture and see yourself or your family in this play, too.

DL:  I remember in the Queens production there were Jewish women in the audience who told me, “That’s my family.”

FR: So, if you can make it in Queens, you can make it anywhere? 

DL: It brought in Black families who had never been to the theatre.

ARB: I did not realize how important it is for people, especially young people, to look up and see people like us on stage, not looking disheveled, but lovely, put together, looking good. The first thing people are going to see in this play is a beautiful Black woman putting on her Sunday best: a character that is not being abused, a character who is not suffering. It’s nice to know that that’s not the only content.

AM: I feel so blessed to be in this historic play, at this historic moment on Broadway, that is going to make people laugh. No one is beaten. I am not playing a slave. My Broadway debut is going to be about laughter and healing and that feels so good, you know what I mean?

DL: And four actors from the Queens production will be making their Broadway debuts.

FR: What was it like when you received the offer?

ARB: I was at home and my agent called and she said, “They sent you an offer.” I said, “Who?” And she read the email offer aloud and I said, “What?” I said that word, “WHAT?” I didn’t say anything else. Maybe I said, “Me?”

And then I just screamed.

And then I Facetimed with my parents and my mother was at the dining room table where the cell service is bad. So, I say, “I have something to tell you.” She goes, “Huh?” “I-have-something-to-tell-you.” She says, “Did somebody die?” I said, “No, Ma. It’s good. I’m not going to be with you in the fall for Thanksgiving because I booked a show. So, you know how you never got to see Chicken & Biscuits? Well, it’s coming back.” “Oh, that’s nice. Where?” I say, “On Broadway.” “What? I can’t hear you.”

“I…am…going…to…be…on…BROADWAY!”

And then suddenly the Facetime picture is going all over the place and she’s screaming and jumping, and I hear my father who just walked into the room say, “What’s going on?” I said, “Please give the phone to Daddy.” And she says, “I can’t help it. I can’t stop. She’s going to Broadway! She’s going to Broadway!” And I can hear my father say, “Who’s going to Broadway? She’s going to Broadway? Is she getting paid?” 

That was the first question he asks. Then I told him how much and he dropped the phone. I could still hear my mother crying and saying, “Oh, we prayed for this” and then she said all these different Scriptures and verses, before saying, “Who can I tell?” And I said, “No one!” And then she got upset. After I just told her I’m making my Broadway debut! And now she’s mad at me. “Why did you tell me if I can’t tell anyone?” “Well, I’m sorry.”

FR: [We’re all roaring with laughter at the telling of the story. Finally:] Do you feel you’re at a moment in Broadway history where significant change is happening for people of color?

ARB: I care about representation, and I also care about not limiting representation. These eight people on stage are not a representation of all people of color. But there is a sense of community being built here and seeing Black people on stage in our play being in conflict and then being able to resolve it is moving. Right now, it just feels right and necessary and needed. I’m in a play that doesn’t demonize Blackness in any way and on top of that we get to make people laugh. Like, I never saw a Black comedy on stage.

FR: Of course, there’s Tyler Perry’s shows. 

DL: This will be compared to them, and I think that’s a beautiful comparison and I will own it. Tyler Perry is an Oscar-honored humanitarian, and that man did what he needed and wanted to do. He didn’t always do it in a way that people liked but that’s how I learned, too, writing this play backstage when I was [performing] in Beautiful. I think this play will make space for others, too.

AM: It’s exciting to create new accessibility on Broadway. There needs to be new audiences and to create a communion of old and new audiences, too. If we’re going to do this right, we need to come together and see where we’re similar.

FR: Perhaps over chicken and biscuits, too.