Charles Randolph-Wright has penned a new play about the life of activist and filmmaker Sidney Poitier.
The play, entitled “Sidney,” is based on Poitier’s autobiography “The Measure of a Man” and is currently in development. Ruben Santiago-Hudson is attached to direct, and producers include Ron Gillyard, Barry Krost and Poitier’s daughter, Anika Poitier.
Randolph-Wright, who recently directed the Broadway production of “Trouble in Mind,” was selected by Poitier’s family to write the play, according to a press release. Santiago-Hudson, also chosen by the family to helm the play, recently appeared in “Lackawanna Blues” on Broadway, and is directing the upcoming Broadway production of Dominique Morisseau’s “Skeleton Crew.”
Now 94 years old, Poitier was the first Black man to win the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1963. He is also a retired diplomat, having served as the Bahamian ambassador to Japan from 1997 to 2007 and simultaneously to UNESCO from 2002 to 2007. Poitier was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1968 and awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.
The new play is aiming for Broadway, but no production timeline has yet been announced.
