Black Lives Matter

Boulevard of Bold Dreams

The evening of February 29, 1940 heralded the beginning of a new era in filmmaking. History was about to be made as Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American actor to win the coveted Academy Award for her supporting role in the blockbuster motion picture, “Gone With the Wind.” But, in the playwright’s compelling fictional portrayal of this monumental evening, there are at least three Black Americans at Hollywood’s Ambassador Hotel who are harboring a pocketful of wishes and and lifelong aspirations.

Making his TimeLine debut with his very first theatrical work, LaDarrion Williams is a new, young playwright filled with his own dreams and aspirations. While serving a high school detention, Williams became inspired to write his own play, after spending that hour reading “A Raisin in the Sun.” He was already aware of Hattie McDaniel’s groundbreaking performance and subsequent accolade in the 40’s. But the Academy’s later snub of Angela Bassett in 1993 for “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” and of Viola Davis being considered simply as a supporting actress in a film where she was clearly the main character, irritated Williams. There was also the fact that no African-American actress had received an Oscar since Halle Berry, in 2002. When Mo’Nique won the Academy Award in 2010, again for Best Supporting Actress, she thanked Hattie McDaniel for paving the way. She also said in her acceptance speech that Ms. McDaniel’s story was one that needed to be told. So LaDarrion Williams took up the challenge.

The gifted, Los Angeles-based young playwright says, and correctly so, that “If you genuinely believe that ‘Black Lives Matter,’ you have to account for Black dreams, hopes and the glory and frustration of Black life. You can’t just state those three words only when it regards death.” With this in mind, LaDarrion Williams wrote “Boulevard of Bold Dreams.” It imagines that Hattie McDaniels has wandered into the cocktail lounge of the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in the Ambassador Hotel, the evening of the 1940 Academy Award Ceremony. Presumably she was trying to escape the paparazzi and also to find some alone time, in order to make an important decision concerning her award. There she meets two young African-Americans with their own dreams: Arthur Brooks, the bartender of Cocoanut Grove, and Dottie Hudson, a maid at the Ambassador hotel and Arthur’s best friend. Both are hopeful that a better life still awaits them in Hollywood.  

Arthur and Dottie have been close since their early days. Brooks grew up in rural Alabama with dreams of coming to Los Angeles to write and film movies. He’s married, has a child on the way and is struggling to make ends meet. But Arthur also has big dreams. He imagines becoming a famous movie director and plans to cast his friend Dottie in his first film, making her a star. Dottie is a talented singer, but she’s also much more of a realist than her friend. After being called names, ill-treated and even molested by cocky older white men, Dottie is cynical of Arthur’s hopes and dreams. When the two friends unexpectedly meet Hattie McDaniel in the Ambassador’s cocktail lounge, the three find commonality in their aspirations.

 Ms. McDaniel shares her thoughts, dreams and musical talent with her two new friends, while confiding in them that she’s considering boycotting the Awards Ceremony. Ms. McDaniel reveals that, because of segregation and the Jim Crow laws, she was unfairly banned from attending the premiere of “Gone With the Wind” in Atlanta. Now she’s been forbidden to sit with her fellow cast members at the Academy Award Ceremony, and has been told she must stay outside. The actress will be notified if she happens to win the Oscar and, if this happens, will be escorted inside to the podium. There Hattie McDaniel will be expected to deliver a short, “safe” acceptance speech that someone at MGM Studio wrote for her. Horrified by this confession, Arthur and Dottie try to convince the talented actress that she has to be bold and brave and attend this possible historic moment in Black history.

Making her TimeLine debut as guest director, Malkia Stampley has guided her cast with insight, grace and affection. Set within Ryan Emens’ classy Art Deco setting, and adorned in period appropriate costumes by Christine Pascual, this trio of talented actors are equally engaging and charismatic. TimeLine Company Member Charles Andrew Gardner is so amiable and appealing as Arthur Brooks. The audience easily falls into his vision for a rosy future in the film industry, despite the reality of racism and inequity in Hollywood at that time. We root for this young man to achieve his dream and, somehow, live happily ever after. Another TimeLine Company Member, lovely Mildred Marie Langford has long been one of my favorite Chicago actresses. She is so magnetic and sincere as Dottie Hudson. With a sassy attitude and smart tongue, Ms. Langford makes Dottie someone we’d all like to know. She’s a woman who’s sharp, strong, won’t take any guff from anyone. Her Dottie is deserving of so much more than being a down-trod victim of prejudice. By the end of this story we hold hope for Dottie and, like Arthur, we cheer for her success.

And making her auspicious TimeLine debut, Gabrielle Lott-Rogers brings to life the late, great film star, Hattie McDaniel. So beautiful in Christine Pascual’s stunning, peacock-blue satin two-piece gown, crowned with white flowers and sequins, this accomplished actress simply sparkles and proves she’s every inch a star. With quiet dignity Ms. Lott-Rogers deftly conveys the frustrating contradiction of being hailed for her trailblazing Oscar nomination, while still being damned for portraying Mammy, a faithful slave during the Civil War era. As the audience hears the humiliating injustice that was heaped upon Hattie McDaniel, we shake our heads with sorrow for all that she went through. The real travesty is that, despite this incident being from 1940, racial prejudice still rears its ugly head in 2023.

TimeLine’s latest offering is a fictional musing on what might possibly have occurred at Hollywood’s swanky Ambassador Hotel the evening of the 1940 Academy Awards. Brilliant new playwright LaDarrion Williams brings this glitzy era to life, while setting the story straight about the ill treatment that Hattie McDaniels, one of the finest film actresses of the early-to-mid twentieth century, had to endure. With sincerity and straightforwardness, this production, like TimeLine’s “Campaigns, Inc” and “Trouble in Mind,” continues to explore the intersection of politics, race and the entertainment business. It’s a magnificent production of a thought-provoking new play that really is a must-see, particularly during a month that honors Black History.      

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented February 1-March 19 by TimeLine Theatre Company, 615 W. Wellington, Chicago.

Tickets are available in person at the theatre box office, by calling 773-281-8463 or by going to www.timelinetheatre.com.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.