Tyler Perry made his name and his career by connecting with black audiences and black culture. That stint as “Madea” only helped to put his name on the map. However, in recent years, Tyler Perry has taken his once ghettoized plays and movies and brought them into mainstream consciousness. Perry doesn’t just shock like Spike Lee or John Singleton, nor does he clown around like the Wayans Brothers or Chris Rock. He really transcends race and captures the true spirit of Americana. One of his biggest successes was producing the Best Picture nominee Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire. He truly did the unprecedented and combined comedy and drama for a number of family-oriented features–stories that were not just about race but the American experience.

Despite his new success as a filmmaker, Tyler Perry is still sticking to his roots as a playwright. Many of his feature length films actually started as plays and were then adapted for the screen. His first production as a youth was “I Know I’ve Been Changed”, a community theater production that dealt with Christian themes and abusive families. Despite the production’s poor performance, Perry kept on, and eventually retooled the play until it received mainstream acceptance. Perry has since made more than $100 million on Broadway, which doesn’t even count his movie or merchandise profits.

His newest feature written for the stage is another comedy drama, this one entitled The Haves and The Have Nots. The play begins by observing a wealthy family who has everything. The family seems preoccupied with the peripherals of life until they become involved with a plot involving their poor housekeeper. Eventually, they are forced to see how the other half lives. However, the spiritual journey to come is the real issue. The play actually features dialog and music written by Tyler Perry, and some great performances by singers and comedians.

The production has received excellent reviews and is helping to cement Tyler Perry as one of the most popular artists of the new millennium. Come learn something about life by seeing one of Tyler Perry’s soul stirring plays in person!

This entry was posted on Friday, September 2nd, 2011 at 2:03 pm and is filed under Comedy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.