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Broadway star Rose McClendon asks 20-year-old Orson Welles to direct Shakespeare's Macbeth with all-Black cast in 1936. Before Citizen Kane and The War of the Worlds, leading Broadway actress Rose McClendon and producer John Houseman convince a gifted but untested 20-year-old Orson Welles to direct Shakespeare's Macbeth with an all-Black cast in Harlem. Reimagined in a Haitian setting, this revolutionary 1936 production, which came to be known as 'Voodoo Macbeth,' would change the world forever, but the road to opening night proves to be a difficult one. Orson and Rose - who is to play Lady Macbeth - clash over everything from scene blocking to crew hires, while Houseman contends with a congressman hell-bent on shutting down what he deems 'communist propaganda.' Welles and McClendon must overcome political pressure, personal demons, and protests to realize their groundbreaking vision. Based on True Events. Media Watch trailer » Bonus Materials Audio Commentary Actual 1936 footage from National Archives of the play that toured the country to interracial audiences. Cast & Crew Actors: Inger Tudor as Rose McClendon Jewell Wilson Bridges as Orson Welles Ashli Haynes as Edna Thomas June Schreiner as Virginia Welles Daniel Kuhlman as John Houseman Jeremy Tardy as Maurice Director: Dagmawi Abebe Director: Victor Alonso-Berbel Director: Hannah Bang Director: Christopher Beaton Director: Agazi Desta Director: Zoë Salnave Director: Roy Arwas Director: Tiffany K. Guillen Director: Ernesto Sandoval Director: Sabina Vajrača Producer: John Watson Producer: Jason Phillips Producer: Miles Alva Producer: Xiaoyuan Xiao Additional Details Label: LIGHTYEAR ENTERTAINM Genre: Drama Language: English Run Time: 108 mins Region: 0 Release Date: 01/17/23 UPC: 810069450612
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Voodoo Macbeth (2021)
108 min
In 1936 Harlem, the first all-Black cast to perform Shakespeare's 'Macbeth', directed by a young and arrogant Orson Welles, battles to make it to opening night.