This Is Us

It’s no secret to anyone who’s been lucky enough to witness a Lynn Nottage play that she is an absolute powerhouse.

Lynn combines the highs and lows of life into her art and in turn gives audiences the theatrical experience of a lifetime.  When talking about her new play Clyde’s, she expressed how sitting down to write this particular piece led her to believe that she was writing strictly a drama, but as she went through, aspects of comedy shined through into her writing, creating a show that is both so heartwarming, so inspiring, and so incredibly funny. The beauty of this show is that it brings situations and political aspects to real life characters, which causes the situations to feel more real, and closer to the viewers. This tactic is so incredibly important in every way. Nottage puts so much care into each of her characters. Uzo Aduba plays the titular role of Clyde, a woman who has lived a life with a lack of love, who believes that the good of life is lost in her and there isn’t much she can do about it. The owner of a sandwich shop, Clyde is surrounded by a lively group of ex convicts turned “Sandwich Artists,” as Ron Cephas Jones put it. Alongside her is Cephas Jone’s Montrellous, as well as a handful of people on the quest to reclaim the good in life. We sat down with the cast and creative team of Clyde’s, check out the brilliant conversation below!