Chicken & Biscuits' Ebony Marshall-Oliver & Alana Raquel Bowers on Why Their Broadway Debuts Feel 'Like Coming Home'

The family dramedy Chicken & Biscuits marks the Broadway debuts of both Ebony Marshall-Oliver and Alana Raquel Bowers. The performers met Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek and Broadway.com correspondent Charlie Cooper at Mom's Kitchen & Bar on The Broadway Show to dish about the new show.

"I feel like I'm coming home with this piece. I grew up like this," Marshall-Oliver said of Douglas Lyons' play, which centers on the Jenkins family as they come together to celebrate the life of its patriarch. The gathering that is filled with big laughs and perhaps even bigger drama. "A family dynamic is a family dynamic. I hope they leave seeing Black love and Black joy on display. I hope that they can see themselves no matter who they are in our story." 

With the raucous comedy scenes and church setting, it's easy for the audience at Circle in the Square Theatre to feel like a congregation by the show's end. Bowers spoke about the significance of Chicken & Biscuits' bow: "I'm excited for littler versions of myself to come and see this thing that I had never grown up seeing [on Broadway]."

Watch the interview below, and head here to check your local listings for The Broadway Show. Hosted by Emmy-winning anchor Tamsen Fadal and powered by Broadway.com, it is the only nationally syndicated weekly theater news program.