Celebrating Black History Month: NaTasha Yvette Williams Honors Lorraine Hansberry and LaChanze

In honor of Black History Month, Broadway.com is celebrating some of the theater industry’s most influential Black artists. We invited actors who are currently on Broadway to tell us about the individuals who most inspire them. Each week in February will feature a new entry in the series, with Broadway stars honoring their colleagues, mentors and the historic figures they admire.

NaTasha Yvette Williams is currently lording over Shiz as Madame Morrible in Broadway's unstoppable hit, Wicked. The theater veteran earned a Tony nomination and a Grammy for originating the role of Sweet Sue in Some Like It Hot and had memorable stints as Matron "Mama" Morton in Chicago, Zelma in Tina and Becky in Waitress. For her contribution to our Black History Month series, Williams chose to honor playwright Lorraine Hansberry and Tony winning performer-producer extraordinaire LaChanze. 

Hansberry's most famous work is A Raisin in the Sun, which chronicles a Black family striving toward upward mobility in South Side Chicago. Williams first encountered the text in high school. "I recognized [the themes] of trying to climb the ladder, trying to excel and to be accepted, trying to move up. There was nothing foreign in the story for me and that's why I identified with it," she says. A Raisin in the Sun marked the first time a play written by a Black woman was staged on Broadway when it premiered in 1959. "It was the first time that Black lives were depicted in a humane kind of way on Broadway," Williams adds. "She changed the landscape about Black people's experience, and bringing that to the forefront."

She continues: "I just want to salute [Hansberry] for that historical moment because we're sort of living in the tentacles of that right now with a lot of opportunity for Black playwrights and Black creatives to have their stories told and to tell our stories. I'm a Black actress. I went to the theater and I saw things that reflected me and let me say, 'Oh, I can do that.' That's what opening up the space is about and that's what Lorraine Hansberry did with her stories."

Alongside Hansberry, Williams also chose to honor her friend and peer LaChanze. Speaking on the multi-hyphenate, Williams says, "Not only is she a phenomenal entertainer but she is someone who is very intentional about opening the door to theater [for] the next generation." As a Broadway performer, LaChanze led the original casts of Once on This Island and The Color Purple, winning a Tony for her bravura performance as Celie in the latter production. In recent years, LaChanze has become increasingly involved behind the scenes, producing such works as Branden Jacobs Jenkins' Purpose and Jocelyn Bioh's Jaja's African Hair Braiding (she also co-produced The Outsiders and Buena Vista Social Club, both of which are currently running on Broadway).

"It has been incredible to be in her sphere, to watch her and to get to know how she is truly concerned about voiceless people, whether that's in a political arena or in a creative space. It's been a learning experience every day," says Williams of LaChanze. "I am learning and pulling from her all the time, as many people are. She is so open to sharing and that's what I think is remarkable."

During her run in Wicked, Williams performed alongside Lencia Kebede, who was the first Black actress to play Elphaba full time on Broadway. Reflecting on being privy to Broadway history, Williams says, "I see faces in the audience that look like a young me. I know that we're creating more performers, we're creating better humans. Watching Lencia stand in that space and sing those songs with the power that she has has been incredible. I feel like a little mother hen, a little auntie, somebody sitting back watching."

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