Interviews

Up close with veteran actor Michael Genet

Writer and media specialist, Gilda Rogders, sat down with veteran actor and writer Michael Genet to talk about his work, the incomparable August Wilson, and Jitney.

Published

14 years ago

January 6, 2012

Gilda Rogers

Michael Genet

Table of Contents

Michael Genet clad in a jazzy porkie pie hat and sporting a goatee coolly reminds you of the late great playwright, August Wilson. Wilson’s play Jitney, will run at the Two River Theater in Red Bank, NJ, Jan. 29, through Feb. 19.

A seasoned actor and writer, Genet, just finished up his role as the turkey and bullfrog in the family show Honk. Genet refers to Wilson as his “mentor” and someone he knew personally.

“I am a black man, but I am not a black writer,” said Genet. “August Wilson is one of the greatest playwrights of all time in comparison to the likes of Shakespeare, Ibsen and Eugene O’Neill. People came to see August Wilson the great playwright not the black playwright.”

Genet’s long list of credits include Joe Turner’s Come and Gone and Seven Guitars, which were written by Wilson. He has appeared in both film and television: Wall Street, Money Never Sleeps, She Hate Me and Ugly Betty, Law & Order and Tyler Perry’s House of Payne.

To his writing credit: Hallelujah and Talk to Me (which starred Don Cheadle, as the colorful Washington, D.C. radio DJ, Petey Green). Genet is a 35-year veteran in an industry that he says “embraces mediocrity.” He is elated to be back at Two River Theater and commends the theater for having a “high thresh-hold of quality.”

Genet was introduced to Two River Theater when he appeared this past summer as one of the actors in the play reading Red Clay, about the Civil Rights icon, Rosa Parks. He played Parks’ husband.

Taking pride in the craft of writing, his first love,Michael Genet explains that when it comes to film and There you have it—writers are indeed some of the real job creators. WRITE ON! Jitney is set in 1977 Pittsburgh in a storefront depot for gypsy cab drivers– it’s men sharing their stories.

Discount prices for groups of 10 or more. Tickets start at $37 and free parking Call (732) 345-1400 or www. trtc.org Call (732) 345-1400. Pulitzer Prizes. Wilson’s play Jitney is being directed by the Tony Award-winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson at TRTC.

written by Gilda Rodgers