‘Blackboy’ brings in a big crowd
Hailing from Broadway’s “The Lion King” where he plays a hyena, Charles Holt delivered a performance as Blackboy at the Ellen Eccles Conference Center Friday.
“This production is something different from previous events that we have held,” said Angie Hammond, Associated Students of Utah State University diversity vice president. “Plus, it covers history, English, theater and culture.”
Holt stunned the audience with his acting range as he portrayed 20 different characters in his interpretation of Richard Wright’s classic novel. As a child in the segregated South, Wright lived the harsh realities of racism and poverty. Taught to read and write by his mother, he eventually chronicled his struggles in a highly acclaimed autobiography.
When Wright was a child, his father left the family for another woman. He quickly came to associate the pangs of hunger with his father because the family was too poor to buy food. When he got older, he took odd jobs until he earned enough money to move north.
“In the South, there are two worlds – a white world and a black world,” Holt said. “I love performing Blackboy; it’s a story of inspiration and of hope. It is an emotional piece and I do connect with it.”
From the South himself, Holt was bused to school as a child, called names and he struggled on standardized tests. He was a member of the choir to appease his mother, but he never had any real interest in acting or singing. He went to college on a football scholarship and later worked at IBM, but he couldn’t escape the need to perform, so he left the company and headed to New York City.
“He has such a charisma,” said Gabe Carter, Black Student Union president.
Since then, Holt has been seen on stage, TV and in film. He recently co-starred on “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and he will soon be appearing on daytime’s “All My Children,” but he says Blackboy is his most challenging piece.
“I always try to bring you [the audience] into my world,” he said. “I can play anything; I just come out of my skin.”
Holt is also working on a one-man show and he’s helping kick off Miracle Mondays, a program beginning this April targeted at runaways and other at-risk youth.
“I live a life I love,” he said. “Anytime I can touch and inspire, I’m willing to do that because someone did that for me.”
In September, he plans to move to Los Angeles and continue acting.
“And if no one will hire me,” he said. “I’ll write my own script and play it myself.”
-snielsen@cc.usu.edu