The 2020–2021 Broadway at the Ordway season is the pilot year for the Ordway's new Resident Artists program, which was created to deepen the Ordway’s relationship with individual artists. The Resident Artists will help create new work, explore new ideas, and share their knowledge and expertise with the Ordway community, all in the spirit of continued collaboration. The fresh voices of these artists will invigorate the organization and play a vital role in creating the artistic and creative culture at the Ordway.
2020–2021 Resident Artists
Jamecia Bennett is a 3-time Grammy Award winner, NAACP Image Award winner, lead vocalist of Sounds of Blackness, performer with J Movement, and a veteran of Twin Cities stages, most recently appearing in 42nd Street at the Ordway, Marie and Rosetta at Park Square Theatre, and Crowns with New Dawn Theatre. She has also appeared in The Color Purple, Rent, Black Nativity, Detroit 67, Caroline or Change, Skeleton Crew, Passing Strange, The Love Jones Musical Tour, Tyler Perry’s Family Reunion, and his other famous stage show I Can Do Bad All By Myself. Jamecia is the CEO of Minnesota Movement Entertainment, an artist development company providing media, vocal coaching, management consultation, styling, and more.
Tyler Michaels King is a Twin Cities-based performer, director, creator, and improviser, and is the Artistic Director and Founder of Trademark Theater. He has graced the stages of the Ordway, the Guthrie, Theater Latté Da, Children’s Theatre Company, Hennepin Theatre Trust, History Theatre, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, Illusion Theater, Artistry, Flying Foot Forum, and many others. Tyler has created shows with Live Action Set, 7th House Theater, and many projects for the Minnesota Fringe Festival. He holds the 2014 Emerging Artist Ivey Award, the Mark Twain Prize for Comic Performance from the Kennedy Center National ACT Festival, and was named “Artist of the Year” by City Pages. Tyler is also a founding member of The Bearded Company.
In a special Backstage Pass virtual event for Broadway at the Ordway subscribers, the Ordway announced that Jamecia Bennett will play Mrs. Potts and Tyler Michaels King will play Lumière in the Ordway Original production of Beauty and the Beast.