Purlie Victorious
A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch
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Purlie Victorious
Narrated by:
Leslie Odom Jr., Kara Young, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Billy Eugene Jones, Noah Pyzik, Noah Robbins, Jay O. Sanders, Heather Alicia Simms, Bill Timoney
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By:
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Ossie Davis
Experience the Broadway revival of Purlie Victorious, A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch in a captivating production, featuring the incomparable Leslie Odom, Jr. Originally premiering in 1961, this groundbreaking comedy by Ossie Davis is a cornerstone of African American theater.
Dynamic traveling preacher Purlie Victorious Judson returns to his small Georgia town hoping to save Big Bethel, the community’s church, and emancipate the cotton pickers who work on oppressive Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee’s plantation. With the assistance of Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins, in a Tony Award-winning performance by Kara Young, Purlie hopes to pry loose an inheritance due his long-lost cousin and use the money to restore his beloved church. Through the power and lyricism of his language, Davis incisively and hilariously challenges racial stereotypes and discrimination, as a seminal voice for justice.
Available in Dolby Atmos on Audible.
©1961 Ossie Davis (P)2025 AO Media, LLCListeners also enjoyed...
About the creator
Ossie Davis was born in Cogdell, Georgia, in 1917. After attending Howard University, he began his long career as a writer and actor with the Rose McClendon Players in Harlem.
Mr. Davis made his Broadway debut in 1946 and went on to perform in many Broadway productions. In 1961, he wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed
Purlie Victorious, revived on Broadway, PBS, and Audible 62 years later. He was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 1994.
He also had an award-winning career as an actor, director, and producer in film and television. Notably, he and Ms. Dee produced the PBS series
With Ossie & Ruby. Mr. Davis is the author of three children’s books. In 1998, he and Ruby Dee marked their 50th wedding anniversary with the publication of their joint autobiography,
With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together, the audio version of which won a Grammy.
Mr. Davis received many honors and citations, including the N.Y. Urban League Frederick Douglass Award, the NAACP Image Award, the National Medal of Arts, and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. In December 2004, Mr. Davis and Ms. Dee were recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors. Mr. Davis died on February 4, 2005, at the age of 87.
About the director
Kenny Leon is a Tony Award-winning director who also has been honored with The Actors Fund Medal of Honor, an Obie Award, an NAACP Image Award, the George Abbott Lifetime Achievement for American Theatre and The Jason Robards Award for Excellence in Theatre from the Drama League. Broadway credits include:
Our Town; Home; Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch; Ohio State Murders;
Topdog/Underdog; A Soldier's Play; American Son; Children of a Lesser God; Holler If Ya Hear Me; A Raisin in the Sun; The Mountaintop; Stick Fly; August Wilson’s
Fences, Gem of the Ocean and
Radio Golf. He also directed the acclaimed productions of
Hamlet and
Much Ado About Nothing at the Delacorte/Shakespeare in the Park. Off-Broadway:
The Underlying Chris, Everybody’s Ruby, Emergence-See! (The Public);
Smart People (Second Stage). Leon’s television work includes
Hairspray Live!, and
The Wiz Live! on NBC, Lifetime’s Emmy-nominated
Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia. And on Netflix, he has directed episodes of
Colin in Black & White and
Amend: The Fight for America. In 2018, he released his memoir
Take You Wherever You Go. Mr. Leon serves on the board of New York's Public Theater and is Artistic Director Emeritus of Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company. He served 11 years as Artistic Director of The Alliance Theatre where he produced the premieres of Disney's
Elaborate Lives: The Legend of Aida, Pearl Cleage's Blues for an Alabama Sky and Alfred Uhry's
The Last Night of Ballyhoo.
About the performer
Leslie Odom, Jr. is a multifaceted Tony and Grammy Award-winning, three-time Emmy and two-time Academy Award-nominated vocalist, songwriter, actor, and
New York Times bestselling author. With a career that spans all performance genres, Odom has received recognition for his excellence and achievements in Broadway, television, film, and music. Odom made his long-awaited return to Broadway starring in, and co-producing, the new Broadway production of
Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch by the legendary Ossie Davis, which opened in September 2023 to widespread critical acclaim. Odom was Tony Award-nominated for Lead Actor in a Play for his role, and the play received six nominations in total.
Purlie Victorious was also recorded and aired as part of PBS’s Great Performances. Additionally, he stared in the sequel to the original iconic film
The Exorcist for Blumhouse and Universal Pictures,
The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel to David Chase’s award-winning series
The Sopranos, Rian Johnson’s
Knives Out sequel,
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery and as legendary singer Sam Cooke in the award-winning Amazon film adaptation of
One Night in Miami…, directed by Regina King. His critically acclaimed and highly lauded portrayal of the soul icon and musical performance of original song “Speak Now” earned him multiple awards and nominations. Well known for his breakout role as ‘Aaron Burr’ in the smash hit Broadway musical
Hamilton, Odom hosted
The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back! on CBS in September 2021 (2022 Emmy nomination). Additional film and television credits include Apple TV+’s
Central Park (2020 Emmy nomination),
Hamilton on Disney+ (2021 Emmy nomination),
Abbott Elementary, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, Love in the Time of Corona, Harriet, and many more. Co-written with Nicolette Robinson, Odom’s first children’s book,
I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know, was published by Feiwel & Friends on March 28, 2023. The book debuted on the
New York Times bestseller list at #7 in its first week. Odom is a BMG recording artist and has released five full-length albums. His fifth studio album,
When A Crooner Dies, was released on November 17, 2023.
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