{"id":2436,"date":"2021-11-23T13:14:26","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T17:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/?p=2436"},"modified":"2022-01-18T15:22:27","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T19:22:27","slug":"un-raisin-au-soleil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/un-raisin-au-soleil\/","title":{"rendered":"Un raisin au soleil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Starletta<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There is no better example of how the University of Maryland Eastern Shore nurtures and appreciates the performing arts than Starletta Seawell of Philadelphia, Pa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Better known to stage, film and TV audiences as Starletta DuPois, the 1968 alumna forged a distinguished career as an award-winning actress who has performed with some of America\u2019s best-known artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While she calls California home, DuPois is a frequent visitor to Princess Anne, where she enjoys engaging with students around whom she refers to herself as \u201cAuntie Star,\u201d dispensing advice about life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DuPois considered pursuing a career in medicine and briefly studied nursing before enrolling at Maryland State College, where in 1968 she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology. Football legend\u00a0Art Shell<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>is one of her classmates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Described as having \u201ca flair for the dramatic,\u201d she was a cheerleader, a majorette and a member of the English and science clubs.\u00a0 It was encouragement from English professor\u00a0Mary Fair Burks<\/a><\/strong>, however, that set DuPois on a path of greasepaint and footlights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DuPois auditioned for a campus production of the ancient Greek tragedy, \u201cMedea,\u201d and landed the lead role in her collegiate stage debut.  The acting bug, as the clich\u00e9 goes, had bitten her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next stop was New York, where she studied and worked at the New Lafayette Theatre, the New York Shakespeare Festival and the Negro Ensemble Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An early role in \u201cMary Goldstein and the Author\u201d earned her the Audelco Award for Best Actress and established her as a serious entertainer.  After moving to the West Coast, she enrolled in U.C.L.A., where she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in theater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, DuPois has appeared in such major feature films as \u201cBig Momma\u2019s House\u201d and \u201cWaiting to Exhale.\u201d\u00a0 She co-starred in the Pan African Film Festival\u2019s top-prize winning film, \u201cTies That Bind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among her TV credits are roles in \u201cLost,\u201d HBO\u2019s highly praised \u201cStrapped,\u201d \u201cSt. Elsewhere,\u201d \u201cFalcon Crest,\u201d \u201cHill Street Blues\u201d and the daytime soap opera, \u201cOne Life to Live.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s acted with James Earl Jones, Robert Duvall, Ruby Dee, Angela Bassett, Denzel Washington, Louis Gossett Jr., Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the late 1980s, she put her acting career on hold to care for her late father, Raymond Seawell, who was terminally ill.  After he died, her energy, talent and perseverance put her back in the public eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her theatrical roots run deep, her resum\u00e9 notes, with dozens of performances, including the St. Louis Black Repertory Company productions of \u201cIntimate Apparel,\u201d \u201cBefore It Hits Home\u201d and August Wilson\u2019s \u201cKing Hedley II.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wilson\u2019s work, in particular, resonates with DuPois. She\u2019s also appeared in \u201cFences\u201d and \u201cThe Piano Lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a 1992 Philadelphia Inquirer interview, DuPois called Wilson an “unbelievable storyteller” whose vision of the black experience in America opened up a window so “now people really want to know who we are.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wilson’s plays, she told the newspaper, are \u201clike an orchestration. You have all these instruments, each has its part and each has its collective part. It’s music, and if you tune in to the music you can understand the people.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m happy as an artist living in a time where I have a voice like Wilson’s to speak through,” the newspaper quoted her as saying. “That’s exciting.  We’ll be doing August Wilson plays forever.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Starletta<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

She was nominated for a Tony Award in 1978 for her portrayal of Rita in \u201cThe Mighty Gents,\u201d and an NAACP Image Award for \u201cMiss Evers Boys and for \u201cA Raisin in the Sun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 DuPois reprised the role of Ruth Younger from \u201cRaisin\u201d opposite Danny Glover for TV viewers in PBS\u2019 acclaimed American Playhouse series and received an NAACP Image Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She has portrayed all the female roles in \u201cA Raisin in the Sun.\u201d  She won the London theater equivalent of Broadway\u2019s Tony Award for \u201cbest actress\u201d in 2011 for her portrayal of Lena Younger from the play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, DuPois also embraces another role \u2013 that of classroom mentor to aspiring artists.  She serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California and occasionally as an \u201cartist-in-residence\u201d at other schools, including her alma mater in the spring of 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the off-season, she performs her one-woman show, \u201cOrder My Steps,\u201d about African-American women who inspire her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is no better example of how the University of Maryland Eastern Shore nurtures and appreciates the performing arts than Starletta Seawell of Philadelphia, Pa. Better known to stage, film and TV audiences as Starletta DuPois, the 1968 alumna forged a distinguished career as an award-winning actress who has performed with some of America\u2019s best-known artists….Read more Un raisin au soleil<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1795,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-2436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2436"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=2436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}