Breon Arzell

Cheryl’s Son

“Who am I, if not an actor? The answer is simple: I am an artist.”

— Breon Arzell

Happy Wednesday, Golden Divas & Divos!

Ooooh…. for the love of tragedy and comedy in theater! Thanks to ancient Greece, theatre can project many emotions and be a site of transportation, transcendence, reflection, joy, and pain. I love theater because I can immerse myself in the story unfolding live right before my eyes; watching the performance allows me to put myself in the character’s shoes and feel what they feel.

Theater involves everyone: the playwright, director, choreographer, cast, crew, audience, and so much more. This is truly a dream team, tribe, village, or whatever you want to call it; it makes the production work! This collective group can collaborate and create something unique by leaving us with the finished product of oohs and ahs!

For the sake of this interview today, I will focus on two elements in theater that make it ‘Do What It Do, Baby!’ The actors and the choreographer. Actors in dramaturgy allow them to role-play, set their personalities aside, and step into another world, creating believable characters from the writer’s script. For choreographers’ theater will enable them to design and direct the dance or stylized movement in musical productions while working closely with the director and musical director. They can interpret and develop ideas and transform them into finished performances.

So, when you have a ‘Powerhouse’ who can do both in the theater world, impacting everything he does, it is called ‘An explosion of greatness!’

For those who might not know, my husband and I are theater critics for Let’s Play Theatrical Review. So, this interview touches home with me. We have been reviewing plays for nearly ten years and have seen many plays throughout the Chicagoland area, New York, Indiana, and Wisconsin, totaling over 200 plays annually. This theater journey has put us on the path of many wonderful people, from playwrights to directors, actors, and choreographers. I have adopted many theater daughters and sons who are phenomenal actors and actresses in their perspective craft.

In theatre, there are many moving parts to make a production come to fruition, and as theatre critics, we get to analyze all those moving parts for our review, which leads me to Club Fifty’s next guest.

I met this luminary actor and choreographer years ago; he developed his own style of physical storytelling, and his movement work is a fusion of hip-hop, Modern, Jazz, Contemporary, African, and Lyrical. He always had an aura about himself, and his fashion sense is impeccable. Needless to say, he intrigued me, and when I saw him on stage, it was magnetic to watch him perform. He is a captivating young man whose light shines bright in his work. Whether he’s acting on stage in one of my favorite plays, Pearl Cleage’s Blues for an Alabama Sky’, as the character Guy or choreographing a dance routine full of movement so bodies can work together to create great storytelling in American Psycho, which landed him the Jeff Award for his remarkable choreography this year. Congratulations again! He is a driving force to be reckoned with in the theater world and someone you need to know.

He is vibing across Chicagoland and abroad with his brand (Hauz of Arzell) and talent, as well as his creativity and effervescent nature. His infectious smile is contagious, and his larger-than-life positive personality will surely lead him to more adventures where he can continue to perform, create, dance, and make art. Golden Divas and Divos, with no further ado, meet Mr. Breon Arzell.  

Welcome to Club Fifty, Breon Arzell. You have made Mama Cheryl Denise Daniels very proud! 

“More than a brand, It’s a Lifestyle.” .. Breon Arzell

MEET BREON ARZELL

BREON ARZELL {he}, a Detroit native, is an actor, choreographer, writer, and teaching artist. While choreographing for regional and local theaters and universities, acting credits include Blues for an Alabama Sky (Remy Bumppo Theatre); Incendiary & Ain’t No Mo (Woolly Mammoth Theatre, DC); The Comedy of Errors, DREAM (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); Little Shop of Horrors, Baskerville (Metropolis PAC); The Total Bent (Haven w/ About Face); A Christmas Carol, Objects in the Mirror (Goodman Theatre) and more. TOURS: Theater Unspeakable, USA; White Horse Theatre, Germany; ACLE Theatrino, Italy. In the world of television, he is a recurring character on South Side (HBO Max) and choreographed for The 4400 (CW). The recipient of 7 Joseph Jefferson Awards and 2 Black Theatre Alliance Awards, he was also recognized as one of New City Magazine’s 50 Players of Chicago in 2018, 2020, and 2023. Along with other original works (both theater and screenplays), he is the co-creator and playwright of the revival and resurrection of the historical black musical, ‘In Dahomey.’ @breonarzell and breonarzell.com.

Breon is 40 years old, single, with no children. His hobbies are writing, reading, drawing, and fashion design. He loves movies and TV. Breon also loves photography and traveling.

C50: Breon, how old were you when you discovered you wanted to be an actor?

B.A. The womb, haha. I was told my entrance into this world was a lovely performance. I’ve always known there was something special about me. I was that kid at home and family functions, putting on shows and dancing in front of the TV. “Go on, baby, show ’em what you did earlier.” However, my mother was a nurse, and growing up, I wanted to be a pediatrician. Being a career artist was not even on the radar of possibility. How I grew up and where I come from, you had to choose a respectable and practical job. There are so many naturally talented people in my family, and I often think about what we could have been if they had allowed themselves to dare to dream and pursue. It wasn’t until high school that I had an opportunity to audition (my first one ever) for a professional youth theater company, Mosaic Youth Theater of Detroit. The company was all about ensemble-based work, and after I left that audition, I knew I would do everything I could to make this a sustainable career for myself because I was destined to perform.

C50: Describe your last stage experience and your longest-running role.

B.A. My last show was ‘Blues for an Alabama Sky,’ in which I played a goal role for myself, Guy Jacobs. I never played someone so close to myself (the closest I’d come to that was playing Ron in ‘Insurrection: Holding History’ in 2017). My experience on this show was so beautiful for many reasons. The story centers around the deep friendship between two people, and my Angel (Tiffany Renee Johnson) and I are great real friends. We met doing a show about six years ago and haven’t been onstage together since then. So, that was magical. Being able to play opposite her was a gift every night. The producing company, Remy Bumppo, cared for us; director Mikael Burke was amazing to work with. I put everything into that show, which was an enriching and moving experience. I really wish my mom was there to see it.

As far as the longest run I’ve ever done, they’ve all been standard runs. I have yet to make a long-term contract. However, the longest show I’ve done was 12 hours (‘All Our Tragic,’ The Hypocrites).

C50: How did you prepare for your auditions? Was there a role you wanted and didn’t get, and how did that make you feel?

B.A. So many. But that’s the gig. That’s what you sign up for. I’ve had some incredible “yes” s and a whoooooole lotta “no” s. However, working on “both sides of the table” has given me a view into the casting process that has softened the effects of those rejections. Now I truly know how much goes into casting, and so many factors are at play, most of which have nothing to do with the person’s talent. So, it allowed me to stop taking those rejections to heart and believing it was a commentary on my craft. Even though I put in the work and know I’m good, I still need to book those roles. Older and wiser, I realize I will have what is meant for me. If I didn’t book it, it wasn’t mine to book. And in those situations, something else always came along that told me, THIS is actually where you were supposed to be (that’s why you didn’t book that other thing). 

“All the world is a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exists and their entrances: And one man in his time plays many parts.”.. Shakespeare 

C50: Have you ever considered acting in television or film?

B.A. Absolutely! I grew up in an era of excellent black television & film. Coming to America, A Different World, The Wiz… I watched these things and saw myself in them; I saw myself IN them and knew I was destined to do that. My ultimate goal is to be the lead of my sitcom (while shooting a movie on the side before doing my theater show).

C50: Breon, you wear different hats in the artistic world; how did you start in the world of choreography?

B.A. Again, I grew up in a magical age—a world where “MTV” was actually Music TeleVision and PBS showed popular concerts and dance performances. I watched videos all the time. My first teachers were Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul, Alvin Ailey, etc. I would learn the choreography just by watching it and mimicking it in front of the TV. Being a choreographer was never “the plan”; it wasn’t even on my radar of possibility. It started very small, teaching dance numbers as a part of my theater classes. At university, I was in a student-run dance company, which grew into teaching youth classes at my friend’s sister’s studio; then, one day, the director for a show I was in (Monty Cole, ‘The Hairy Ape’) needed a choreographer for our show that knew how to step. As a previous Step Master for my chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (Delta Upsilon), it was perfect. The show was a hit, and audiences loved my choreographer. All of a sudden, emails started coming in. I won a Jeff Award for my work on the show; the rest is history.

“Theatre is the art form of the present: it exists only in the present, and then it’s gone.”

C50: What skills have you learned as a dancer make you a good choreographer? 

B.A. The main thing is understanding how the body moves and articulating stories physically. Oddly enough, being great at one doesn’t automatically mean you’re great at the other. Being a choreographer takes vision and a level of creativity that not all dancers have. But also, I often choreograph beyond my means and ability. I am not trained in ballet but somewhat proficient in tap. However, I have choreographed ballet and tap numbers.

C50: Describe the best dance routine you’ve seen.

B.A. Oooh that is a very difficult one. I love movement and dance so much. Always have. I used to watch So You Think You Can Dance religiously, not for the competition or reality TV element, but solely for the choreography. My favorites range from the intense simplicity of Alvin Ailey’s “I Wanna Be Ready” to Alvin Ailey’s “Solid Gold,” where dancers leaped off of their company members’ backs and into the wings, to Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation,” to my close friend and mentor, Carollette Phillps’, style bending interpretation of Missy Elliott’s ‘Get Ur Freak On,’ to people watching at a festival or busy city street (because movement and dance are all around us). I couldn’t possibly choose one.

C50: Can you describe how you would develop a dance routine?

B.A. For me, dance/movement is an extension of the music and text and how we project emotion. So, as simple as it sounds, the first thing I always do is listen. First, I listen and take in the song as it is, with no intention of choreographing or applying something to it. I listen. What stands out to me? What story is it trying to tell? How does it move me? From there, I just started to play. See what feels right within my body in response to my hearing.

C50: What is the role of a choreographer in theatre, and why is choreography important in musical theatre?

B.A. The role of the choreographer is to guide the performers in storytelling and being extensions of the music. Our job is to visualize and physically actualize the emotion and intention of a number. Choreography is essential in all forms of theater, not solely musicals. It gives a cast of benchmarks for existing in the world they’ve created. Choreography doesn’t just mean dance; it could be character work, physicality, staging, how bodies relate, expansions of text, how performers take up space, etc. It also creates a safe environment to play and explore because everyone knows where bodies need to be, the sequence of events, and how to navigate those. It’s also essential in the direction of the show. When I work on a production, it truly is about collaboration. I am also an assistant director of sorts (which is why most choreographers can direct, but all directors cannot choreograph).

C50: In the world of theater, do you think people in the business take your role as a choreographer as seriously as they take the directors and actors?

B.A. They simultaneously take it seriously but often overlook it. It’s getting better, but there are some remnants of the ways of old left over, where the director was the end, all be all. It also varies from company to company because there are different priorities at play: commercial theater vs. non-profit, independent vs privately owned, theater missions, producer influence, and so on. Overall, and I can only speak from my experience, my role as a choreographer is taken very seriously, but that’s also because I require respect. Respect for my artistry, as well as respect for collaboration and having a voice in the room.

Bonus Question

C50: What is the one thing you want a person to know if they consider becoming an actress or choreographer?

B.A. It’s hard. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. You will want to quit. It takes a lot of sacrifice. But through it all, trust that your journey is yours alone, not to be compared with anyone else’s.

C50: There you have it, Golden Divas & Divos, the man who threw caution to the wind and made his own path in the world of theatre, Breon Arzell.