Lackawanna Blues | |
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Genre | Biographical drama |
Based on | Lackawanna Blues by Ruben Santiago-Hudson |
Screenplay by | Ruben Santiago-Hudson |
Directed by | George C. Wolfe |
Starring | |
Music by | Meshell Ndegeocello |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producer | Nellie Rachel Nugiel |
Cinematography | Ivan Strasburg |
Editor | Brian A. Kates |
Running time | 95 minutes |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network | HBO |
Release | February 12, 2005 |
Lackawanna Blues is a 2005 American biographical drama television film directed by George C. Wolfe and written by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. It aired on HBO on February 12, 2005. It is based on the play of the same name by Santiago-Hudson. Wolfe had commissioned the stage version. [1]
For her work in the movie, S. Epatha Merkerson won a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award in 2006.
Lackawanna Blues is the true story of Ruben Santiago Jr. growing up in Lackawanna, New York. He was raised by his father and mother and the neighborhood boarding house lady known as Rachel "Nanny" Crosby. Ruben was born in 1956 to his Puerto Rican father Ruben Santiago and his African-American mother Alean Hudson. His mother was too mentally unstable to take good care of him; residing in mental hospitals, Alean disappears and reappears throughout Ruben's life. His father stayed at Nanny's boarding house, but he was frequently not around due to working long hours or out looking for work. Nanny more or less took care of Ruben Jr. as a mother figure. The television movie depicts his life growing up there and the diverse characters that he meets during his and their stays at the boarding house.
The blind Detroit street singer Robert Bradley from the band Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise appears in the film. He performs on-screen and has three songs featured on the soundtrack (including a duet with Macy Gray).
Benjamin Bratt is an American film and television actor. He is most known for playing Paco Aguilar in Blood In Blood Out. He had supporting film roles in the 1990s in Demolition Man (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1994), and The River Wild (1994). From 1995 to 1999, he starred as Detective Reynaldo Curtis on the NBC drama series Law & Order.
S. Epatha Merkerson is an American actress. She has received accolades for her work, including an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, four NAACP Image Awards, two Obie Awards, and two Tony Award nominations. She is known for her portrayal of NYPD Lieutenant Anita Van Buren on the NBC police procedural drama series Law & Order, a role she played from 1993 to 2010, appearing in 388 episodes of the series. She is also known for playing Reba the Mail Lady on Pee-wee's Playhouse and Sharon Goodwin in the NBC medical drama Chicago Med since the series premiered in November 2015
Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise (RBBS) was an American band from Detroit, Michigan. The group was a collaboration between Robert Bradley and three other rock musicians.
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Lackawanna Blues is an American play written by Ruben Santiago-Hudson that premiered in 2001. It was later adapted as a television movie that aired in 2005. The play dramatizes the character of the author's primary caregiver when he was growing up in Lackawanna, New York, during the 1950s and 1960s.
Ruben Santiago-Hudson is an American actor, playwright, and director who has won national awards for his work in all three categories. He is best known for his role of Captain Roy Montgomery from 2009 to 2011 on ABC's Castle. In November 2011, he appeared on Broadway in Lydia R. Diamond's play Stick Fly. In 2013, he starred in the TV series Low Winter Sun, a police drama set in Detroit. In 2021, he was nominated for best adaptation by the Screen Writers Guild for the film version of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
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