Adriane Lenox

1956–

Actor

In the theater industry, much media attention concentrates on Broadway stars, those whose name alone can fill theaters night after night with attentive audiences. Alternately sympathetic reports of actors struggling to find work in New York City abound. Yet little is heard about the workhorses of Broadway, the professional actors who play supporting roles or bit parts that bring theater productions to life. Adriane Lenox is a workhorse. Straight out of college, Lenox found work on Broadway and has been cast regularly on and off the Great White Way for more than two decades. Yet Lenox has proved that workhorses can share the limelight. In 2005 Lenox won the highest accolade in theater, a Tony Award, for her work in John Patrick Shanley's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Doubt. What's remarkable is that Lenox was on stage for less than ten minutes.

Nurtured Love of Performance in Church

Born on September 11, 1956, in South Memphis, Tennessee, Adriane Lenox did not grow up with acting in her blood. Her parents ran their own cleaning company. Lenox fell in love with the notion of a career in the performing arts at her local Baptist church, where she sang in the choir and performed in various plays and holiday skits. Her fellow church members praised her talent. Lenox remembered to Simi Horowitz of Back Stage that as a teenager she performed a single-person play in which she portrayed an old, fumbling etiquette teacher to such rave audience appreciation in her own church that she garnered invitations to perform at other churches.

After high school Lenox earned scholarships to both the music and theater programs at Lambuth University in Jackson, Tennessee. "Since I felt I could sing already," Lenox explained to Horowitz, "I decided to major in drama, but I did take some voice classes while I was at college." With her bachelor's degree in hand, Lenox headed for Broadway. "I knew somebody who knew somebody who needed to fill a part," Lenox told Christopher Blank of CommercialAppeal.com. "I flew up twice on my own dime to audition for Ain't Misbehavin'. The third time, they flew me up and I got the part, taking over from Charlaine Woodard. By the time I was out of that show, I already had my Equity card. That doesn't happen to many people."

Enjoyed Luck

"I've really been tremendously lucky," Lenox admitted to Blank. "I knew I wasn't necessarily the best singer and absolutely not the best dancer to audition, but I looked like Charlayne [sic]," she explained on Broadway.com. "I have tried to be as realistic and practical as I can when it comes to understanding the workings of why one gets or does not get a role." As she sought more work Lenox applied that knowledge. Lenox's insight into how to get a role turned out to be quite good, as unlike many other actors, Lenox did not have to supplement her income working odd jobs for extended periods. Since the days of her first professional play, Lenox found consistent work as an actor or singer. Between parts in plays, Lenox also performed as a background singer on various recordings.

Though Lenox had focused on learning acting in college, it was her singing ability that won her the most jobs. Lenox has a "voice made for a Broadway stage," wrote Richard Scholem in the Long Island Business News in his review of Kiss Me, Kate, in 1999. Lenox's other Broadway performances included Dreamgirls, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and Caroline, or Change: all musicals. Off-Broadway her voice was also praised. For her part in On the Town at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., in 1990, Lenox won the Helen Hayes Award, for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical. In the 1990s Lenox also landed some dramatic parts in Off-Broadway productions.

Lenox considered that her acting training from college gave her a foundation in "the basics," as she told Horowitz. She sought out more training from Wynn Handman, the co-founder and artistic director of the American Place Theatre in New York. Working with him when she had time over several years, Lenox developed as an actor. She noted that "one of the most valuable things" she learned from him "was how to approach a character and a rehearsal process where the director is not very helpful. He taught us how to do all of that—script interpretation, character development—on our own," Lenox explained to Horowitz.

Training Paid Off

In 1998 the hard work Lenox put into her training paid off. In the Off-Broadway production of Dinah Was, a biography of jazz singer Dinah Washington, Lenox had the chance to interpret several different roles: Washington's mother, Washington's friend, and a hotel worker. Lenox was "priceless," wrote Charles Isherwood in Variety, adding that she defined each of her roles "economically and meticulously." He noted in particular that "her shot in the spotlight, playing a mousy hotel worker who blooms into a rollicking vocal star when Washington brings her onstage, still brings down the house." Lenox won an Obie Award for her work in 1998.

She continued to land parts on and off Broadway. While musicals remained the mainstay of her work, two dramatic parts Off-Broadway stood out. In 2002 Lenox played Eunice Evers, a nurse working on the Tuskegee Syphilis Study carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between 1932 and 1972, in Miss Evers' Boy. New York Times reviewer Bruce Weber praised Lenox for her performance in 2002, saying that she gave "the production its weight," and that she was "marvelous, imbuing Eunice (who is drawn from an actual historical figure) with a kindness, competence and humility that make her fall from grace agonizing and ill deserved." Her performance in Cavedweller, a play based on Dorothy Allison's novel about a family of Southern belles, also impressed. Weber called Lenox "tone-perfect in her portrayal of a fortunate person who is nonetheless a mensch" in his review of the Off-Broadway production in 2003.

Landed "Pivotal" Role

Lenox landed a part in Doubt in 2004. Written by John Patrick Shanley, Doubt is a drama about the question of whether or not a priest in a Bronx Catholic school has behaved appropriately toward students. Lenox played Mrs. Muller, the mother of the only black child in the school. Lenox was enthused by the part even at the time she auditioned; she told Boris Kachka of New York magazine that "I saw Nancy, an MTC casting director, on the way into this, I said, Now, this is up my alley. You know what I mean—this is good!" Although she was not the first picked for the part, Lenox found herself called in just three days before the play opened Off-Broadway in 2004 and she continued on when the play moved to Broadway the following year.

At a Glance …

Born on September 11, 1956, in South Memphis, TN; married Zane Mark; children: Crystal. Education: Lambuth University, Jackson, TN, BA, drama, 1978.

Career: Actress, 1981–.

Memberships: Broadway Inspirational Voices.

Awards: Washington Theatre Awards Society, Washington, DC, Helen Hayes Award, 1990; Obie Award, 1998; Drama Desk Award, 2005; Lucille Lortel Award, 2005; Tony Award, 2005.

Lenox's role allowed her about ten minutes on stage. More than halfway through the play, Mrs. Muller is called in to the school principal's office to discuss whether or not her child has been mistreated by his teacher. Linda Armstrong wrote in the New York Amsterdam News that "Mrs. Muller is on only briefly, but her character is so passionate and focused, and there is such an explosion of emotion in this scene, that it can't help but stand out." "It's enough to take your breath away," according to Jerry Tallmer writing for the Playbill Web site. New York Times reviewer Ben Brantley remarked that Lenox used "a lovely mix of deference and stubbornness." "You have to do all of this in this short period of time. It's fantastic that people are zoning in and really getting it. My scene is the pivotal part in the play where people are gagging, because the truths are being revealed," Lenox told Armstrong. The part brought Lenox theater's highest accolade: a Tony Award.

Pleased by the honor, Lenox recognized that the award would open more doors for her. She remained, however, realistic that while the Tony Award might gain her more auditions, it would not win her parts. Lenox continued to pursue her career with the same determination she had for the past two decades. With her noted talent and work ethic, Lenox seemed assured of a very lengthy career indeed.

Selected works

Films

Black Snake Moan, 2007.

Selected plays

Ain't Misbehavin', Broadway, 1978–1982.
Dreamgirls, Broadway, 1981–1985.
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Broadway, 1995–1996.
Kiss Me, Kate, Broadway, 1999–2001.
Dinah Was, Off-Broadway, 1998.
The Color Purple, Alliance Theatre, Atlanta, GA, 2004.
Caroline, or Change, Broadway, 2004.
Doubt, Broadway, 2005–2006.

Sources

Periodicals

Back Stage, September 1, 1998, p. A5; June 23, 2005, p. 7.

New York, June 20, 2005, p. 73.

New York Amsterdam News, May 19, 2005, p. 19; June 9, 2005, p. 23.

New York Times, May 19, 2003, p. E5; November 24, 2004, p. E1.

Variety, September 7, 1998, p. 81.

On-line

"Adriane Lenox: Without a 'Doubt' Tony Award Winner," AfroCentric News, www.afrocentricnews.com/afro/features_adriane_lenox.html (November 28, 2006).

"Center Stage," Playbill, www.playbill.com/features/article/93850.html (November 28, 2006).

"CommercialAppeal.com: Lenox Shines in Drama about Abuse," Doubt on Broadway, www.doubtonbroadway.com/feature-lenoxshines.htm (November 30, 2006).

"Dinah Washington Drama Shows What a Difference 40 Years Make," Playbill, http://staging.playbill.com/features/article/64763.html (November 28, 2006).

"Lambuth News: Lambuth Graduate Wins 2005 Tony Award," Lambuth University, www.lambuth.edu/news/PressReleases05/lenox_tony_award.html (November 29, 2006).

"Taking Stock: First Person," Broadway.com, www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Story.aspx?ci=508804 (November 29, 2006).

"Tony Winner: Adriane Lenox," New York Magazine, http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/theater/12004/ (November 28, 2006).