At the center of The Hot Wing King, Katori Hall’s drama-with-comedy at American Stage, is a contest to see who can deliver the hottest, and tastiest, chicken wings in Memphis.
Ah, but there’s so much more.
The play is about four gay Black men negotiating life, loves and family relationships, all as the titular wings marinate and simmer right there on the working kitchen set.
Banks in “The Hot Wing King.”
“I do think that the play is very Black, and it is very queer, but at its center is a message of love and acceptance,” says actor Jos N. Banks, who plays Dwayne, owner of the house where the story takes place. “And I think all of those things are very universal.”
Hall won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for The Hot Wing King in 2021. It requires its ensemble cast to operate like a single unit, as the crisp dialogue and fast pace need to snap, crackle and pop.
American Stage’s six-member cast is all that. And man, can they harmonize on Luther Vandross songs!
Banks, a New Jersey-based actor and costume designer, is making his bay area debut. “I actually just met everyone here,” he explains, “and it’s been a wonderful process.
“And I think because everyone’s so open, and willing to really display vulnerability and the understanding that we all have each other, I think is what led us to just diving in and really creating a wonderful show I’m really proud of. And I definitely consider them friends now.”
Mathenee Treco plays Cordell, Dwayne’s boyfriend, who recently relocated from St. Louis with a suitcase full of unfinished family business and sorrows. It’s Cordell, a culinary wizard, who’s behind the attempt at a competition win.
He recruits Dwayne, the flamboyant Isom (Randy Chalmers) and the pragmatic Big Charles (Don Randle) to be his cooking crew, “The New Wing Order.” Dwayne even has matching shirts made for everybody.
Into the mix comes E.J. (Elijah Jordan), Dwayne’s troubled 16-year-old nephew. The boy’s father T.J. (Lance Markeith Felton) is a part-time criminal who’s trying his best to do right by his son.
The Hot Wing King is directed by Kenny Moten.
Banks in “Kinky Boots.”
Chicago-born Banks is perhaps best known as Lola, the drag queen protagonist, in the Harvey Fierstein/Cyndi Lauper musical Kinky Boots. On U.S. and international tours, he inhabited the character for a total of 387 performances.
“It’s been one of those shows that has impacted my life in such a way that I don’t know that I could ever say enough thank yous,” Banks says. “I discovered a lot about myself in that role.
“I had never played a drag role before. But the duality of the role, the fact that Lola is both a professionally trained boxer and this gorgeous nightclub performer, was really exciting to me.
“And once I got cast, I was the first Lola that the company allowed to paint my own face every day. Which became kind of a ritual. I would just in an hour or an hour and a half before the show every day, listen to some good music and do my face.”
The Hot Wing King is onstage through June 28. Click here for showtimes and tickets.