{"id":216962,"date":"2026-05-01T19:05:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T19:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/216962\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T19:05:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T19:05:15","slug":"is-god-is-star-kara-young-is-broadways-new-queen-is-hollywood-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/216962\/","title":{"rendered":"Is God Is Star Kara Young Is Broadway\u2019s New Queen. Is Hollywood Next?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tKara Young<\/a> is not feeling scared, exactly \u2014 in fact, she doesn\u2019t know the words for this moment at all. \u201cI have all the feelings, but I don\u2019t know how to even describe them,\u201d she says, mere hours out from going back on stage for a performance of her current Broadway play, Proof. \u201cThis is something that\u2019s completely new for me \u2014 it\u2019s a new world for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe\u2019s not, of course, referring to her current Broadway run: That\u2019s old hat at this point for the New York native, who has won two consecutive Tony Awards and been nominated for four years running, the first Black actor to accomplish that feat. But at the same time as she\u2019s starring in Proof \u2014 where she may well keep those Tony streaks up, based on the reviews \u2014 she\u2019s also hitting a milestone: Leading her first studio movie, Is God Is, about to be released in theaters across North America on May 15.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe progression feels natural for Young, who\u2019s been making her name with critically acclaimed stage turns over the past decade, imbuing a wide range of characters with fierce conviction and dry wit. \u201cShe\u2019s a wonderful scene partner \u2014 passionate, deeply interrogative and endlessly curious,\u201d says Ayo Edebiri<\/a>, Young\u2019s Proof co-star. \u201cShe feels so very deeply and fully; it\u2019s pretty astounding to be in contact with. When she brings that into her work, it never feels untethered or ostentatious.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYoung came into Proof as a tried-and-true pro: The production needed to find a replacement for Samira Wiley, who withdrew for health reasons, right before previews started. One actor fit the bill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI had five days in the [rehearsal] room and then I went straight to tech, so I didn\u2019t have much time to prepare,\u201d Young says. \u201cWhen you do something like this \u2014 I call it quick and dirty \u2014 you have to trust your instincts. It is a lesson in that you have to trust your instrument and know that if it\u2019s wrong, you can adjust.\u201d She says it was an easy yes, but also one that reflects her current philosophy as her profile has risen over the last few years: \u201cEither you wait to get something on television or film, or you work and work on your instrument and keep your sword sharpened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tKara Young with Jin Ha, Ayo Edebiri and Don Cheadle on opening night for \u2018Proof.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\tAll of which is to say, Young\u2019s rapid rise as one of the Great White Way\u2019s most decorated stars has not dramatically changed things in terms of offers from Hollywood. \u201cPeople say, like, \u2018Oh my God, all these things have happened,\u2019 but I feel like I\u2019m still hustling,\u201d Young says. \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s a bad thing, but people are always under the assumption that the thing has gotten perhaps easier. But I haven\u2019t really seen a change.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tShe\u2019s had smaller roles in Boots Riley<\/a> projects I\u2019m a Virgo and the forthcoming I Love Boosters, and recurred in hit series like The Punisher<\/a> and The Staircase<\/a>. Is God Is feels different, though \u2014 and she knows it. Based on her volcanic performance in the film, that \u201cchange\u201d people keep telling her about might start to feel real, too \u2014 her work is about to be exposed to far more people than can fill a Broadway theater for a few months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt is my honor to platform Kara, who many of us in the theater already know is a rare gift, a once-in a lifetime talent,\u201d says writer-director Aleshea Harris. \u201cI hope the beauty of her performance opens even more doors for her both onstage and onscreen. No one is more deserving.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMaking her directorial and screenwriting debut, Harris adapted Is God Is from her own Pulitzer Prize-finalist play about twin sisters on a bloody revenge quest (\u201cStep aside, Quentin Tarantino and Martin McDonagh,\u201d The New York Times\u2019 review<\/a> of the original 2018 Soho Rep production began). Young knew Harris from the theater world, but more importantly, she admired her work deeply. \u201cIt blew my mind,\u201d Young says of the 2018 Is God Is production. \u201cAnd the power of seeing it \u2014 I mean, this is a cult play. People are like, \u2018That\u2019s my favorite play ever.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYoung was asked to audition for the movie and secured the part. \u201cShe doesn\u2019t waste the opportunity to insist that this marginalized young woman is a person of great depth who should and must be perceived with empathy,\u201d Harris says of how Young approached the role.<\/p>\n

\n\tIs God Is opens with sisters Racine (Young) and Anaia (Mallori Johnson) being summoned to meet Ruby (Vivica A. Fox<\/a>), the mother they\u2019d assumed was dead or worse. Like her daughters, Ruby is severely disfigured by burn scars \u2014 and she reveals to them that their injuries came from childhood at the hands of their father and her ex-husband (Sterling K. Brown<\/a>). Ruby\u2019s mission for them is simple: Find him and kill him. Racine, the more outspoken and impulsive of the pair, pushes them to follow through on the quest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tYoung with Mallori Johnson as Anaia in \u2018Is God Is\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPatti Perret<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film\u2019s neatest trick is its balance of emotional intimacy and hyperstylized action. We get to know Racine and Anaia deeply \u2014 so deeply that we see their wordless communication, whether brushing their teeth or hiding from danger, typed out on the screen \u2014 and feel the intensity of their connection. Young and Johnson worked with a choreographer in prep less for mimicry, and more to find symbiotic \u201ctwin energy.\u201d They also have to delve into their family\u2019s ugly past, confront a range of colorful characters \u2014 the supporting cast includes hilarious turns from Erika Alexander, Janelle Mon\u00e1e and more \u2014 and, eventually, commit some murders. Well, quite a few. There is blood and stuntwork and weapon-handling aplenty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI fully immersed myself in Aleshea\u2019s world,\u201d Young says. \u201cAnything that she wanted said or needed from me, I was always ready, willing and able.\u201d What does she make of Tarantino comparisons that may rear their head again? \u201cI don\u2019t blame them for thinking that way, yet Aleshea Harris is in her own lane,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s quite easy for other people to relate it to that because that is just how we are taught in this world, to make a relation to very popular pop culture references. But I don\u2019t think that it can be in comparison to anything because it\u2019s unlike anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYoung\u2019s all-out, sometimes unhinged commitment to the material shows \u2014 as does Young\u2019s more profound relationship with the material. \u201cI know that we don\u2019t have this in our canon,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m thinking all the words I could possibly think of: our joys, our resilience, our survival, our wanting to know our histories, our interrogation of our own lives. I mean, there\u2019s just so much. There\u2019s so much, and it\u2019s never one thing with this movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film feels like a very different kind of release for Amazon MGM Studios<\/a> compared to their last theatrical play, the blockbuster hit Project Hail Mary<\/a>. But in its significant, months-long promotional campaign ahead of release, Young finds herself front and center as a first-time movie star. After Proof performances, Young interacts with fans at the stage door, where Is God Is gets brought up often. The trailer, meanwhile, has been viewed more than 13.5 million times on YouTube alone \u2014 a massive number for an original story without any marquee screen stars in the lead parts.<\/p>\n

\n\tYoung feels the energy \u2014 it\u2019s why she\u2019s feeling a little off balance about it all. \u201cThere is a very overwhelming excitement from the people in this film, and I don\u2019t know where the excitement comes from.\u201d She thinks a bit more deeply before settling on where she sees the roots of it: \u201cIt\u2019s never been done, and so that is the reason why people want to see it. We keep on producing the same stories, and this is not that\u2026. I know the power of the story and that is where I am centered.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kara Young is not feeling scared, exactly \u2014 in fact, she doesn\u2019t know the words for this moment…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[83901,31863,85533,27868,9,24,63,85534,122,124,123,85535,85536,85537,85538],"class_list":["post-216962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-amazon-mgm-studios","tag-ayo-edebiri","tag-boots-riley","tag-kara-young","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-project-hail-mary","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-sterling-k-brown","tag-the-punisher","tag-the-staircase","tag-vivica-a-fox"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}