Jordan E. Cooper: From Broadway to 'The Ms. Pat Show'

This Black History Month, we're spotlighting Jordan E. Cooper — playwright, performer, and TV creator. OUT Magazine named him one of its 'Entertainers Of The Year,' and the work behind that title holds up. He writes plays, stars in them, makes films, and runs a sitcom, and none of it reads like a side project.

Start with the stage. His play "Ain't No Mo'," which sold out its run and was a New York Times Critic's Pick, announced Cooper on Broadway as a writer with no interest in playing it safe. He won an OBIE Award too. Playwright and performer, both proven.

On film, there's 'Mama Got A Cough,' his short about the pandemic. National Geographic carried it, and The New York Times named it among the 'Best Of 2020.' The film finds the humor in a frightening year without pretending the fear isn't real — a hard balance, and he holds it.

Television came next. Cooper created and executive produces 'The Ms. Pat Show' on BET+, an R-rated sitcom that says what network sitcoms won't. The show has already drawn attention for how blunt and unapologetic its storytelling is. The format changed; the voice didn't.

He acts, too. In the final season of FX's 'Pose,' he played MC Tyrone — a role in a series that meant a great deal to Black queer audiences, and one more room Cooper walked into and held.

Cooper writes the stories that don't usually make it to Broadway, then gets them produced anyway. That's what OUT Magazine was recognizing — the plays, and the doors they leave open behind them.

So that's why we name him this Black History Month. He's a Black queer artist working right now, in real time, adding to the record the next generation will study. Whatever he makes next, we'll be watching — and we suspect Broadway will be too.