This past weekend I had the pleasure of seeing the off Broadway play “Angus” held at the Lion Theater here in NYC. I sat down with the writer and star of the play Ise Lyfe , along with his co-stars Khalil Kain & Brian Burke for an in-depth interview about the must see show at Theatre Row. Now before I got the chance to experience the brilliant piece for myself , I had to talk with them to see why this show was so important to see & why they wanted to be apart of this eye opening play. Now before I even knew of the spoken word poet/ actor Ise Lyfe , I was intrigued to see the show due to one of my favorite actors Khalil Kain ( Juice , Renaissance Man , Divas , Girlfriends , For Colored Girls ) announcing that he was going to be apart of it. Now although I had no clue what the show was about sometimes star power is what will bring an audience into theaters. While talking to Khalil I learned that with all the success he has had in Hollywood in film & tv sometimes returning to the stage is more powerful to an artist then all the cameras on a sound stage making magic happen for millions of viewers to see. The intimacy & of theater truly can bring out the passion of an artist work which can most definitely be felt by the audience.

Ise mentioned that it took about 2 years for his work to hit the stage but trust me when I tell you the wait was well worth it. His brilliant performance as Agnus a man being held captive in prison in the year of 2047 left so many of us wanting more but in a good way. The dark & mysterious story filled with many comedic moments was perfectly cast but the true standout was clearly Ise as he took the audience on a journey of what life could be like in the future of an innocent man who is in for the fight of his life. What was intriguing to me was that although we don’t have a clue as to what the future may hold when it comes to politics , social injustice , prison , media , privacy , technology or anything else displayed in this show it’s obvious that we need to stick together in these times of so much uncertainty in the world. While there were some mentions of horrible things put into place by President Trump , the use of technology in the Show didn’t seem to far fetched as to where we are heading. Though there were many times where we laughed as an audience at Agnus as he went through hell during his experience , it also wasn’t hard to feel compassion for the man who simply was made to feel less than. Now don’t get me wrong this clearly wasn’t a one man show because Khalil & Brian gave a great performances along with standouts in the show H Foley & Cedrice Webber who clearly are ones to watch in the future. Their great performances are a testament to the work that was written as they all shined in the show. While leaving the play I talked with others and many felt that this story just might of been too small for the stage and could easily have been developed for a film , but the fact remains that this story at this time is exactly what needed to be told. Trust me when I say this must see show is only the beginning for what’s to come for Ise Lyfe and this incredible story but if this is the only way to experience for it now then I’m truly grateful that I was able to . Please do yourself a favor and catch the show before it closes on Feb 11th. Check out my in depth interview with the Ise , Khalil & Brian below for just a taste of what’s to come before the experience of “Agnus”.