By In Your Shoes Media
Jerold E. Solomon settled in Sunday night after helping put his four children to bed to talk by telephone about his role as Walter Lee Younger.
He had spent his afternoon at the November Theatre in a matinee performance of “A Raisin in the Sun.”
Solomon, 38, married for eight years is originally from northern Virginia, but earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Performance from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2001.
He then moved to New York where he did some regional theater, several national tours, performed in off-Broadway and Broadway productions including a revival of “South Pacific” for two and a half years. During that show, he got married and they had a daughter.
That’s when they decided to move back to the Richmond area. He and his wife are now raising their three kids and a foster child. Solomon teaches theater at Meadowbrook High School in Chesterfield County in addition to acting.
He describes his character in this play, Walter Lee Younger, as a family man with dreams and aspirations who believes that he’s on the cusp of achieving those dreams despite numerous obstacles.
Jerold Solomon – Photo Credit
“This is a man who really does love his family. He loves his son and he loves his wife. But there is this underlying angst that the life he’s living is not what he is destined to do,” Solomon explained. “Unfortunately for a black man in 1952 there was just no way out of that world. He is a chauffeur. He drives a white man around in a limousine so he actually lives most of his life seeing what the [other] world is [like].”
Solomon said he can relate to the character in some ways.
“As a black man [even now] there is this feeling of always being just on the outside of something and wanting to be inside it,” he said.
Solomon said he has read “A Raisin in the Sun” many times before and he watched Sidney Poitier in the film version once as a child. But he approached the role with a freshness.
He said as with all of his roles, he drew on his own life to authentically portray Walter Lee without relying on how others may have performed the role.
“I can say honestly, I have taken zero from Sidney Poitier’s performance. As a performer, I can’t be anybody else. The only thing that I can be is my genuine self. I bring me into every role.”
Solomon has performed as part of the Virginia Rep before. He said he enjoys being on the stage in Richmond.
“Richmond is a special place for me. Even though I wasn’t born here, this feels very much like home to me. This city has an amazingly diverse audience of people who will show up for theater if it is done right and it is relevant.”
And he stresses that “A Raisin in the Sun” is relevant and it offers a lot for today’s audience to take away when they leave a performance of the play.
One thing he expects people to take with them is a sense of hope.
“I want people to see that no matter what or how bleak, there is always love especially in the family,” Solomon said. “There is always hope even in hopeless moments because that spirit, that spirit of perseverance in the African American community is still there.”
