Wendell Pierce is working as hard as ever in TV, film and theater : NPR

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Wendell Pierce stars in Othello at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C.

Teresa Castracane

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Teresa Castracane

Wendell Pierce says there’s a joke actors have about the five stages of their careers:

“There’s ‘Who is Wendell Pierce?’ ‘Get me Wendell Pierce.’ ‘Get me someone like Wendell Pierce.’ ‘Get me a younger Wendell Pierce.’ And then the last and final and fifth stage is: ‘Who is Wendell Pierce?'” he says.

After starring roles on The Wire and Treme, and a 2023 Tony Award nomination as the first Black actor to play Willy Loman in the Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman, Pierce is working as hard as ever. He says he’s motivated by the “ticking clock of mortality” — but also by the desire to challenge himself as an actor.

Though many entertainers shy away from the label “journeyman actor,” Pierce proudly embraces the term: “It’s not just to go from job to job, but [to] be intentional about the jobs I take,” he says. “I try to do the trifecta, as I call it — television and film and theater — every year.”

Wendell Pierce On Parenting, The Pandemic And Reckoning With The Past

Pierce currently plays a captain on CBS’ Elsbeth and a CIA officer in the film Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War. He’s also starring in the Shakespeare Theatre Company production of Othello in Washington, D.C.

Pierce likens tackling Shakespeare to detective work. First, he says, there’s the “mining the text for all of its understanding and everything that Shakespeare is telling you not only about the characters, but how to portray them and what’s happening.”

More than that, though, there’s also the emotional aspect of connecting with the character — and the physical and vocal strength required of a three-hour production. “The challenge is physical, it’s intellectual, and it’s emotional, and that’s the great thing about doing Shakespeare, and even specifically doing Othello,” Pierce says. “I always think of these … iconic roles and large roles like the beginning of a hike up Mount Everest.”

Interview highlights

On how many years ago, jazz helped him crack the code on Shakespeare

Wendell Pierce: Everyone's Favorite Fake Trombone Player

I went to the club to hear Arthur Blythe, a great alto saxophonist. And he’s pretty avant-garde, but he had this really hip, swinging tune. I was humming along with it. And then he went into his solo, which was free and wild and all over the place. And I was just looking around the club, still humming the song in my head. And when he finished his solo, we were right exactly on the same note in the melody of the song.

And that’s when I had this epiphany that while he was free and wild and doing his solo, he was aware of the structure of the song, and knew exactly where he was at all times, and came back to it. So he was free within the form, and then I understood that’s what Shakespeare is like: To have freedom within the form, don’t allow the verse to constrict you, but let it be the guard rails of where you’re supposed to be. But you have the opportunity to take it wherever you would like to take it. That’s really what all great art is about, a merger of technical proficiency and expression, and unlimited expression, but being able to be technically proficient and exact. And that opened up Shakespeare to me, that night, in September, 1981, in New York, listening to jazz at the Village Vanguard.

On why he almost quit The Wire

During the course of The Wire, people would challenge us all the time — “You are only demonstrating the thuggery and the crime and you’re perpetuating this idea that, the stereotype that Black folks are criminally inclined and violent and all.”

I remember a woman on the train challenging me, African American woman who worked on Wall Street. And I said, “I accept your criticism. … I welcome the challenge and the criticism so I can make sure that we don’t fall victim to that criticism. … But we have judges, the mayor, the president of the city council, the city council members, police officers, lawyers, doctors, teachers, who are all African American. But you’re only seeing the criminals. Imagine how tough it is for a little kid in those neighborhoods. They don’t see the lawyers or the doctors. If you don’t see them as an educated woman, a professional, and you can only see the thuggery, imagine how susceptible those young kids are to it. And that’s what we’re trying to tell and the story we’re trying to tell.”

Now, in the fourth season, I almost quit because at our wrap party a young lady comes up to me. She says, “Mr. Pierce, I was on the show this year. I really wanted to work with you. We didn’t have anything together. I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your work and all.” And I said, “Who did you play?” And she says, “I look younger than I am, so I was one of the kids in the middle school.” … She played this out of control young woman who slashes another girl’s face. … She was like, “I’m going to Brown University on full scholarship.”

And I thought to myself, why are we not telling your story? … And I thought about the criticism and I said, that woman was right. And I said, I should leave the show because we’re perpetuating a stereotype. And then the episode came on for the fourth season and it was so impactful. And we see exactly where we lose our kids. And we see that inflection point where we can save them and put them on the right track. And where we make them the young woman who goes to Brown on a full scholarship, and where we lose them and send them into that pipeline, into the penal system, and calling our dysfunction out in our society that creates the criminality, that doesn’t celebrate the education of this young woman going to school and all. So it wasn’t arbitrary, and then that’s the only thing that made me come back.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, left, and Wendell Pierce participate in a panel discussion during a Federal Interagency Drug Endangered Children (DEC) Task Force event at the Justice Department May 31, 2011 in Washington, D.C. The event was organized to announce a public awareness campaign, addressing the challenges faced by children and families affected by drug abuse.

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On taking care of his late father in his last 10 years

He was two months away from his 99th birthday. He passed in my hands, we were holding hands. I was there with him. I had my father for a long time. I got closer to my father in the last 10 years of his life than I ever had before. My mother passed, and one of her dying wishes was, “Wendell, take care of your father.” She knew. While I was working in Budapest, if I got four days off, I would go home to New Orleans, and spend time with him. It was a blessing. I was traveling the world and being an actor and at the same time my home base is New Orleans, and here I would have my father with me for all those years and he was fuel to my fire. He was reminding me of everything that he taught me and as I attack these challenges of these great roles and the different roles that I play, he is very much in my process.

This is a man who fought in [the Battle of] Saipan in World War II, fought for the country that he loved when this country wasn’t loving him back and came back and his voting rights weren’t even protected and here he was risking his life in The Double V campaign in the Black community — victory abroad and victory at home. So he very much believed in that.

On the erasure of Black history

The idea of trying to eliminate any sort of contributions that the African-American community has made to this country in the year that we try to celebrate 250 — it is so insulting. … It feels like a visceral attack.

My brother was purged out of his job here in Washington, D.C. I know so many people and so many Black women in particular, this attack on minorities and women in a world where people are trying to erase them, we realize that that is our call to duty of our generation. We know now that we have to mark our passing on the tree and declare who we are, who we were, what our accomplishments are and have been and what we have created. And exercise our right of self-determination and declaration of accomplishment. We owe that to our ancestors, we owe that to the generations yet to come because there are those who do not have our best interest at heart.

Ann Marie Baldonado and Nico Gonzalez Wisler produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey adapted it for the web.

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5 takeaways from Arizona State’s latest football scrimmage

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The Sept. 5 season opener against Morgan State is fast approaching. Coach Kenny Dillingham’s Arizona State Sun Devils scrimmaged at Mountain America Stadium on Aug. 22.

“You could see the last 30 minutes, the offense went on really, really good drives running the football, so I thought that was a positive,” Dillingham said afterward. “Defense had an unbelievable interception early in the scrimmage, and that was an unbelievable play. So that was good to see. Still only one takeaway.

“I’d like to see more takeaways created by the defense, but kudos to the offense. It was like the first scrimmage, very, very similar again. Offense moves the ball. Defense doesn’t allow big plays. The difference tonight was the offense hit a couple of big plays.”

Here are some takeaways from the nearly two-hour session.

Special teams were solid

The Sun Devils have two kickers and two punters competing for jobs. When it comes to placekicking, both Carson Smith and Carston Kieffer made 52-yard field goals. Although Kieffer’s just barely cleared, Smith’s made it with a few yards to spare. Smith also made a 38-yarder late in the scrimmage.

Junior incumbent Kanyon Floyd and senior Nick McLarty, a 6-foot-7 transfer from Ohio State, are battling for the punter spot. The two combined for five kicks, all of which went for between 42 and 50 yards and landed inside the 20. Floyd got particularly good hang time on his kicks.

Wide receiver Jaren Hamilton was the primary return man.

“Our special teams battles have been awesome,” Dillingham said. “Both of our guys are punting better. We’re consistently getting 44- to 48-yard punts and 4.4 or more hang, which is what you want, so that has shown up.”

Defenders pressured the passers

ASU’s edge rushers appear to be a strong suit this season.

Joshua Shanklin and Emar’rion Winston each had two sacks. Roman Pitre and Tristan Bacon each had one. Most of those came with the defenders getting the better of the offensive tackles.

“We have to get better at pass protection stuff so we can throw the football,” Dillingham said. “Right now that’s not good, but that’s part of the way we play defense. There’s some back-and-forth with that. We’ve got some depth at edge. That shows up in the pass rush.”

Tight ends struggled again

This is a position Dillingham called out earlier in the week. He was so disappointed with the effort in practice that he moved defensive end Clayton Smith there to create some competition.

The showing wasn’t much better. Tight ends especially struggled with blocking assignments, which allowed the defensive ends to get into the pocket, pressure the quarterbacks and contain the running backs.

Of course, the Sun Devils’ best tight end, Khamari Anderson, is still working his way back from a broken leg.

Running backs were solid

Much has been made of the balance and depth ASU has in the backfield, and it was on full display. Some of the players who appear to be further down the depth chart had some solid runs, most notably Jason Brown and Demarius “Man Man” Robinson. True freshman Cardae Mack also had some runs that moved a pile of defenders.

Running backs were also involved in the passing game.

Another back lower on the depth chart, sophomore Grayson Rigdon, hauled in an 80-yard scoring pass from Mikey Keene, which was the longest play of the night.

Other notes

Dillingham announced sophomore defensive back Nigel Pringle will be out with a season-ending injury sustained in the scrimmage at Camp Tontozona a week ago. He is a transfer from Arkansas in his first year in the program. He is the second player to sustain a season-ending injury, the other being lineman My’Keil Gardner, who tore an Achilles.

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Jadarian Price ‘A Special Player,’ Ty Okada’s Big Play & Other Observations From The Seahawks’ Joint Practice With The Titans

NASHVILLE—For the third straight year under head coach Mike Macdonald, the Seahawks hit the road for a joint practice, taking the field with the Titans on Friday for the second session of joint practice in the past three years with Tennessee.

“Going into today, our goal was to get great work; I think we accomplished that goal,” Macdonald said. “It’s an awesome opportunity to have a pretty heavy practice in this heat and humidity—I think they said it’s a little bit cooler than it’s been here, which is kind of crazy—so we had some guys down with some cramps and things like that, but overall, a great work day.”

In addition to some unfortunate injury news regarding receiver Jake Bobo, here are six observations from Friday’s practice:

1. After missing a bit of camp with an injury, Jadarian Price is back and showing that he’s “a really special player.’

Jadarian Price, Seattle’s first-round pick in this year’s draft, missed a bit of camp due to what Macdonald described as upper-leg soreness, has been back on the field throughout the past week following the team’s preseason opener, and on Friday, the rookie back put on display some of what has the Seahawks so excited about his game.

Price had a nice over-the-shoulder catch for a big gain early in practice in a seven-on-seven drill, then later in 11-on-11, he broke off a big run, taking a run through a nice hole up the middle before bouncing the run outside to get to the sideline.

“He’s a special player,” said quarterback Sam Darnold. “He’s a really special player. He brings a different facet to the offense that only a guy like him can bring. Whether it’s catching passes out of the backfield, catching screens, running in between the tackles, outside of the tackles, he can really do it all. And I know he’s just going to continue to get better and learn.”

Price had multiple catches in the practice, and was one of several running backs showing up in the passing game, including Velus Jones Jr., who had multiple catches, including a touchdown from Jalen Milroe, and George Holani, who had a touchdown reception in a red zone drill, getting open on a wheel route out of the backfield before making an over-the-shoulder catch on a well-placed pass from Darnold.

“They’re doing a great job out of the backfield,” Darnold said of the running backs’ pass-catching ability. “Even when they’re not out of the backfield, in the slot, being able to catch and do all the things we ask them to do. Obviously in camp, things happen, receivers go down, tight ends go down, fullbacks go down, and those running backs have been able to just step up in whatever position we ask them to play. They’ve been very versatile all camp, and really, really good catching the ball out of the backfield or even in the slot or out wide.”

2. Ty Okada had the play of the day on defense with a pick six.

Safety Ty Okada had the play of the day on the defensive side of the ball in Friday’s practice with a pick six of Titans quarterback Cam Ward. On a ball that was intended for receiver Carnell Tate, the interception was thanks to a good read by Okada.

“I was coming down over the middle, tried to get him to get his eyes off of me and then on a crossing route was just able to read it and play off of him and go out there and make a play,” Okada said.

After Okada heard the play call, he knew that he had a chance to go and make a play.

“We’re able to give the quarterback a different read and a different look on that play, so it was a great call by Coach Mike (Macdonald),” Okada said. “I was just able to take advantage of it, which was nice.”

This play was another example of how he was able to earn a starting role last season, in place of injured players.

“It’s me versus me every single day,” he said. “I want every single DB in the DB room in Seattle to be the best versions of themselves day in and day out. And if we all do that, we’re going to continue to grow as a group and that’s only going to further help the defense and the team. And so ultimately, it’s just me looking in the mirror and trying to grow any way that I can on and off the field.”

3. Practice did get a little chippy for a few brief moments, but for the most part both teams handled themselves well.

As is the case for a lot of joint practices, the play on the field did get a little chippy at times, but it was nothing too serious and Macdonald said he thought the Seahawks handled it “really well today” and there was a lot of value for the starters in Friday’s practice.

“There’s going to be some excess energy at some point, but it’s how well you kind of collect yourself, take a deep breath and get to the next play,” he said. “So our guys knew that it was really important for us today to get great work in. And so that was really our focus. And I think we hit that target for the most part, which is great. And we got a lot of reps in. If you play starters in a preseason game, you’re looking at maybe upwards of 20 reps, but now you’re getting upwards of 40 or 50 really good physical reps, but in a more controlled environment, which is a positive for everybody. But you got to nail the execution. It takes both clubs to work together. It takes both teams to work together. There’s a lot of logistics involved. And so that’s why I think why I’m so pleased is just it took everybody kind of pushing in the same direction to get it done today.”

There was talk amongst players and messaging from coaches about making the most of the practice.

“There were some reminders,” Okada said. “But it was more just about ‘Hey this is important work and we need these reps, we can’t waste time.’ It was good that it didn’t go to where it needed to go.”

Jones added, “We didn’t come here to fight, man. I’ve been telling guys, we came here to work, man. We want good work. We want to see where we’re at, see where our defense is at, see where our offense is at.”

4. Rashid Shaheed showed some serious toughness.

Literally every day of camp could have an observation about Jaxon Smith-Njigba being basically impossible to defend, and that was true again Friday, with Smith-Njigba making several nice catches, including an over-the-shoulder catch on a deep ball from Sam Darnold, but plenty of other receivers also deserve having the spotlight on the work they’re doing in camp, including Rashid Shaheed.

Shaheed had a number of catches to continue what has been a strong camp, but one thing he put on display Friday that he hasn’t been able to in practice—because Seahawks players take care of their teammates in practice—is some serious toughness.

Attempting to make a catch over the middle, Shaheed was blasted by Titans cornerback Alontae Taylor, who lowered his helmet before leaving his feet to deliver a hard blow to Shaheed’s chest. Shaheed stayed down for a few moments in obvious pain, but was quickly back in action. Shaheed made a nice catch on the sideline a few plays later for a first down, then held the ball up before dropping it at the feet of Titans players on their sideline.

“I would like to not put a receiver in a situation like that, but I also would have thought the DB wouldn’t have hit him,” Darnold said.

Darnold said Shaheed told him, while still on the ground, that he got the wind knocked out of him, and which point Darnold could relax a bit, saying, “All right, you’re good.”

“When he confirmed that, I felt a lot better,” Darnold said. “Not that I want to continue to do that, but he showed a lot of toughness.”

A few plays later, Velus Jones Jr., perhaps remembering the hard hit his teammate had received moments earlier, took a run to the left sideline, turned the corner, then lowered his shoulder and to level safety Jerrick Reed II with a blow that knocked the former Seahawk clear off of his feet and sent him tumbling over backwards.

5. Mike Macdonald thought there were some good and not so good things about how the defense practiced.

While the Seahawks had some good plays like the aforementioned Okada pick-six, or a Josh Jobe pass breakup in the endzone they also had plays they probably wished they could have back, like a Titans touchdown during the two-minute drill. And Macdonald emphasized that, that was all a part of the process.

“I think we’re going to watch the tape and like a lot of things we saw, and then we’re going to watch the tape and not like some things,” he said. “It’s kind of par for the course, but I think it’s a great opportunity. You’re going against a different operation, different run schemes, different pass game, play our rules out, just kind of go play ball. And so there’s some things that are off the top of my head that are not above the line, which we’ll attack those and get those things figured out. But overall, I thought it was a good day.”

Linebacker Ernest Jones IV said he likes the joint practices because it’s not often he’s playing in a live game during the preseason, so playing against another offense are good reps for him, but he knows they could have been better.

“I think we played pretty well,” he said. “Our standard is perfection, so we’re not happy. We gave them some things and then some things that we just got to correct. But overall, I think for the ones, got a lot of plays in, got a lot of good work, so we should kind of go into the games feeling good.”

He added, “When I say perfection, we don’t want you to get a yard. We don’t want none of that. And when you do get that, it pisses us off. So that’s just where my frustration is. And I don’t want them to get nothing. I want it to be no Bueno, no good for them. And that’s what we want as a defense. And like you said, they’re in the NFL for a reason. They’re going to make plays. They’re going to find the soft parts in our coverage.”

6. Second-year tight end Elijah Arroyo continues to be a matchup problem for opponents.

Almost as soon as Friday’s practice transitioned from warmups and position drills, second-year tight end Elijah Arroyo had one of the earliest highlights of the day, getting behind the defense for a long completion from Drew Lock. Arroyo, a second-round pick in last year’s draft, had several other catches throughout practice, including a touchdown from Darnold in a red-zone drill. After a relatively quiet rookie season that included a stint on injured reserve, Arroyo looks poised to be a big part of Seattle’s passing game this year, providing real matchup problems for opponents with his combination of size, speed and route running.

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Lista de convocados del Barcelona para Elche: ¡No viaja Balde!

El Barcelona ofreció este domingo por la mañana la convocatoria para el encuentro de esta noche contra el Elche, a las 21.30 horas, en el Martínez Valero. Hansi Flick tiene las ausencias ya conocidas de Héctor Fort y Casadó, que están buscando una salida en esta recta final de mercado, y de Rodri, que no se ejercitará con el grupo hasta mañana, lunes. Pero, lo más llamativo es la ausencia de Balde, y más tras las palabras de ayer de Flick en las que dio entender que dejaba la puerta abierta al catalán para su salida.

El técnico azulgrana ya insinuó ayer que el defensa podría salir en estos diez días que restan de mercado cuando fue preguntado por esta posibilidad: “Es una cuestión difícil porque tiene una enorme calidad y es importante saber si un jugador está convencido para poder competir en su demarcación”. Ahora, con su ausencia para Elche, las opciones de que Balde siga en el Barça parece reducirse.

El técnico alemán tampoco puede contar con los lesionados De Jong y Roony. Son, a día de hoy, los dos azulgranas que hay en la enfermería culé. Además, para completar la convocatoria, Flick ha citado a cinco futbolistas de la base: Xavi Espart, Pesquer, Fariñas, Cortés, Hamza y Eder Aller.

La plantilla catalana se desplaza este mediodía a Elche y regresará a la Ciudad Condal nada más finalizar el compromiso.