Terrence Howard plays ambiguously gay Brick in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"

On February 12th, previews began at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York for a new, all-black production of Tennessee Williams’ 1955 play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that will open on March 6th.

The cast includes James Earl Jones as Big Daddy, The Cosby Show’s Phylicia Rashad as Big Mama, Dreamgirls star Anika Noni Rose as Maggie the Cat (a role made famous by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1958 film of the play), and Oscar nominee and Hustle & Flow star Terrence Howard as Brick (a role played by Paul Newman in the film).

The casting of Howard in the role is interesting, since Brick’s sexuality in the play (and even in the censored film) could be considered somewhat ambiguous. In mourning for his closeted homosexual best friend, Skipper, who has recently committed suicide, Brick is refusing to sleep with his wife, Maggie. Maggie in turn is frustrated, both by her desire for her husband, and by his refusal to give her children and therefore make them more likely to be left a fortune in Big Daddy’s will.

Last year, Howard made headlines in the gay press when he talked about homophobia in hip-hop and his own ambiguous attitude towards homosexuality, saying:

"Do I agree with homosexuality? No, I'm a Bible-based young man. But I know the Bible also speaks about homosexuality with liars, adulterers, thieves. I've lied, I've cheated on my wife, I've stolen. So how can I judge somebody for something that's mentioned in the same exact scripture? I believe we're all sinners. We're all trying to make it but our hip-hop community are a bunch of hypocrites right now."

Whether Howard isn’t aware of the homosexual overtones in Williams’ play, or has decided he doesn’t care, isn’t clear. An brief article in the new Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue, out now, quotes him as saying that it’s a “challenge” to play Brick, because Brick has a lot of “issues” - but neither Howard nor the article itself explicitly mentions the play’s homoerotic themes.

Nevertheless, it’s good to see a prominent African-American actor – and particularly a film actor – taking on a role that is anything other than strictly heterosexual. Although fear of playing queer cuts across all races in Hollywood, the pressure can be particularly acute for black actors who worry that homophobia as well as racism will limit their career opportunities. When Will Smith took the role of gay Paul Poitier in Six Degrees of Separation back in 1993, he told Premiere magazine that Denzel Washington approved of him taking the role, but advised him “Don’t be kissing no man”. Fifteen years later, neither Smith – nor Washington, nor Morgan Freeman, nor Samuel L. Jackson – has played any further gay roles.

Here’s hoping that Howard can help to lessen the taboo for African-American actors playing queer or ambiguous roles – and maybe question his own attitude towards homosexuality in the meantime.