ATLANTA — In 1995, Tyler Perry was a broke, struggling screenwriter who would sneak into Alliance Theatre plays during intermission, entering with the smokers.
At a post-play reception for an August Wilson play, he sought advice from the esteemed Black playwright. Wilson told him to write from his heart. Soon after, out poured “A Jazzman’s Blues,” a screenplay set in Louisiana in the 1940s about star-crossed lovers kept apart due to family issues, colorism and the racism of the Jim Crow era.
But he found success later that decade with plays focused on broad comedy and soapy morality tales. He tucked “A Jazzman’s Blues” away for a quarter century. Only recently did he feel comfortable bringing it to life. The result: Perry’s first ever historical drama set to come out on Netflix Friday.
