Photo: c/o Polk and Co
Tina star Daniel J. Watts and WattsWords Productions will present Daniel J. Watts’ The Jam: Love Terrorists, a transformative display of music, dance, spoken word, and storytelling on Monday, June 29th. The show begins at 7:30pm EDT/4:30pm PT and will be streamed live from BETplus’ Instagram handle: @betplus.
An “artivist”, Watts has been known for lending his voice and efforts to unite the Broadway community in times of social uncertainty. After the horrific attack at Pulse Night Club, he galvanized cast members from Hamilton, On Your Feet, and Shuffle Along to a packed house in Webster Hall’s Marlin Room with The Jam: Love Terrorists – A Benefit for Orlando, raising $7500 for the LGBT community in Orlando. The Monday night event will feature a live fundraiser. All proceeds will go to the Ali Forney Center which is dedicated to helping and housing homeless LGBTQAI+ Youth.
Watts’ reprisal of Love Terrorists is the third online installment of Jams since the pandemic, preceded by The Jam: No More Silences (where Watts investigated his own silence while inspiring his audience to speak out against social injustices) and The Jam: The Next Time is Now (inspired by James Badlwin’s The Fire Next Time where Watts expressed the importance of educating oneself).
“Love Terrorists is based on a poem I wrote as a call to action to terrorize the world with love”, said Watts. “It’s a challenge for us all to remember the love we’ve received, acknowledge the love we’ve lost, and to use love to overcome the obstacles that lay ahead. Love is a weapon of mass construction.”
On the 29th, Watts will be joined by Grammy and Tony nominees Derrick Baskin (Ain’t Too Proud, Memphis) and Ephraim Sykes (MJ The Musical, Hamilton), Taharqa Patterson (Lights Out On Broadway), Michael Thurber (Thurber Theater, Goddess), Jennifer “Flo” Florentino (On Your Feet, Spielberg’s West Side Story), and Emmy Nominee Tituss Burgess (Respect, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”).
A play-on-words, Watts’ Jam series pays homage to his great-grandmother who, after making jam from scratch, would share with others what she was unable to consume herself. The Jam is Watts’ continuation of that legacy, sharing his creations of performance blended with elements of stand-up comedy and compelling storytelling with his original spoken word, often set to music and/or dance. Watts has appeared in eight Broadway shows including Hamilton, In The Heights and Memphis. Off Broadway he has starred in Suzan-Lori Parks’ Death of the Last Black Man in the Entire World (Signature Theatre) and the world premiere of Whorl Inside A Loop (2nd Stage). TV credits include recurring roles on Amazon’s Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, NBC’s Blindspot and HBO’s Vinyl and The Deuce. The Good Wife (CBS), Blue Bloods (CBS), Odd Mom Out (Bravo), The Night Of (HBO), Boardwalk Empire (HBO), Person of Interest (CBS), Broad City (Comedy Central) and Smash (NBC). He currently appears as Felony in Tracy Morgan’s new comedy series The Last OG on TBS.
Backstage Pass with Lia Chang 