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Tony Todd Explores His Revolutionary Roots

Tony Todd has come home.

Todd, who was raised in Hartford and got his start in various theater groups throughout Connecticut, has created an impressive career in film and television, while also performing around the country in plays, including August Wilson’s King Hedley II, Athol Fugard’s The Captain’s Tiger, and his solo show Ghost on the House about the boxing champion Jack Johnson.

But his role as the former revolutionary who has returned to connect with his daughter after years in prison in Dominique Morriseau’s Sunset Baby, now playing at Hartford’s TheaterWorks, marks his first return to the Connecticut stage in decades—and to his boyhood roots.

“I’ve been seeing a lot of people from my past,” he says following the opening of the show, which plays through Sunday, Feb. 19.

The six-foot-five actor is best knowns for his chilling performances in horror and sci-fi films including 1990’s Night of the Living Dead (and its 2015 3D remake), the Hatchet film franchise, the title role in the Candyman franchise, and as William Bludworth in the Final Destination franchise and the Fallen in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Other films include Bird, Platoon, The Crow, and Lean on Me.

On TV he was the villain Zoom in The Flash and has had recurring roles on all three incarnations of Star Trek. His basso voice can be heard in countless animated films and characters in the gaming industry.

But he began in theater in Hartford in the late ’70s and early ’80s as a teenager performing at “pop-up” theater such ad the Free Me Truth Troupe (“helping incorrigible kids”), the former Protean Theatre on Pratt Street and especially the Artists Collective.

“The most important thing was when is when Jackie and Dollie McLean moved to Hartford and started that wonderful arts program,” says Todd, who was raised by his aunt and “had a wonderful childhood.[Jackie and Dollie] not only changed my life, but many others for generations.”

McLean was at the show’s opening night and Todd said “she was thrilled that one of her ‘children’ turned out to be a working actor.” Todd will be working at the Artists Collective and with youths in the Hartford area during the run.

Todd also attended UConn at Storrs, but he credits his stay at the National Theatre Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford and at Trinity Repertory Theatre Conservatory in Providence for “lighting the fire under me.

“I knew I would be an actor or a writer for sure after going to the O’Neill and Trinity Rep and working with some inspiring teachers who taught me that it doesn’t matter when you make it, it’s how you make it.”

Because Todd had completed work on around a half dozen films he was able to take the Hartford gig.

Todd says Sunset Baby is particularly relevant now.

“The language is extraordinary and it features the music of Nina Simone. But more than that, it connects into the politics of protest at the moment.”

Todd says he was too young to remember the details of the early protests movement of the ’60s and ’70s so he began his own research into that volatile period.

“The beautiful thing about the Internet is that you can do your own dramaturgy with the stroke of a key.” He learned about the FBI files “where they were examining the Hartford Black Panthers and their work in establishing a breakfast program for kids here.

“Now young people are standing up, politically speaking, and hopefully we will be able to tap into that.”

“The last few days were extraordinary,” says Todd, referring to the Ghostlight events at theaters and the women’s marches across the country.

“It makes me feel that here where I’m supposed to be,” he says.

The Connecticut Premiere of Sunset Baby runs through Sunday, Feb. 19 at Theater Works, 233 Pearl Street, Hartford. For more information, visit theaterworkshartford.org/play/81.