A “heartbroken” Wayne Brady has withdrawn from the upcoming Off Broadway production of Ms. Blakk For President due to a vocal polyp and the need for vocal rest as ordered by his doctor, producers said today.

His role of Terence Alan Smith/Joan Jett Blakk will now be assumed by Tony Award nominee Ato Blankson-Wood (Slave Play).

“I couldn’t have imagined when I began this journey with Ms. Blakk For President two years ago that I would have to step away before we finished it together,” Brady said in a statement. “Unfortunately, due to vocal strain and a polyp on my vocal cords, I need to step away from the production immediately. I’ll be having a procedure very shortly, and I’m looking forward to healing and returning to the stage next year at 100%.

“I’m heartbroken to leave a show and a family that I love so deeply,” he continued. “Tina, Tarell, this incredible cast and creative team, and everyone at Vineyard Theatre have given me so much love, grace and support. It has been an honor to help tell this beautiful, joyful, defiant story of Black Queerness, and I’m deeply saddened that I won’t be able to continue telling it alongside this extraordinary company. I believe in this show, I love these people, and I’ll be cheering them on with my whole heart.”

The play, set to be the first Vineyard Theatre production of the 2026-2027 season, is co-written by Academy Award winner Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight, Choir Boy) and Tony Award nominee Tina Landau (Floyd Collins). Landau also directs.

Performances will now begin a five-week engagement on October 22 at the Vineyard, with an opening night on November 8. The play had previously been scheduled to begin October 15.

“We are deeply grateful to Wayne for the extraordinary generosity, artistry, and commitment he has brought to Ms. Blakk For President,” said Vineyard Artistic Director Sarah Stern in a statement. “We are sending him love and wishing him a very speedy recovery. We are equally thrilled to welcome Ato Blankson-Wood into the role of Terence Alan Smith/Joan Jett Blakk. Ato is an extraordinary artist who brings remarkable range, intelligence, imagination, and presence to his work—from his unforgettable performances in Broadway’s Cabaret and Slave Play to his Hamlet at Shakespeare in the Park. Ato is also an artist-in-residence at the Vineyard this season, which makes having him join this incredible cast and creative team particularly meaningful. We are so fortunate to have an actor of his caliber in this role, and we can’t wait for audiences to experience his performance.”

In addition to Blankson-Wood, the cast includes Nic Ashe (Queen Sugar), Tony Award nominee Gideon Glick (To Kill a Mockingbird), Kelvin Moon Loh (Beetlejuice), Sawyer Smith (The Devil Wears Prada) and Adina Verson (Indecent, Liberation).

The synopsis: “Introducing Joan Jett Blakk – the first (and only) Black Drag Queen Candidate for President of the United States of America. It’s the early 90s, the height of the AIDS epidemic, and Joan and the newly formed Queer Nation Chicago set off on an exhilarating and dangerous journey to drag queer politics out of the closet—and onto the floor of the DNC. Inspired—but not bound—by the true story of drag performer and activist Terence Alan Smith, Ms. Blakk For President is a joyous stampede through urgent and unfinished business.”

EXCLUSIVE: Lucien Laviscount (Emily in Paris) and Taylour Paige (I Love Boosters) are set to topline Tyler Perry‘s Confabulation, a new Netflix thriller written and directed by Perry that will also feature Shamier Anderson (John Wick: Chapter 4) in a key role.

The film follows a firefighter haunted by his past and struggling with reality who risks everything to rescue his high school sweetheart from her powerful husband, only for the truth to unravel in a shocking twist that questions what is real and what is confabulation.

Others set for parts include Nadine Ellis (Our Kind of People), Peter Parros (The Haves and Have Nots), Najah Bradley (I Love Boosters), Mikeal Dwayne Griggs (Beauty in Black), Jenna Nolen (A La Carte), Michelle Núñez (The Rookie: Feds), Colin McCalla (Ballard) and Shelley Robertson (Bel-Air).

This is the latest film out of Perry’s creative partnership with Netflix, which sees him write, direct, and produce films and TV series for the streamer. His 10th film with Netflix, Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Again, released in September, reaching the #1 spot on the streamer’s Global Top 10 Movies List (English) in its second week of release.

Perry is producing alongside Angi Bones and Tony L. Strickland.

Best known for his role as Alfie in Netflix’s hit series Emily in Paris, which returns for its sixth and final season on Christmas Eve, Laviscount has also recently been seen in the streamer’s rom-com People We Meet on Vacation, based on the Emily Henry novel, which debuted at #1 in January. He’s also been seen starring in the series Katy Keene, Snatch and Scream Queens and is repped by Gersh, Waring McKenna, 1v1 Entertainment and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.

Paige has previously starred in both Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F for Netflix. Recently seen in Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters and HBO’s It: Welcome to Derry, she is repped by WME, 1v1 Entertainment, and Granderson Des Rochers.

Anderson’s recent credits include Apple TV’s Invasion, John Wick: Chapter 4, and the title role in series Hate the Player: The Ben Johnson Story. He is repped by CAA, Mosaic, HillTop Entertainment and Jackoway Austen.

Perry is repped by WME and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.

EXCLUSIVE: Adam Hendricks and Greg Gilreath‘s Divide/Conquer, the production company behind titles like M3GAN and Totally Killer, has brought in three new execs to help expand its footprint in the genre space and beyond: Derek Bishé and David Grove Churchill Viste have been named SVPs of Production, with Rubel as SVP of Development.

Together, the trio will focus on shepherding new projects and nurturing burgeoning talent, as Divide/Conquer has most recently done with Curry Barker, the Obsession breakout now on to his sophomore feature, Anything but Ghosts.

“We believe that the best version of Divide/Conquer is one that stays hungry for new voices, new ideas, and filmmakers who see things a little differently,” Hendricks and Gilreath told Deadline. “Derek, Eden, and David each bring that spirit, a real instinct for great material, and an incredible depth of experience supporting filmmakers’ visions.”

Over the past decade, Bishé has worked on more than three dozen feature films, as well as television and commercial productions. Notable credits include Ryan Prows’ Lowlife, Jennifer Reeder’s Perpetrator, Mali Elfman’s Next Exit, Daniel Goldhaber and Isa Mazzei’s Faces of Death, and Elfman’s upcoming Thud, a Grim Reaper-Devil meet-cute exec produced by Divide/Conquer, on which we first reported. He began his career in Chicago as a production designer and art director before moving on to assistant directing, production management, line producing, and ultimately producing.

Ruben most recently worked as VP of Production at Fully Formed, the production company of Brad Fuller and Andrew Form, under its first-look deal at Sony, where she helped build a slate of more than 20 projects. During her time there, she focused on identifying and championing undiscovered voices and talent, bringing in and converting works from new voices into studio projects. Prior to her role at Fully Formed, she served as a development executive at Sony’s Screen Gems, where she worked on titles like PlayStation’s Until Dawn. Additionally, she worked at Netflix, where she contributed to films such as Do Revenge, Luckiest Girl Alive and Good Grief. A native Angeleno and dual Spanish-American citizen, she began her career in the Motion Picture Literary division at Gersh.

Viste is a Film Independent Spirit Award-nominated producer with two decades of production experience, who started out as a third-culture kid tinkering with an XL2 in the Middle East. Upon graduating from Vassar College, he became the general manager and head of production for a stage and production company before moving on to producing commercials, music videos, and — ultimately — his first film with Divide/Conquer in 2015. Notable credits include Emma Tammi’s The Wind, Mike Mohan’s The Voyeurs, Daniel Goldhaber’s How to Blow Up a Pipeline and Birth/Rebirth, which debuted at Sundance in 2023. Upcoming projects include Into the Sky, which is premiering at Fantastic Fest, and Elfman’s Thud.

Under a first-look deal with Blumhouse-Atomic Monster, Divide/Conquer has produced more than 30 features since its 2013 founding, making a name for itself in the genre space with M3GAN, Freaky and The Black Phone 2 for Universal Pictures; Heart Eyes for Sony Pictures; Vengeance for Focus Features; Totally Killer and The Voyeurs for Amazon MGM Studios; Lucky for Magnolia Pictures; Faces of Death for IFC/Shudder; and Cam for Netflix. Following the recent TIFF premiere of Josh Giuliano’s slasher River, which led to the film’s sale to Universal, Divide/Conquer set the director up to write and direct his next project, Occupant, which it will produce alongside Blumhouse-Atomic Monster and Spooky Pictures for Focus Features.

Divide/Conquer has several titles set for release in 2027, including Barker’s Anything But Ghosts for Focus Features and Alex Ullom’s 4×4: The Event for Neon. Hendricks and Gilreath are also working with Barker on his third, untitled original project, which has been set up at Universal Pictures through the filmmaker’s relationship with Divide/Conquer, Blumhouse-Atomic Monster, and Spooky Pictures.