Last night (Mar 27, 2025) at the historic Howard Theatre, Chadwick A. Boseman’s words came alive in a one-night-only staged reading of Deep Azure. The energy in the room—and the people who came together to bring his vision to life—made one thing clear: Chadwick’s legacy is still doing what it was always meant to do—move us, teach us, and make us feel something deeper.
Deep Azure, written in 2005, is one of Chadwick’s earliest plays and yet it reads like something that could’ve been written yesterday—because justice, love, and divine will never stop being timely. The story follows Azure, a woman grappling with the police killing of her fiancé Deep, as she begins to uncover a truth that hits closer to home than expected. Through a blend of Hip Hop, Jazz, and Blues, the play bridges spiritual realms and physical realities in a way only Chadwick could have penned.
Denise Saunders Thompson, one of the evening’s key voices, opened the night on the red carpet with warmth and remembrance. “It’s been a journey like any other,” she said, reflecting on watching Deep Azure from the beginning when Chadwick wrote it while a student at Howard to a full-fledged production twenty years later. “I remember when he wrote this play… At the end of this, everyone should say: ‘You missed it—you should have been there.’”
And honestly? She was right.
For many, this wasn’t just theatre—it was testimony. For Chadwick’s widow, Simone Ledward Boseman, it was a window into the man behind the myth. “He was kind and generous… and gave of himself,” she shared with Blex Media on the red carpet. “He showed up for the people in his life. That’s how we remember him—somebody who was always there.”
Actor Joshua Boone, who portrayed Roshad, gave us a glimpse into a private side of Chadwick most people never got to see. “He spoke life—not just over me as an actor, but over my career. When people wanted to minimize what I was after, he told me that anything I wanted, I would have,” Boone said. “He shepherded me through some hard moments. He was a real brother.”
And then there was Deep Azure’s leading lady Lauren E. Banks, who beautifully articulated why Chadwick’s name is now etched in the very foundation of Howard’s College of Fine Arts. “There’s a reason it’s called the Chadwick Boseman College of Fine Arts,” she said. “He represents the kind of artist the school aims to create—consummate, curious, and committed.”
His brother Kevin Boseman offered a moment of heartfelt reflection: “His legacy was a legacy of love. Of constantly teaching… not just those younger than him, but even his peers. He was incredibly wise. I often think he was channeling something from God and giving it back to us.”
It’s one thing to witness art. It’s another to feel legacy in the room with you. Actress Jes Washington said it best: “We feel [Chadwick] through the people he touched. Through the atmosphere. As ancestors watch over us—him being one of them.”
Last night wasn’t just a reading. It was a spiritual revival of the words, love, and purpose that Chadwick carried with him throughout his life. This was a space where Black artistry, Black history, and Black love all existed in the same breath.
And through it all, Deep Azure reminded us: Chadwick A. Boseman wasn’t just an actor or an icon. He was a playwright. A visionary. A vessel.
And that vessel still speaks.