Hollywood celebrities help new Broadway play "Ain't No Mo'" stay open: "I'm just so honored and so humbled."
NEW YORK -- The show will go on for a new Broadway play after several high-profile celebrities rallied to keep "Ain't No Mo'" running for at least another week.
Hollywood celebrities were among those driving a successful campaign that saw this show extended past what was supposed to be closing night.
Jordan E. Cooper stars as fearless flight attendant Peaches, and he wrote the play.
He shared the good news with Thursday night's audience, announcing, "I want to tell you how powerful y'all are because now we've been extended for another week."
Just days before, Cooper thought it was all over.
CBS2's Dave Carlin sat down with him at the Civilian Hotel in the Theater District.
"Literally I was staring at opening night flowers when I just heard about a closing notice," Cooper said.
"How did you get this extension?" Carlin asked.
"It just wasn't sitting right with me. You know, I always say, I don't mind going down, but I don't believe in going down without a fight, right? And so I sent out a call to action to the communities at large," Cooper said.
Cooper started a push on social media. First, the community responded with people buying tickets. Then some big stars helped out.
"Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith bought out a house for the show, then from there we went to Tyler Perry and Tyler Perry bought out a house and Shonda Rhimes and Sara Ramirez," Cooper said. "I'm just so honored and so humbled."
Cooper started writing plays at 10 years old in Hearst, Texas. He moved to New York City, graduated from the New School and, at age 27m became what he's been told is the youngest Black playwright in Broadway history.
Now, more people get to see his funny, provocative play.
"What is 'Ain't No Mo''?" Carlin asked.
"So 'Ain't No Mo'' is basically a story about if all Black people in America got an email saying that they have to go back to Africa, and you watch all these people across the country decide whether or not they're getting on the final plane out of America," Cooper said.
Cooper says as the campaign continues to grow he keeps the faith that his show will gain more opportunities to fly on Broadway.
Last season, a similar grassroots campaign extended the run of the revival of "for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf."
