Democracy Dies in DarknessTheaterThe “Elsbeth” and “The Wire” actor, now starring in “Othello” at D.C.’s Shakespeare Theatre, wants to be in film, television and theater every year.Today at 6:00 a.m. EDTActor Wendell Pierce has long found the artistry in structure, and vice versa. (Demetrius Freeman/For The Washington Post; makeup/grooming by Kym Lee)9 minWendell Pierce can recall the exact evening — the exact moment, in fact — that he unlocked William Shakespeare’s lyrical language.It was September 1981, and the New Orleans native was a first-year Juilliard student who didn’t exactly see eye to eye with the Bard. “I felt verse was so restrictive,” he says on a late-April morning at a Southeast Washington rehearsal studio, ahead of his starring turn in “Othello” at Shakespeare Theatre Company. “I just wanted to say goodbye.”
The key to Wendell Pierce’s longevity: Commitment to the acting ‘trifecta’
The “Elsbeth” actor, now starring in “Othello” at D.C.’s Shakespeare Theatre, stays sharp by regularly toggling among film, television and theater.
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