Oct. 9, 2006

Play Maker

Actress Robin Givens is enjoying life on the road. The 42-year-old star of 'Head of the Class' is touring in the stage play, 'Men, Money and Gold Diggers,' a job she said she only took because her good pal Miguel Nunez Jr. ('Juwanna Mann') called and asked her to take it.

"It was funny for me how I got involved," Givens told me over the phone from Houston's Magic 102.1 FM, where she was promoting the play. "I was sort of doing what I do these days, which is mostly being a mother. I was with my kids, dropping them off at school and picking them up, when my phone rings. Miguel Nunez-he and I worked together on 'Sparks' the UPN show and actually knew each other before that-he called and said, 'I want you to do this play with me. I'm doing a play.' I said, 'Oh, what is it Miguel?' He said, 'Just read the script!' We were even talking about it today in the radio station, how I called back and said, 'Miguel, its really good! It's cute!' It's just really adorable."

The actress said Nunez's influence and the script-("I thought it was an adorable script. It's about relationships and love and who trusts who. It's a comedy and it's very funny.")-along with a chance to do something different, made signing-on really easy. "It was sort of hard to say no to him," Givens added. "He said, 'Robin, I promise you a good time.' I really do treasure our relationship. Carl Payne and I have known each other, but I've never got to work with him. Then there's Terri J. Vaughn, who I know of and hadn't worked with. So I am so glad that Miguel sort of got me out of the house and convinced me to do it."

The last time Givens left the house for work was when she took the Great White Way by storm for five months playing Roxie Hart in Broadway's 'Chicago.' "I was the first black woman that they let do the role. I'm always sort of interested in breaking ground. But it was interesting that the people who came to see the play…there weren't ever really many Black people there," she shared.

Seeing African Americans sell-out theaters has been part of the joy of doing 'Men, Money anld Diggers' for Givens. In addition, the actress believes these touring plays offer actors a chance to work since there is a lack of diversity on network television. "I immediately think of Tyler Perry and these sorts of plays that Je'Caryous [Johnson and Gary Guidry] have been doing, where the world is sort of…in so many ways I still think we're d Gosort of segregated. We were talking about this just amongst ourselves, but clearly you turn on the television and you see CBS and you rarely see black people there. So it's wonderful to have a place where actors can go, and not only actors going to do what they do, but people get to see the actors they love in person."

In addition to receiving standing ovations for her role in 'Men, Money and Gold Diggers,' Givens is putting the final touches on an autobiography that is slated to release early next year. "It's with Miramax Books and it'll be out in March, late February or early March. A lot of people feel like it is long overdue. There's so much I had to process about my life and this book will probably be a lot different than most people are thinking of it. It really deals with three generations of women, my family and sort of breaking cycles. Hopefully it will be very empowering to women, that's my hope and goal for it," she said.

Givens hadn't contemplated penning her life story until her friend Oprah Winfrey encouraged her to after her hour-long interview on Winfrey's show last year. "It was funny," laughed Givens. "I was in Florida and I got a call from her. We've known each other for some time and she said, 'Robin, you're happy, you're well, people need to know your story and you're coming on the show.' I was like, 'What?'" Before Givens could turn down the offer, Winfrey had things in motion. "Literally, before I could say anything there was a [TV] crew in my house. Later I went on the show and after I did the show, she came back to my room and she said, 'Its just time for people to know your story. It's time to write your story.' It's just something about the way she said it to me and along with where I am with me in my life, I did feel that it was time for me to do it. And I am writing it myself! A lot of people have ghost writers, but I am doing it myself. I don't know, it's been an amazing experience, and I hope people respond to it well."

Givens was married twice; once to former boxing champ Mike Tyson and to tennis player Svetozar Marinkovic. She's also dated shock jock Howard Stern and actor Brad Pitt. The actress has two sons, Michael, 14, and William, 7.

To find out when Givens' play 'Men, Money and Gold Diggers' gets to a city near you, visit www.imreadyproductions.com. In addition to Givens, Nunez, Payne and Vaughn, Chico Benymon ('Half & Half') and R&B singer Tank also star in the play.

On The Road

Since I'm talking about touring plays, be sure to check out 'Mama's Sweet Potato Pie' if it comes to a city near you. The production, directed and co-produced by Nicci Gilbert of Brownstone, along with Angela Barrow-Dunlap, stars Boris Kodjoe ('Soul Food'). Rounding out the cast is Sherman Hemsley ('The Jeffersons'), Trenyce ('American Idol'), Tammy Townsend ('Rock Me Baby'), Christian Keys ('Diary of a Mad Black Woman') and a rotating R&B stud, depending on which city you're in.

'Mama's Sweet Potato Pie' is certainly not 'Shakespeare,' but it's definitely a laugh-out-loud good time. And you'll be pleasantly surprised by how good an actor Patrick Kodjoe, brother of Boris, is in the play. The play has dates scheduled in Louisville, Ky., Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Miami before taking a break so that Boris can return home in time for his wife, actress Nicole Parker Kodjoe, to give birth to their second child.

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