Kimber Elayne Sprawl Was Ready For Her Next Challenge, Then OTHELLO Came Knocking

Othello is Kimber Elayne Sprawl’s 7th Broadway show, but before this season she had never done a play here in New York City. An illustrious career that ranges from Beautiful to Girl From The North Country to Wicked, Sprawl has made a name for herself but she was ready for a new challenge. Enter Kenny Leon. After starting the season in the company of Home at Roundabout, Sprawl landed Emilia in the much talked about starry revival of Othello currently starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal. 

I recently sat down with Sprawl to chat about her connection to The Bard, transitioning into the world of plays, and her love of the New York Public Library. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity. All photos are by Carianne Older/Theatrely. 

Theatrely: How are things going over at the Barrymore Theater? 

Sprawl: Things are great, things are really, we're in a good flow. People seem to really be enjoying it, like the crowds are bigger than I've ever seen. It's been fun, yeah. 

Have you always been a fan of The Bard? 

I've always appreciated him. You know, I studied it a little bit in college. I think I've always appreciated poetry and words in general. I love a good script; a good book. And of course Shakespeare has my utmost respect; no one does it like him. I just wanted to get my hands on meaty material. I started studying with Jay O. Sanders, who's my mentor, and he really worked into me that if you want to be a good actor, you need to study Shakespeare — he really got me into it. 

Up until this season, as I was going through your theatrical career, you've only done musicals on Broadway, and then this season you've done two plays. What is it like jumping into the world of plays? 

It's, well, it's refreshing, to say the least; a completely different world. It's something that I've wanted for a while, to transition. I've done musical theater pretty much all my life and it's all I did here in New York. And I think sometimes you get to a point in your career where you just want a new challenge. I wanted to just have the opportunity to learn how to develop a character solely with my words and my thoughts. And so I've just been really embracing just how different it is. 

So I'm curious, first day of rehearsal for , you get in the room with everyone and Kenny. What was going through your head?

I was stressed the first day. I was so nervous. It was just really, unreal. It took me hours to even say hello to Denzel because I was so nervous and I just remember being really excited with Kenny. What he said that sticks out to me the most was we're gonna find our truth. We're going to find the truth and we're going to stand in it. We're going to take these words and make them our own so that we can affect people and what's going on right now.

That's exactly was my next point. How do you take a text that's hundreds of years old and make it for an audience in 2025? 

Yeah, I mean, I feel like so much that is written, it's crazy, but it's still extremely poignant. And the fact that it was written 400 years ago and I can say something and people know exactly what I mean; I think that's the beautiful thing about humanity. That's the beautiful thing about Shakespeare. With Emilia specifically, because she's usually played by a white woman, I just felt like I had so much to expand within the text because I was just able to put my experiences as a black woman onto this and bring a fresh perspective. But like Kenny said, I think it's just about just telling the truth. So I think it's just about taking his words and being true to the language, but putting a very modern subtext to it. 

Is there another Shakespeare play you'd love to tackle next? 

Yeah, I mean, I really want to, of course, now I want to play Lady Macbeth.

Period. 

Period! 

So when we did your photo shoot, you requested we shoot at the New York Public Library. Tell me about why that space is so important to you.

Yeah, my first Broadway show was Beautiful: The Carole King Musical so I spent a lot of time at the library just, you know, reading and walking around between shows. It was just sort of my go-to because I just, I think it's so stunning. And it was a great place for me to just be. I think I chose it specifically for us because a big reason why I was able to tackle this audition, get the role, was because of the preparation I did before, the studying, the work. And, you know, the work really never stops, no matter if this is your seventh Broadway show, or it's your Broadway debut, or like Denzel who is 70 years old with decades of experience. The work and the studying, the reading, the discovery is the most important and like you have to use your resources, you know, use the library!

When you think back on Othello in the next twenty, thrity years, what do you wanna remember most about this time right now? 

I think I want to remember that I rose to the occasion, like I really did it. It’s not that I don’t always work hard, but I really put myself out there and stepped out of my comfort zone. Not every show is going to give you a big challenge, not every show’s going to give you as many eyes on it as this project. The valuable thing is the work that you put into it. One of the most important quotes Jay told me was that he says some of the most brilliant work he’s ever done, no one has seen it, but he did the work. I’m really proud of the work that I did here.