Rain Pryor has done a whole lot of living since she introduced Tucson to her one-woman show โFried Chicken and Latkes.โ
Her father, the legendary comedian Richard Pryor, died about 10 months after she did the show in Tucson in February 2005.
She married, had a daughter, divorced and remarried.
She left the crazy of Hollywood and Los Angeles for a sense of normalcy on the other side of the country in Baltimore, Maryland, where sheโs happy to add the roles of mother and wife to entertainer and comedian.
And over the holidays, she added another role: Cookie baker.
โWho knew?โ she said during a phone call in early January from home in Baltimore. โI have orders through February.โ
The cookie business was a fluke. She posted pictures of cookies she had baked and decorated for family during the holidays and suddenly found herself deluged with orders.
She wonโt be bringing any of those cookies with her when she takes the stage at the Leo Rich Theater on Saturday, Feb. 16, as part of the annual University of Arizona Hillel Foundation fundraiser.
Pryor has completely reworked โFried Chicken and Latkes,โ updating it to reflect where she is in her life. Itโs autobiographical, exploring her life as a Jewish African-American growing up in Beverly Hills in the 1970s.
โSome of the characters are the same,โ she said, including her white Jewish grandmother. โI donโt have a band or a piano player. Itโs not a cabaret show, so Iโm not singing throughout it. Itโs like a one-person solo play, which is great.โ
Her father also plays a central role in the revised show, much as he did in her life.
โThereโs present daddy, and I guess in a way thereโs ghost daddy,โ she said. โHeโs very much a part of it.โ
โThe show has evolved to where it speaks a lot about today,โ she added, including addressing racism and antisemitism. โIโm a mom, so I talk about my child in my show and how it comes full circle. ... My daughter is so socially aware, itโs frightening at times. But at the same time, she knows who she is; she identifies as a black Jewish girl. Thereโs no question about it; sheโs like, โThatโs who I am. I donโt understand why people donโt get that.โ That I find amazing.โ
โFried Chicken and Latkesโ the stage show may soon become a TV series. Pryor has teamed up with TV producing great Normal Lear and the distribution company Global Road Entertainment to bring the โdramedyโ to the small screen. She said they are pitching the show to networks, but nothing is decided.
โItโs exciting,โ she said. โI think the world is ready to accept (a TV series about) a black Jewish girl.โ
Talks with Lear and Global Road regularly take Pryor back to Los Angeles, a city she happily ditched a couple of years after her father died.
โNobody here cares that Iโm Rain Pryor,โ she said of living in Baltimore, a stoneโs throw from the Washington, D.C., beltway. โThey recognize me. They say, โhi.โ They give me hugs. But itโs not LA. Itโs not showbiz. Here people work in Washington. w And itโs kind of slow, like the South. Itโs an easy homebase lifestyle.โ
โI bake cookies. I cook dinner. I pick my kid up from school. I love my husband. And thatโs my life,โ she said. โAnd I go to LA and do my thing and come home.โ