By Matthew Wexler
In Oh Happy Day!, Jordan E. Cooper plays Keyshawn, a Black, queer sex worker who’s died and gone to heaven. But getting there is no leisurely stroll through the pearly gates. The playwright-actor brings his signature, unfiltered grit and humor to his play, loosely inspired by Noah’s Ark—if that ark were built out of the remnants of a well-worn house in Laurel, Mississippi.
Cooper, the youngest Black playwright to be produced on Broadway (Ain’t No Mo’), has been developing Oh Happy Day! for nearly seven years. Its Off-Broadway arrival at The Public Theater delivers a powerful narrative that explores the intersection of faith and LGBTQ+ identity. The play also features original songs by Grammy winner Donald Lawrence and a powerhouse performance by Tamika Lawrence as Keyshawn’s sister, Niecy.
1 Minute Critic caught up with Cooper just before opening night to discuss the play’s themes, his onstage sibling, and what he hopes is on the menu when he arrives in heaven.
The inspiration for ‘Oh Happy Day!’
I started writing this play before I even came out to my parents. When I got to college, I felt like there was this flicker of godliness, or this connection with whoever my creator was. And it felt like the world kept trying to blow out this flame and telling me that I didn’t deserve this flame. But for some reason, no matter how hard the world blew at it, the flame never went out.
And the older I got, I was trying to figure out, why is this flame still burning? What if there is no such thing as not belonging to God? What if everybody’s wrong?
The Public Theater: A playground for new play development
The Public Theater was the first theater I walked past when I moved to New York City for college. It was 2014, and there were posters for Hamilton. When we did Ain’t No Mo’ at The Public, we’d have to walk in the hallways to get backstage, and I’d see that same poster.
I still think about that, how sometimes things just seem so purposeful, like it seems so intentional, how that just kind of became my playground. The Public is still my playground in such a beautiful way.
Onstage sibling rivalry with Tamika Lawrence
I had seen Tamika in a small role in The Wiz Live! and then in The Heart of Rock and Roll on Broadway. When we were doing the workshop of Oh Happy Day! I said I’d love to see her play this role. It’s not easy—the part requires a “leave this ground and pull you in the gutter” reality, but you’ve also got to have these ridiculous vocals. So we called her in for a meeting.
When I tell you she came in there and she took that role. It was not like there was no room for any of us to think about anybody else, because she just came in and she staked her claim.
A trifecta of new works exploring faith and LGBTQ+ identity
In response to Saturday Church and Nothing Can Take You From the Hand of God…
I think it’s absolutely phenomenal that these [plays] are happening within the same season, yet they each have their own pockets and show different perspectives. I really do think that we’re at this point in the world where not only queer people are tired of being told that we’re less than or we’re not worthy of the Divine, but I think it’s all of us. Everybody who’s ever been told that divinity does not belong to them or that they are not worthy of divinity is reclaiming that.
It wants better content.
What heaven looks like for Jordan E. Cooper
All the people I’ve ever loved (including my dogs) are there. I just hope that whatever I see fills in the gaps of whatever life felt like it was missing. But the goal is to hopefully have half as much joy as whatever that is on the other side; that I can find it here before I even get there.
And on the menu? I need me some seafood and cornbread. I need some gumbo. I need some mac ‘n cheese. Oh, and some vanilla cake! I love a good vanilla cake, but not with whipped cream icing—it needs to be buttercream.
Oh Happy Day! plays at The Public Theater through November 2, 2025.
Oh Happy Day! plays at The Public Theater through November 2, 2025.
This interview was edited for length.
