Tyler Perry and other stars buy “Ain’t No Mo” shows to try and save the Broadway show

Hollywood stars have joined in to help out a new Broadway show that was set to close due to low ticket sales. Celebrities like Tyler Perry and Shonda Rhimes bought entire runs of “Ain’t No Mo” this week in an effort to extend the show’s run. The plan worked — on Thursday, playwright Jordan E. Cooper announced the extension of “Ain’t No Mo” to December 23rd.

Cooper, who also stars in the show, said earlier this week that he received an eviction notice telling him the play must end on Dec. 18. Marketing is not fit for this kind of offer.”

“Ain’t No Mo” premiered at The Public Theater on November 9 and then moved to the Belasco Theater which has around 1,000 members. The play’s website says the 90-minute play “dares to ask the tantalizing question, ‘What if the U.S. government offered black Americans one-way airline tickets to Africa?'” and “will leave you crying with laughter — and thinking crying.” ”

Cooper started a campaign to save his show on Instagram last week, using the hashtag #SaveAINTNOMO. He said the average ticket price was $50 to make the show available to everyone and asked supporters who could sponsor someone’s ticket to do so.

“In the name of art, in the name of the resistance, in the name of We Belong Here Too, in the name of every ancestor who tells stories, whoever has the honor of Broadway theater or has been told they could never, please support this production and buy a ticket and come with us. He wrote church.” “Radical black action belongs on Broadway, too.”

A day after posting his plea for support, Cooper posted that a celebrity couple stepped up to help in a big way — Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith bought an entire performance.

Other celebrities soon joined. Cooper announced Thursday that more shows have been bought by director Tyler Perry. Actress Gabrielle Union and her husband, former NBA star Dwyane Wade. Producer and Director Shonda Rhimes. and actress Sara Ramirez.

Other celebrities support the show in different ways: writer and actress Lena Waithe hosted a talk after the Dec. 13 show and RuPaul hosted the show on Dec. 15.

Now — thanks to the efforts of “some tough warriors,” Cooper said — the show won’t end this weekend after all and has been extended through December 23rd.