Debbie Allen says Grey’s Anatomy still comes first, even as she is spending her nights on Broadway. Speaking at the opening night of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, which she directed, Allen said the long-running medical drama remains a priority while she balances theatre, television and her work behind the camera.
The timing matters because Allen is not stepping away from either stage or screen. She has played Dr. Catherine Fox on Grey’s Anatomy since 2011 and also serves as an executive producer and director on the series, which is now in its 22nd season. At the same time, she is directing a production starring Taraji P. Henson and Cedric the Entertainer, a sign that her schedule is still split between two demanding worlds.
Allen said theatre keeps her “on my toes,” “curious” and “ever the student of life.” She also called the rehearsal process for Joe Turner’s Come and Gone one of the most fulfilling experiences of her career. The run was kept closed, she said, with no one allowed in, and that isolation let the company work through every stage of the process without interruption. “We got to stand up, fall down, laugh, cry, make mistakes, get it right, get it wrong,” she said. “It was the best. I love theater.”
That focus on Broadway does not appear to have weakened her commitment to television. Allen said, “I promised Shonda Rhimes I will bring all my sharpest skills back to Grey’s Anatomy,” and added that the show is “the little engine that could.” She said it keeps “going up and up and up,” pointing to a series that has outlasted the normal lifespan of network dramas and is still adding seasons.
The tension is in the juggling act itself. Allen is building a stage production from the inside while also carrying a major role on a show that has been central to her career for more than a decade. Rhimes attended the Broadway premiere to support her, saying she was excited to be there to see the show, Allen’s work and the cast. For Allen, the answer to the question of whether Broadway pulls her away from Grey’s Anatomy is no: she says the medical drama is still a priority, and she is coming back with the sharper tools that theatre gives her.