Actor, Author, and Singer Hattie Winston – A Gathering of Voices

For more than five decades, Hattie Winston has made a name for herself as an acclaimed actor, singer, producer, and veteran of the Broadway stage.

A native of Greensville, Mississippi, Winston made her professional debut in The Prodigal Son, written by Langston Hughes and directed by Vinette Carroll at New York City’s Greenwich Mews Theatre. She soon found herself sharing her talents with audiences of the world-renowned Negro Ensemble Company, where she was one of its founding actors before appearing in several Broadway shows, including Hair, The Me Nobody Knows, I Love My Wife, Scapino, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and The Tap Dance Kid.

The award-winning actress may be best known for her six year run as “Margaret” alongside Ted Danson in the hit CBS sitcom Becker, but Winston has enjoyed a wide-ranging career in television commercials and voice-overs in addition to working on a long list of shows over the years including The Electric Company, ER, The Game, Cold Case, Numb3rs, Girlfriends, Mike and Molly, as well as a recurring role on the Cedric the Entertainer and Niecy Nash series The Soul Man.

Outside of her work on stage and in front of the camera, the proud wife of noted musician Harold Wheeler and mother of Samantha Wheeler, she is an active board member and co-chair of several festivals, groups, and other charitable organizations.

Another passion Winston pursues is writing. An invitation from friend and fellow actress Denise Nicholas (In The Heat of The Night, Let’s Do It Again, and Room 222) led to joining a writing collective called The Longwood Writers Workshop. Also including Denise Billings, film/television producer Charles Floyd Johnson (Magnum P.I,. JAG, NCIS), physician Otto E. Stallworth, Jr., MD, and GW Williams, the diverse group of professionals have come together to put forth a varied collection of personal, vibrant, introspective, and lyrical stories. These stories resonate with memories of their struggles, battles they’ve won and lost, and their many experiences illuminating their mature wisdom and hard-won resilience. The book, entitled A GATHERING OF VOICES, features a foreword by Tony Award-winner Phylicia Rashad.

N’DiGO recently sat down with the dynamic artist to learn more about her career and the stories she shares in A GATHERING OF VOICES.

N’DIGO: In your own words, who is Hattie Winston?

Hattie Winston: She is a wife, mother, author, actor, and singer. Someone who is deeply concerned about the future of our children, and what appears to be a lack of empathy that seems to exist in our society today.

What are three words those closest to you would use to describe you?

Kind. Smart. Sensitive to the concerns of others.

Did you always know you wanted to be an actor? How did you get your start?

I always wanted to be an actor. After attending Howard University, I returned to New York and joined Robert Hooks’ Group Theater Workshop, which was a training school for young actors interested in pursuing a professional career in theater. Joseph Papp of The New York Shakespeare Festival (for whom Robert Hooks was starring in Henry V) attended one of our performances and hired us as the opening show. We performed throughout NYC, and as a result of those performances, I was offered my first Off-Broadway show, Langston Hughes’ The Prodigal Son.

You’ve had a storied career across film, stage, and television. Is there a particular project or role that might be a favorite or that you’re especially proud of?

I am especially proud of a play that I wrote, Slave Narratives: A Mighty Mighty People. It is based upon recordings of former slaves freed after the Emancipation. Their voices, their words, and their experiences as enslaved people. It is a play with music. What pierces my heart today is A Gathering of Voices.

How did the Longwood Writers Workshop come together, and how did you become a part of it?

Denise Nicholas, actress and prize-winning author of her novel Freshwater Road, is the founder of The Longwood Writers Workshop is where this all began.

She was working on her second novel and decided she needed feedback on her work. Denise and I are founding actors of the Negro Ensemble Company, the first Black resident acting company in New York City (maybe the country)! She invited me and four other seriously-interested writers to become members of her workshop. We met every other Saturday at Denise’s dining room table or via Zoom (due to Covid, family illnesses, and the fires), but we learned to write, got better, kept to our commitment, and A GATHERING OF VOICES is the result. I’m so proud of us.

Please tell us a bit about your contribution to A GATHERING OF VOICES?

I have five pieces in the book that cover an array of topics, including childhood memories, growing up in Mississippi during segregation, lessons learned, trials, and triumphs.

Do you have a dedicated routine when it’s time to sit and write? What does your process look like?

I try to write early in the morning when everything is quiet. If that’s not possible, I will alert my family that I am writing, so I am not to be disturbed. One of the things Denise taught us was to set the mood for our writing by reading poetry before we begin. It quiets our minds and takes us to the creative process. I love it.

What’s something people would be surprised to know about you?

I am an avid gardener.

Best piece of advice on life?

Be kind.

Best piece of advice you can give young actors and artists?

Learn your craft! There’s always more to learn.

Favorite quote or affirmation?

”Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” – Vivian Greene

What’s next for Hattie Winston?

I am hard at work on finishing my memoir.

For more information on the book, A GATHERING OF VOICES, and the Longwood Writers Workshop, please visit www.longwoodwritersworkshop.com