When Kara Young’s name was announced as a 2024 Tony Award nominee for best featured actress in a play on April 30, she made history as the first Black actor to be nominated in three consecutive seasons. The Harlem-born actor was nominated for her performance as Letitia in Lynn Nottage’s Clyde’s in 2022, Jess in Martyna Majok’s Cost of Living in 2023, and Lutiebelle in Ossie Davis’s Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch this year.

Young admits that she has been so on the go that she hasn’t had a ton of time to fully soak in this milestone. She has, however, reflected on how her record-making achievement honors the legacy of Black theater artists.

“This moment is historic as a Black performer, but it feels like an homage to all of the giants on whose shoulders I stand on,” says Young. “It always feels great to be honored, but it’s not just my win. This is for Ossie and Ruby [Dee], two artists who didn’t get recognized for 62 years.”

The late Davis and Dee, married for more than 50 years, were an artistic power couple during their time. Not only were they beloved stars of stage and screen, but they harnessed their artistry into their activism work as well, like when they were appointed as the master and mistress of ceremonies for the 1963 March on Washington by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

When Purlie Victorious made its Broadway premiere in 1961, Davis starred as the titular role (played by 2016 Tony winner Leslie Odom Jr. in the revival), and Dee starred in the role Young is now nominated for. It received one 1962 Tony Award nomination, for Godfrey Cambridge as best featured actor in a play. This Broadway revival, which opened September 27, 2023, is nominated for six Tony Awards, including for Odom’s and Young’s performances, as well as Derek McClane’s scenic design, Emilio Sosa’s costume design, Kenny Leon’s direction, and Best Revival of a Play.

“Purlie is about so many things, like the hard legacy of this country, but at the same time an acknowledgment that we can move forward together,” says Young. “Ossie Davis’s pen [creates] this ride, a roller coaster, dissecting the absurdities of racism, social structures, constructs, and the lies we’ve been told. He writes in a way where you can laugh in a moment and be sucker-punched in your gut the next.”

In Purlie, the titular character returns to his home in Southern Georgia “to reclaim his inheritance and win back his church.” Young’s character, Lutiebelle, arrives with Purlie as a key accomplice in his plan, providing plenty of the laughs — as well as gut punches — Young described of Davis’s writing.

Through her signature physicality, comedic timing, and poignancy, Young crafted her performance of Lutiebelle in a way that garnered praise from critics (“Young all but steals the show,” Deadline’s Greg Evans wrote) and quickly became a fan favorite. As with Letitia in Clyde’s and Jess in Cost of Living, Young enjoyed diving into the layers of Lutiebelle. It was in the rehearsal room where Young felt like she could really excavate the truth of her characters with the guidance of her directors: Kate Whoriskey for Clyde’s, Jo Bonney for Cost of Living, and the aforementioned Leon for Purlie. Though her three Tony-nominated roles are different, Young feels like they have a “revolutionary radicalness” surrounding them.

“It’s this beautiful spectrum of Blackness,” says Young. “They’re all honoring a different Black woman, and there are so many stories to tell about each of these women. Letitia is a woman coming back into society after being incarcerated and taking care of a sick child, who doesn’t want to fail, yet the world is failing her. Jess has done all of the right things in her life, getting an Ivy League education, being a great student and daughter, trying to be the best person ever, but she’s living out of her car. Lutie is an homage to the women who have taken care of America, unseen and unheard, yet has so many dreams and aspirations herself.”

While the playwrights behind each of these characters are of different races, genders, generations, and lived experiences, they all created multidimensional Black women who Young loved exploring as an actor. Young also believes that Nottage, Majok, and Davis are all masters of language. Getting to bring their words to life is an honor in and of itself for Young, regardless of the outcome of her category on June 16.

“All of those playwrights are people who absorb the world around them,” says Young. “They write language that you want to eat and chew on. I don’t want to sound corny or cliché, but I feel honored to just have been thought of for these roles. When you get to celebrate the work of an artist of color or immigrant who has had to work really hard, [bringing] visibility around that work is monumental.”