Dewayne Perkins plays Dewayne in The Blackening. Perkins shares two characteristics with his character, their name, and their sexuality. Perkins has an inspiring background which plays into his character and writing.
The Blackening is about nine college friends staying in a cabin in the woods. A night of drinking and trash-talking turns into the Blackening, a bloody trivia game. The goal is to determine who is Black enough and who is not is out of the game. Perkins shares writing credit for The Blackening with Tracy Oliver. Oliver pushed and supported for Perkins to write the script.
Perkins started in Chicago, playing high school football, then moved into the improv team. During his first year at Depaul University, he joined Second City. He later was part of another Chicago-based improv group and 3Peat. Perkins also originally wrote The Blackening as a sketch that caught Comedy Central Original’s attention. The sketch was then turned into a short and went viral five years ago. The Blackening had then launched Perkins into comedy, staying in improv and doing stand-up. Perkins’ stand-up has succeeded in his coming-out story, with his family being surprisingly casual about his sexuality.
Perkins then wrote for series such as The Break With Michelle Wolf, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and The Hip Hop Nutcracker. He earned an Emmy nomination for writing in The Amber Ruffin Show. Perkins became a staple character in The Upshaws, a Netflix series. He gained recognition as one of the “queer young comics redefining American humor” by The New York Times.
The sexuality of his character Dewayne is not a central part of the movie. However, Perkins wants people to acknowledge and embrace that part of him. He started writing because opportunities for queer characters were few, far between, and even more so for a Black queer character. He wanted to write a character not defined by his sexuality but to allow their sexuality to exist.
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