Mokae, Tired of His Serious Roles, Relishes Chance to Fly Into ‘A Rage’

Zakes Mokae thought it was a drag playing serious roles. Now he’s literally in drag in “A Rage in Harlem.”

In the comedy set in 1956 Harlem, Mokae plays Big Kathy, a flamboyant transvestite who runs a brothel. Big Kathy teams up with his friend, a smooth-talking hustler (Gregory Hines), to steal a trunkload of gold.

Mokae, South Africa’s most famous black actor, has been friends with “Rage” director Bill Duke for more than a decade. “We were at the American Film Institute together,” he says. “I was there directing films just like he was. He called me up and said he had this (comedic role available) and I said, ‘Sure, I will take it.’ You always try to take this other stuff because people only take you seriously.”

Mokae says he had a great time decked out in a dress, high heels, a blond wig and a bra. “Come up and see me sometime,” he quips in his best Mae West voice.

The actor is most closely associated with the works of his friend, playwright Athol Fugard. Mokae has appeared in Fugard’s acclaimed “The Blood Knot,” “Boseman and Lena,” “A Lesson From Aloes” and “Master Harold and the Boys,” for which he won the Tony.

Mokae and Fugard met in South Africa more than 40 years ago. “He was starting to write and I was messing around,” Mokae recalls. “We started a little group called the Rehearsal Room with a couple of friends and we did plays.”

Mokae and Fugard went to England in 1961 to do “The Blood Knot.” “It was a big hit and I just worked a lot in the theater there.”

Eventually, he came to America. “I figured I had enough of the stiff upper lips,” Mokae says, laughing. For the last five years, Mokae has called Las Vegas home. “I’m a desert rat,” he says.

Fugard has written a new play for Mokae, set to open this fall on Broadway. “I am in a very fortunate position of having a friend who is a playwright and whatever he writes, he always has me in mind.”