New career stage brings Saycon Sengbloh back home for “The Wonder Years”

Long before she was a Tony Award nominee for her work in Broadway’s Eclipsed and one of the main cast members of a high-profile weekly TV series, Saycon Sengbloh was a working actress in Atlanta. Ironically, she’s been back in the city a lot of late filming that aforementioned project, ABC’s new version of The Wonder Years. 

Inspired by the 1988 series, The Wonder Years follows the Williams, a middle-class Black family in Montgomery, Alabama, in the late ’60. The series is seen through the eyes of 12-year-old Dean (Elisha Williams), and Sengbloh plays his mother Lillian.

The Wonder Years team accepted the Best Ensemble Award as part of the recent SCAD TVfest, the local annual celebration of television that was held virtually in mid-February. It was one of several Atlanta-filmed shows recognized.  

Before she became part of the series, Sengbloh remembers coming out of another project she was in at the time that had just wrapped — and was flat-out exhausted. “I didn’t want to do much of anything,” she recalls. “I told my team that I needed a break. (Then) I literally got a call one day that they wanted to see me to audition for The Wonder Years. I thought, ‘The Wonder Years? The Wonder Years that I grew up on?’” 

The actress, 44, realized she had to snap out of her vacation mode. “I knew I had to audition for this. I have such a personal love for the show and was excited to see what (this new team) would do. I got the audition materials and started preparing with an acting coach.”

The idea of collaborating with Fred Savage, the star of the original series and producer of the new version, particularly excited her, as Savage has gone on to become a widely respected director. 

Her version of the mother character is a different take than that of original actress Alley Mills. She sees Lillian as a mom who is filled with love, but also a woman who doesn’t take any mess. “She wants people to do and present their best. She wants the best for her family and the kids in the neighborhood and for everybody to thrive.”

Born in Atlanta, Sengbloh attended Tri-Cities School for the Visual and Performing Arts and later Agnes Scott College, before she moved to New York to pursue a performing career. While she was here, Sengbloh appeared in numerous theater productions, including the 2004 world premiere of The Color Purple: The Musical at the Alliance Theatre, which she regards as a career high point. 

“I had the fortune to originate the role of Nettie,” she says. “All of my family came out to support me.  It was one of the last shows my grandmother got to see me in before she passed away.”

Sengbloh was also part of a exceptional ensemble cast in the Alliance’s 2002 staging of Jar the Floor. She had to shave her head for that part, which she remembers vividly. “It was so exciting performing with Terry Burrell, who played my mom. She and I still stay in contact. We will run into each other at shows. That was a hard show because I had to get my acting chops up. These were my early years.”

Since leaving Atlanta, she has appeared on Broadway several times. Danai Gurira’s acclaimed Eclipsed, starring Sengbloh as Helena (Wife Number One), was the first play with an all-Black and female creative cast and team to premiere on Broadway. Besides a Tony nomination, it won Sengbloh a Drama Desk Award.  She was also in the sixth season of Scandal and in the filmed-in-Atlanta Aretha Franklin feature film Respect alongside Jennifer Hudson, playing one of Franklin’s sisters. “I was in awe of Jennifer’s work ethic and seeing how the crew was able to bring this story to life,” Sengbloh says. 

To be back in Atlanta filming The Wonder Years means a lot to her. “It’s full circle — to be performing here after having been in so many shows at the Alliance, 14th Street Playhouse, the now-defunct Jomandi Productions and my ever-inspirational Freddie Hendricks Youth Ensemble, where I performed at 7 Stages alongside people like Kenan Thompson and Kandi Burruss. There is a strong pool of talent from here, and I am proud to be part of that.” 

Being here again, she added, “has been something to soothe my soul, as the pandemic has had different stages. It’s amazing to experience; there is nothing like the South.” 

Checking in with stars of CW’s Atlanta-filmed “Naomi”

The cast of the new CW superhero drama Naomi was also feted at SCAD TVfest, with series star Kaci Walfall receiving the festival’s Rising Star Award. Working with series co-creator Ava DuVernay has been one of the perks of the project for the performer.

“It’s a dream,” Walfall says. “I’ve always looked up to her. She is such a good person and generous, and her being so kind makes her a better creative. She fills me up with such positive affirmation but is so real and grounded.” 

Series co-star Mary-Charles Jones, who co-stars as Annabelle, is an Atlanta local. When she filmed here a while back, she didn’t think the area was ready. But now it is.

“We didn’t quite have the resources or the spaces that we needed,” she says. “Now that we are back in 2021 and 2022, the crew not only has the experience the others have but also that Atlanta charm. There is a lot of hospitality. Everyone on our crew really want the project to succeed.”

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Jim Farmer covers theater and film for ArtsATL. A graduate of the University of Georgia, he has written about the arts for 30-plus years. Jim is the festival director of Out on Film, Atlanta’s LGBTQ film festival. He lives in Avondale Estates with his husband, Craig, and dog Douglas.