Naturi Naughton joins the club

It’s the early 1960s and Chicago is feeling the rumblings of upheaval. Sexuality is peeking out from behind bedroom walls, civil rights is picking up traction, and the powder keg of segregation is set to go off. Gathering the elements of waking life and assembling a fantasy at 116 East Walton Street, Hugh Hefner builds the Playboy Club. Races mingle and booze flows as locals blow off steam and power brokers shake on midnight deals. VIPs, the “keyholders,” are served by Playboy Bunnies, who — with their tight satin out- fits, bunny ears, and white puffball tails — come to symbolize fun, privilege, and innocent sex appeal. The club is an escape for its time.

As Brenda, the strong-willed, African-American bunny on NBC’s “The Playboy Club,” up-and-comer Naturi Naughton sings, dances, and triumphs in this seductive re-creation of the era. Debuting September 19th, the new drama co-stars Amber Heard, Eddie Cibrian, and David Krumholtz. Melding Rat-Pack era entertainment with mob-riddled story arcs to match, “The Playboy Club” is poised to present Naughton as a TV powerhouse.

When last we spoke with her, Naughton was prepping for the release of Notorious, the 2009 Biggie Smalls biopic, in which she channeled every note and nuance of the provocative hip-hop star Lil’ Kim. Since then, she’s co- starred in Fame (2009), an updated version of the 1980 musical classic, with Kelsey Grammer, Bebe Neuwirth, and Megan Mullally. She then played a “’round-the-way girl,” as Naughton puts it, in Lottery Ticket (2010), who over- came the best-friend stigma and won the guy, alongside Bow Wow, Loretta Devine, and Keith David. In a case of sheer coincidence, Naughton played another Playboy Bunny on AMC’s “Mad Men” last year. It was on that set where she met Pat Lacey, one of the original bunnies. “She told me, ‘I’m going to see you again soon,’” Naughton recalls. “And six months later she was giving me bunny training as a series regular on ‘The Playboy Club’!” As a teenager, Naughton was a member of pop trio 3LW, touring with Destiny’s Child and opening for ’N Sync.

Next up for the spirited performer is Highland Park. Co-starring with Kimberly Elise, Danny Glover, Rockmond Dunbar, Billy Burke, and Deborah Ann Woll, Naughton plays Char, a young mother just out of high school who’s driven by high aspirations. “Kimberly Elise’s character,” Naughton relates, “who was [Char’s] guidance counselor, also had dreams of being a singer when she was younger, and winds up inspiring me and giving me the courage that she never had. She’s looking at me as this young vessel to live her dreams through. I really respect her as an actress; I love Kimberly Elise.”

We speak with Naughton as she gears up for a “Playboy Club” number with her fellow bunnies, Laura Benanti and Leah Renee Cudmore. With excitement, she declares, “It’s sexy, it’s up-tempo, it’s going to bring down the house!”

Venice: Tell us about Brenda, your character on “The Playboy Club.” Naturi Naughton:

Brenda is very opinionated, she’s strong, she’s ambitious, and a lot of fun to play. She has big dreams, and one of those is being the first African American centerfold — which doesn’t happen in real life until 1965, so she’s up against some challenges. She has to compete in a world that isn’t quite ready for her yet. And she’s dealing with rejection and with some issues from her past that are weighing on her. Brenda is not afraid to take risks and she is not someone who is going to give up her dreams, no matter what anyone says. I enjoy how sassy and lively she is. I’m excited for what’s to come. I feel like I get a chance to know her more and more every episode. 

Brenda experiences additional challenges, I would think, given the state of civil rights at the time.

She’s a black woman in 1961 and she’s a “chocolate bunny,” as they say. It’s a progressive time, it’s a difficult time in our history, and so much of the show is going to showcase so many different sides of what was happening in the world at that time in America. In the Playboy Club, she’s treated like everyone else.

So it’s an escape for her as much as it is for the clientele?

They called it “Disney World for adults,” actually. Hugh Hefner was ahead of his time, and I think, very progressive. Even his values were revolutionary, in the fact that he integrated his club, unlike a lot of the clubs and club owners at that time. He hired black bunnies and black [employees] and black men were key- holders. Black people could eat and drink [there], and it was definitely a world that was unlike the world that was existing in the ’60s outside the club. Hugh Hefner had a vision, and he really created it — and gave us an amazing bunny suit, while he was at it, to walk around in. It’s really, really fun.

Have you gotten to meet Hugh Hefner?

Oh yes, I did. He invited me and the other girls to the Playboy Mansion in L.A., which was awesome. We had a little screening party when our pilot got picked up and I got to meet him, and I actually met some of the other original bunnies. I met a lady who was a door bunny that I worked with, Pat Lacey, who was an African-American bunny in 1965, and she is still very beautiful and gorgeous. It’s interesting being at the mansion and taking all of the his- tory in, because it has been there so long. It was an honor and really cool to get to go, and of course to meet Mr. Hefner.

When you talked to some of the original bunnies, were you able to learn more about how to play your character?

Absolutely. Pat Lacey gave us our bunny training and she still works with Playboy, today. She trained me and the other girls on every- thing “bunny.” I learned the bunny dip, the bunny stance. I learned to perch the way a bunny perches, because a bunny is never allowed to sit down. If you see and feel how tight these costumes are ... now I understand why we can’t sit down! And I learned from Pat Lacey, just the fun and the enjoyment of the women who got to be bunnies and how liberating it was, and how it felt at the time. Because there is such a misconception,  I think, and I learned from her that this misconception is not the case, at least in her opinion.

So many of the women were proud to be bunnies. They were strong, respectable women. It wasn’t any kind of scenario where they were selling their bodies in any way. There was something confident about being able to put on that suit and walk out there and make your own money and provide for yourself and not rely on anyone but yourself. I think it was very empowering and liberating. I learned from talking with her and some of the other bunnies, and I actually did a lot of research when I got the part. I watched the DVD called “The Bunny Years” [1999] and it’s all of the women from various years of the Playboy Club giving their account of what their experience was. And it’s so positive and it inspired me to have a positive outlook, and not get caught up in some of the misconceptions of being a bunny. 

As you play the role, does it make you wish you lived back then?

[laughs] I love it. I must say I have fallen in love with the ’60s. I’ve always had a love affair with the ’60s for some reason — I love the music, I love the hair — but doing this show has reignited that feeling. I feel really comfortable in my own skin and in the shoes of these women of the time. I definitely would agree with you. It’s fun. I love all of the outfits I get to wear. And if I was in that time, who knows, I probably could have been a bunny. Because it’s definitely a feeling of confidence and strength and I feel it every day that I go on set.

It sounds like you’re experiencing the same feeling of liberation that the bunnies did back then.

Absolutely. I am almost vicariously living through the women who experienced it. I feel the same thing. Some roles and some characters help free you as an actor and as a person, and I think this is one of those experiences. It reminds me of what actors in Notorious were feeling. Very confident and free and expressive. And feeling comfortable in my body and my sexuality and all of that good stuff. I hope the audience and the fans will be open-minded and allow themselves to enjoy what we’ve created, because it’s a lot of work that I’m really, really proud of. I’m very excited about “The Playboy Club” and I think everyone else will be, too.

Did you pull from your own experiences as a teenager when you worked on Fame?

I got a chance to really channel what was inside of me as a young person when I was growing up. I always had the passion to be a singer and an actress; I always knew that I wanted to perform. So with a movie like Fame, I  related to that struggle of being rejected, being told that you are not the right look, or you can’t do this sort of dance because you don’t have that body type, or you can’t be an R&B artist because you don’t look this way. All of these things that were happening to all of the characters in Fame, I experienced in my real life. I was a teenager in a pop girl-group, so I knew what that feeling of struggle for your career and your dreams was like. So I really loved shooting that movie. I connected to it and I had a good time.

You were well schooled in entertainment at an early age, as a pop star in 3LW.

I did learn a lot as a kid. It was definitely interesting being a teenager and not going to high school. I didn’t get to go to my prom, because you sacrifice. Young people in the business — I know what they’re going through because we are being adults when you are supposed to be playing Double Dutch. So you go through that; you learn a lot from it. I did. I’m grateful for every trial and tribulation I’ve been through, and it made me, I think, an even better artist today — a better performer, a better actress.

What do you love about what you do?

I love the way it makes me feel, the way I wake up in the morning and I’m excited to do what I want to do. I go to sleep and I dream about it. I love who I am when I’m doing what I do. I’m a hoping, fun-filled, loving person, and when I get a chance to get on a stage and sing, or get a chance to get in front of a camera and act and perform, it really makes me feel like I’m totally in my comfort zone, and I’m supposed to be here. So I think that’s what I love — it’s the most comfortable place in the world. ▼

“The Playboy Club” premieres Monday, September 19th, at 10 pm on NBC.