Trai Byers Jokes Wife Grace Gealey ‘Always Has Notes’ After Watching Him Perform: She’s ‘a Rock’

Trai Byers says wife Grace Gealey isn’t shy when it comes to criticizing his performances.

via People:

The actor, who starred alongside now-wife Grace Gealey on the television series Empire, tells PEOPLE the actress is “stoked about” him making his Broadway debut in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson alongside Samuel L. Jackson.

Byers, 39, plays Avery in the Broadway revival, which opened earlier this month at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. He says that after his time on the television series Empire, new opportunities presented themselves, but nothing felt right — until this one.

“They weren’t for me,” he explains, adding that when he read the script for Piano Lesson, however, “it just floored me.”

He adds, “It felt like God was talking to me through the words, seeing me through the page. And I felt like I didn’t have a choice, which was great.”

In The Piano Lesson, Byers’ Avery courts Berniece, who is played by Tony Award nominee and Color Purple star Danielle Brooks. His real-life significant other was in attendance on opening night to cheer him on from the audience.

Byers and Gealy, 38, also announced on the red carpet that they’re expecting their first child together.

“She’s the best. I love her so very much,” Byers tells PEOPLE of his wife, calling Gealy “such a rock” and “such an anchor.”

One of the rewards of doing The Piano Lesson is that Gealy, who has a Master’s of Fine Arts in acting from the University of California, Irvine, has a “deep love for August Wilson and the theater.”

Of his opening-night performance, Byers adds, “She loved it. She loves the play. She loves the artists that I’m working with, loves [director] Ms. LaTanya [Richardson Jackson]. And she loved my work. And that’s good.”

Still, he says, “She could be critical about some things, and rightly so. I wouldn’t want her to lie to me. She always has notes. She’s my wife. She runs it. So I take them — what works — you know, chew the meat and spit out the bones. That’s our house.”

Though he says he is “super excited” for his journey into parenthood with Gealy, he also explains that he wants to keep their special moment “private,” adding: “It’s fantastic. But that’s mine.”

For now, he’s also enjoying time with his second family over at The Piano Lesson. “I love sitting backstage,” says Byers. “The first laugh that I hear — when I hear the room kind of fill with the sound of joy — it’s like, ‘Oh, wow. I get to go out there and join that.’ “

The Piano Lesson currently plays at Broadway’s Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

Congrats to Trai and Grace on their little bundle of joy!

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