Winfrey drama explores church

Associated Press

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif.

Oprah Winfrey’s latest project as both producer and actress continues her exploration of religion and spirituality.

The media mogul unveiled the first episode of her new series, “Greenleaf,” at a private screening. The show, which follows the personal dramas and questionable ethics of a family at the center of a Memphis, Tenn., megachurch, is set to premiere next month on Winfrey’s OWN network.

After taking a documentary approach to faith in her “Belief” series that aired on OWN last year, Winfrey sees “Greenleaf” as “another platform to really offer the message that we are more alike than different; to offer the message that being grounded in knowing what you believe is important. I’m not trying to tell you what to believe or how to believe.”

She developed “Greenleaf” with the show’s creator, Craig Wright. It focuses on the title family, led by Bishop James Greenleaf (Keith David), a preacher who lives in a palatial estate. His riches may have unscrupulous origins, though, because he starts sweating when a local politician says he’s looking into churches’ tax-exemption claims.

Winfrey plays Mavis, an outspoken bar owner estranged from her sister, Greenleaf family matriarch Lady Mae (Lynn Whitfield).