Court Theatre presents Big White Fog September 12 – October 12, 2025

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

Court Theatre presents

Big White Fog

By Theodore Ward

Directed by Resident Artist Ron OJ Parson

September 12 – October 12, 2025

Under the continuing leadership of Executive Director Angel Ysaguirre, with interim artistic leadership from Senior Artistic Producer Gabrielle Randle-Bent and Senior Managing Producer Heidi Thompson Saunders, Court Theatre is thrilled to present Theodore Ward’s Big White Fog, directed by Resident Artist Ron OJ Parson. This production will run September 12 – October 12, 2025 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave. 

The cast of Big White Fog includes Amir Abdullah (Daniel Rogers); Ayanna Bria Bakari (Wanda Mason); Saran Bakari (Claudine/Sister Gabrella); Ronald L. Conner (Percy Mason); Brandon Dahlquist (Bailiff); Lionel Gentle (Count Cotton); Nathan Daniel Goldberg (Lieutenant); Joshua L. Green (Victor Mason); Sharriese Hamilton (Ella Mason); Anthony Irons (Count Strawder); Jada Jackson (Caroline Mason); Artem Kreimer (Nathan Piszer/Marks); Alanna Lovely (Juanita Rogers); John McBeth III (Phillip Mason); Patrick Newson Jr. (Lester Mason); Greta Oglesby (Martha Brooks); and Michael B. Woods (Patrolman).

The creative team includes Jack Magaw (Scenic Designer); Yvonne L. Miranda (Costume Designer); Lee Keenan (Lighting Designer); Christopher Kriz (Sound Designer and Composer); Khalid Long, PhD (Production Dramaturg); Becca McCracken, CSA (Director of Casting and Artist Cultivation), with Associate Casting Director Celeste M. Cooper; Jaclynn Joslin (Production Stage Manager); and Lauren Peters (Assistant Stage Manager). 

Theodore Ward’s Big White Fog is the big shoulders on which A Raisin in the Sun stands. First completed in 1938, funded by the Federal Theatre Project, and influenced by the South Side Writers Group that cultivated such iconic talents as Richard Wright and Margaret Walker, Big White Fog drove American realism forward by contending with discontent. 

The United States is on the cusp of the Great Depression and, like many, the Mason family is struggling. Between the precarious economy and racial violence on Chicago’s segregated South Side, something’s got to give. As different generations strive to secure the Mason family’s future, catastrophic decisions are made, leading to a heartbreaking twist and a blistering condemnation of America’s Big White Fog. 

Resident Artist and the nation’s preeminent director of August Wilson Ron OJ Parson (East Texas Hot Links) opens the 2025/26 season with this rich portrayal of Black life on Chicago’s South Side.

Subscription packages including Big White Fog are on sale now, and single tickets will be available on Friday, August 1, 2025. Tickets and subscriptions can be purchased online at CourtTheatre.org  or by calling the Box Office at (773) 753-4472. 

Big White Fog is sponsored by Allstate. Ron OJ Parson’s residency is made possible by the Joyce Foundation. 

Court will recognize the legacy of playwright Theodore Ward – author of Big White Fog – in the 2025 Spotlight Reading Series. All Spotlight events are free and open to the public and will be held at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts (915 E 60th Street). 

This year’s Spotlight includes:

A staged reading of Just Before Day on Wednesday, August 13, 2025 

A film screening of Native Son (1951) on Thursday, August 14, 2025

A dinner and facilitated discussion, Community Reads: Native Son, on Thursday, August 14, 2025 

A staged reading of Our Lan’ on Friday, August 15, 2025 

The Spotlight Reading Series is presented in partnership with the University of Chicago’s Film Studies Center and the Chicago Public Library, and is supported in part by the Joyce Foundation. 

Reservations for the Spotlight Reading Series can be made online at CourtTheatre.org or by calling the Box Office at (773) 753-4472.

Production Details:

Featuring: Amir Abdullah (Daniel Rogers); Ayanna Bria Bakari (Wanda Mason); Saran Bakari (Claudine/Sister Gabrella); Ronald L. Conner (Percy Mason); Brandon Dahlquist (Bailiff); Lionel Gentle (Count Cotton); Nathan Daniel Goldberg (Lieutenant); Joshua L. Green (Victor Mason); Sharriese Hamilton (Ella Mason); Anthony Irons (Count Strawder); Jada Jackson (Caroline Mason); Artem Kreimer (Nathan Piszer/Marks); Alanna Lovely (Juanita Rogers); John McBeth III (Phillip Mason); Patrick Newson Jr. (Lester Mason); Greta Oglesby (Martha Brooks); and Michael B. Woods (Patrolman).

Creatives: Jack Magaw (Scenic Designer); Yvonne L. Miranda (Costume Designer); Lee Keenan (Lighting Designer); Christopher Kriz (Sound Designer and Composer); Khalid Long, PhD (Production Dramaturg); Becca McCracken, CSA (Director of Casting and Artist Cultivation), with Associate Casting Director Celeste M. Cooper; Jaclynn Joslin (Production Stage Manager); and Lauren Peters (Assistant Stage Manager). 

Dates:           

Previews:  September 12 – September 19, 2025

Press Opening: September 20, 2025 at 7:30pm

Regular Run: September 21 – October 12, 2025

Schedule:  

Wed/Thurs/Fri: 7:30 p.m.                  

Sat/Sun: 2:00 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.

 

Accessible        

Touch Tour on Saturday, October 4, 2025 at 12:30pm

Performances: 

ASL Interpretation and Audio Description on Saturday, October 4, 2025 at 2:00pm 

Open Captioning on Sunday, October 5, 2025 at 2:00pm 

 

Location:     

Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave.

 

Tickets:         

$42.00 – $74.00 Previews


$60.00 – $90.00 Regular Run

Student, group, and military discounts available

Box Office:    Located at 5535 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago; (773) 753-4472 or CourtTheatre.org .

Winner of the 2022 Regional Theatre Tony Award, Court Theatre reimagines classic theatre to illuminate our current times. In residence at the University of Chicago and on Chicago’s historic South Side, we engage our audiences with intimate and provocative experiences that inspire deeper exploration of the enduring questions that confront humanity and connect us as people.

Court Theatre Presents A Raisin in the Sun January 31 – March 2, 2025

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

Court Theatre presents

A Raisin in the Sun

Written by Lorraine Hansberry

Leon Savage, Untitled; courtesy of the South Side Community Art Center

Directed by Senior Artistic Producer Gabrielle Randle-Bent

January 31 – March 2, 2025

Court Theatre – under the continuing leadership of Executive Director Angel Ysaguirre, with interim artistic leadership from Senior Artistic Producer Gabrielle Randle-Bent and Senior Managing Producer Heidi Thompson Saunders – is thrilled to present Lorraine Hansberry’s masterpiece A Raisin in the Sun, winner of a Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award nominee for Best Play, and the first play written by a Black woman to be produced on Broadway. This production will run January 31 – March 2, 2025 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave. 

The cast of A Raisin in the Sun includes Shanesia Davis (Lena Younger/Mama); Brian Keys (Walter Lee Younger); Kierra Bunch (Ruth Younger); Martasia Jones (Beneatha Younger); Jeremias Darville (Travis Younger, alternating); Di'Aire Wilson (Travis Younger, alternating); Elliot Charles Johnson (Joseph Asagai); Charles Andrew Gardner (George Murchison); Julian Parker (Bobo); Vincent Teninty (Karl Lindner); and J. Nicole Brooks (Mrs. Johnson).

The creative team includes Andrew Boyce (scenic design); Raquel Adorno (costume design); Maximo Grano De Oro (lighting design); Willow James (sound design); Khalid Long, PhD (production dramaturg); Becca McCracken, CSA (casting); Kate Ocker (production stage manager); and Jaclynn Joslin (assistant stage manager).

Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun is a stunning portrayal of a family’s fight for dignity and the right to dream. As the Youngers await their recently deceased patriarch’s life insurance check, they allow themselves to imagine a bigger life – a life with room to breathe – until those plans are thrown into jeopardy. Hansberry’s language rings as wise and prescient as ever in her moving answer to Langston Hughes’s question, What happens to a dream deferred?

Staged sixty years after Lorraine Hansberry’s passing, Senior Artistic Producer Gabrielle Randle-Bent (Antigone) brings Hansberry’s masterpiece home to Chicago’s vibrant South Side and Court’s stage for the very first time.

Accompanying this production of A Raisin in the Sun is a suite of public programs, including:

●      Community Reads Series, presented in partnership with Chicago Public Library at the Blackstone Branch

○      Community Reads Social at the Blackstone Branch of the Chicago Public Library (4904 S. Lake Park Avenue)

○      Community Reads Book Club at the Blackstone Branch of the Chicago Public Library (4904 S. Lake Park Avenue)

○      Community Reads Post-Show Conversation at Court Theatre (5535 S. Ellis Avenue)

●      Agora Conversation – A Dream Deferred: Black Mobility and Housing – at the National Public Housing Museum, presented in partnership with the National Public Housing Museum (625 N Kingsbury Street)

●      Let’s Talk About Art at the Hyde Park Art Center, presented in partnership with the Hyde Park Art Center (5020 S. Cornell Avenue)

●      Bushman Screening and Lecture at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, presented in partnership with the University of Chicago’s Film Studies Center (915 E 60th Street)

Tickets to A Raisin in the Sun are available now, and can be purchased by calling the Box Office at (773) 753-4472 or online at  www.CourtTheatre.org. Information about the public programming offerings will be available online at  www.CourtTheatre.org.

A Raisin in the Sun is sponsored by Bel Brands USA, Mesirow, and Gustavo Bamberger and Martha Van Haitsma. A Raisin in the Sun is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com.

Featuring: Shanesia Davis (Lena Younger/Mama); Brian Keys (Walter Lee Younger); Kierra Bunch (Ruth Younger); Martasia Jones (Beneatha Younger); Jeremias Darville (Travis Younger, alternating); Di'Aire Wilson (Travis Younger, alternating); Elliot Charles Johnson (Joseph Asagai); Charles Andrew Gardner (George Murchison); Julian Parker (Bobo); Vincent Teninty (Karl Lindner); and J. Nicole Brooks (Mrs. Johnson).

Creatives: Andrew Boyce (scenic design); Raquel Adorno (costume design); Maximo Grano De Oro (lighting design); Willow James (sound design); Khalid Long, PhD (production dramaturg); Becca McCracken, CSA (casting); Kate Ocker (production stage manager); and Jaclynn Joslin (assistant stage manager).

 

Dates:             

Previews:                   January 31 – February 7, 2025

Press Opening:       February 8, 2025 at 7:30pm

Regular Run:             February 9 – March 2, 2025

 

Schedule:       

Wed/Thurs/Fri:           7:30 p.m.

Sat/Sun:                     2:00 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.

 

Accessible Performances:       

ASL Interpretation on March 1, 2025 at 12:30pm

Touch Tour on March 2, 2025 at 12:30pm

Audio Description and Open Captioning on March 2, 2025 at 2:00pm

                     

Location:  Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave.

 

Tickets:           

$42.00 – $72.00 Previews

$58.00 – $90.00 Regular Run

Student, group, and military discounts available

 

Box Office:      

Located at 5535 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago; (773) 753-4472 or www.CourtTheatre.org.

Court Theatre reimagines classic theatre to illuminate our current times. In residence at the University of Chicago and on Chicago’s historic South Side, we engage our audiences with intimate and provocative experiences that inspire deeper exploration of the enduring questions that confront humanity and connect us as people.