Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:
The Green Book
By Calvin A. Ramsey | March 1-April 1, 2018 | Chicago Dramatists
A co-production with ShPIeL Performing Identity
I'll be ChiILin' with Chi, IL's Pegasus Theatre in association with ShPIeL Performing Identity for the opening performance this Sunday, March 4th. Check back soon for my full review. I remember how astonished I was to learn of The Green Book, a few years back. As much as I thought I knew of the history of racism in our country, I'd never contemplated the actual logistics of trying to road trip through miles of country where stopping for a bite to eat, gas, lodging or even a bathroom was forbidden, based on skin color or ethnicity. This very topic just came up again on stage at Black Ensemble Theatre in their excellent current production, Hail, Hail Chuck: A Tribute To Chuck Berry. Like many others, he toured the country in an era where it was illegal for him to stay in the hotels where his shows were selling out. Even famous performers often had to travel miles away to the outskirts of town to find room and board. With states again making noises about legalizing exclusion based on race, religion, and sexual orientation, this play is quite timely. We must know and own our past history as a country, to move forward and not repeat past mistakes. I'm looking forward to catching this one.
Pegasus Theatre Chicago, in association with ShPIeL Performing Identity, announce the Chicago premiere of The Green Book, inspired by Victor Green’s historical, “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” March 1 – April 1 at Pegasus’s resident home Chicago Dramatists, 765 N. Aberdeen. The Green Book is written by Calvin A. Ramsey, and directed by Pegasus’ Producing Artistic Director Ilesa Duncan. Previews are Thursday, March 1 and Friday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. with added Sunday 6 p.m. performances. Tickets are $18 - $30 and are available at PegasusTheatreChicago.org. Discounts available for groups of ten or more at Group Theater Tix, 312-423-6612.
Group and student pricing available!
On March 1, Pegasus Theatre Chicago—the recipient of seventy-seven Joseph Jefferson awards— will present The Green Book by Calvin A. Ramsey. Produced in association with ShPIeL Performing Identity Theatre, tickets are now on sale for the Chicago premiere and the unveiling of a new full-length version.
The play is an homage to the historical travel guide, “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” published by Victor Green from 1936 – 1967, and centers on the Davis’, an African-American family who open their home to Negro travelers needing during Jim Crow segregation and the dawn of civil rights activism. The Green Book takes place during a weekend when the Davis’ are hosting three travelers while anticipating the arrival of Dr. W.E.B. DuBois. Their plans are interrupted by the sudden, unexpected arrival of a Holocaust survivor seeking a room.
PRICES
Adult $30 | Seniors $25 | Students $18
Group Rates Available – Call Group Tix at 312.423.6612
About the Production Team
CALVIN A. RAMSEY (Playwright) is an Atlanta-based playwright, photographer, and folk art painter whose plays include Bricktop, The Musical; Damaged Virtues; Canada Lee; Sherman Town, Baseball, Apple Pie and The Klan; Enlightenment; Sister Soldiers; Kentucky Avenue; Somewhere In My Lifetime; Johnny Mercer: A Man and His Music, and The Age of Possibilities. His plays have been performed throughout the United States. Ramsey grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and Roxboro, North Carolina. He is a recipient of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Drum Major for Justice Award. His children’s books are “The Last Mule of Gee’s Bend” and “Ruth and The Green Book.”
ILESA DUNCAN (Director) is the producing artistic director at Pegasus. Her recent directing work includes SHAKIN’ THE MESS OUTTA MISERY (Jeff Recommended), RUTHERFORD’S TRAVELS (co-adapter, Jeff Nominated), FOR HER AS A PIANO and BLACULA: YOUNG, BLACK & UNDEAD at Pegasus, DARLIN’ with Step Up Productions, BROKEN FENCES at 16th Street Theater, the Jeff Award-nominated NATIVITY with Congo Square, and the Jeff Award-winning JAR THE FLOOR at ETA Creative Arts. Duncan has also worked with Goodman Theatre, Writers Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, Lifeline Theater, Stage Left and Chicago Dramatists, as well as Contemporary American Theatre Company (Ohio), The Alliance Theatre (Atlanta), Arena Stage (Washington DC) and Lincoln Center Theater (New York). Ilesa’s creative nonfiction short stories have been published (Columbia College Chicago), and she’s written poems and screenplays. For the stage, she was a co-writer and director of BLAKK LOVE: STOEEZ OF A DARKER HUE, and facilitated the group writing project PORTRAITS (2007) for the Chicago Foundation for Women and the devised project DO YOU SEE WHAT I’M SAYING for Chameleon.
David Y. Chack (ShPIeL/Co-Producer) is Artistic Director of ShPIeL–Performing Identity Theatre in Chicago and the Bunbury-ShPIeL Identity Theatre Project in Louisville. He directed A Jewish Joke by Phil Johnson and Marni Freedman at Victory Garden and Skokie Theatre; and produced The Timekeepers from Israel. He teaches “Holocaust Theatre”; “Jewish-American Performance”; “Identity Theatre” at DePaul University. His doctoral work was under Elie Wiesel at Boston University; MA work at Tufts University in Drama and Holocaust Theatre; BFA from NYU / Circle-in-the-Square Theatre. He has written numerous articles on theatre and advised/curated exhibitions including the first exhibition on “The Yiddish Theatre and New York Theatre” at the Museum of the City of New York. He is also the Executive Director of the Alliance for Jewish Theatre.
Joan Mazzonelli (ShPIeL/Script Dramaturg) has produced, directed, and designed original works in Chicago and New York City. She has served in leadership roles with City Lit Theater, Griffin Theatre, Midwest New Musicals, Athenaeum Theatre, Theatre Building Chicago, On Stage Productions, Opera Shop at the Vineyard Theatre, and National Shakespeare Company. Her musical books include: Bottom’s Dream with James L. Kurtz, the adaptation for the stage of All in the Laundry by Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, Reasonable Terms with Karena Mendoza and Marianne Kallen, and High Fidelity, The Proposal, Dorabella’s Daughters and The Passion of John with Philip Seward, as well as the co-adaptation of Border Crossing with Marianne Kallen.
CAST
Dan Davis……………………………………………… Henri Watkins
Barbara Davis…………………………………………Stacie Doublin
Neena Davis……………………………………… Demetra Drayton
Keith Chenault……………………………………… Malcom Banks
Jacob Levinsky……………………………………….Michael Stock
Cpt. George Smith/Samuel……………………… Terence Sims
Jacqueline Smith…………………………………… Quenna Lené
PRODUCTION TEAM
Scenic Design/TD…………………………………….Nick Schwartz
Lighting Design…………………………………………Carley Walker
Costume Design………………………………………….Uriel Gomez
Sound Design…………………………………Devonte Washington
Props Design………………………………………………… Katy Vest
Production Manager…………………….. Noelle Hedges-Goettl
Master Electrician…………………………………………Becs Bartle
Stage Managers………………………………………..Taylor Hobart
……………………………………………………………..Auden Granger
Artists
Malcom Banks (Keith Chenault) is a film, television and stage actor. Recent credits include Jitney at Congo Square Theater. Film/TV credits include NBC’s Chicago PD and the independent film Side Effects. Malcom also wrote and directed his first film, 7Svens Law, available on Amazon.
Stacie Doublin (Barbara Davis) was recently in Shakin’ The Mess Outta Misery with Pegasus Theatre. Other Chicago credits include: Streetcar Named Desire, The Room, and Diner Tales (Raven Theatre); MacBeth, Twelfth Nite, Taming of the Shrew (Oak Park Festival Theatre); Skin of Our Teeth, Incomplete and Random Acts of Kindness (The Artistic Home); Love Child (Live Bait Theatre, Chicago Theatre Company); and Elephant Man (The Side Project). Stacie has also worked with Victory Gardens, Next Theatre and ETA Creative Arts.
Demetra Drayton (Neena Davis) is honored to work with Pegasus Theatre Chicago for the first time! She last performed in ETA Creative Arts’ The Tiger Who Wore White Gloves. Demetra graduated from East Carolina University where she received her BFA in Professional Acting. A few of her credits include Miss Pat, Topsy and Normal Jean in The Colored Museum, Lillian Stride in Migration, Vixen in Dracula with the Loessin Playhouse, The Lady in Orange in For Colored Girls with the Joyner Theatre, A Fury in The Furies with the Loessin Playhouse, Lorraine in All Shook Up with Trumpet in the Land Theatre and many more; she was assistant director for Woman from the Town, Drowsy Chaperone, and Three Penny Opera.
Quenna Lené (Jacqueline Smith) is a Chicago native who received her BFA in Drama from NYU’s Tisch and a Masters in Applied Theatre from the University of Southern California. Recent Chicago credits include: Theatre Unspeakable’s Moon Shot, Cor Theatre’s Late Company, The Runaways Theatre Lab’s Dead Youth, or The Leaks, Pegasus Theatre’s Young Playwrights Festival 30, , good friday at Oracle, and a starring role as Dr. Beverly Long in Nikkole Salter’s Lines in the Dust at eta Creative Arts Foundation.
Terence Sims (Cpt. George Smith) is thrilled to make his Pegasus Theatre debut. Previous credits include Skeleton Crew (U/S Northlight Theatre); Barbecue (Strawdog Theatre); Force Continuum (Eclipse Theater); Monster (Steppenwolf Theatre); Between Riverside and Crazy (u/s, Steppenwolf Theatre); To Kill A Mockingbird (Children’s Theatre Madison); He has studied American Theatre Arts at Rose Bruford College in London, and is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago. Terence is also a member of Kinfolk Collective, an afrofuturist aesthetic tribe of artists & scholars working to rewrite the present and remaster the narrative of the African diaspora.
Michael A. Stock (Jacob Levinsky) has performed extensively in Chicago, regionally, as well as Off-Broadway and in the NYC Indie Theater scene. Michael is also a playwright, director, teacher, visual artist, and founding artistic director of Sideway Theater. Piven Alum. School At Steppenwolf Alum. Certified Practitioner of Lessac Voice and Body Training. BS Performance Studies, Northwestern University. MFA Acting, Theatre School at DePaul University. Visit Michael A Stock: www.michaelAstock.com
Henri Watkins (Dan Davis) is very excited to be doing his first production with Pegasus Theatre. Chicago credits include Jitney, Misanthrope, and Waiting for Godot (Court Theatre), CCX for Modofac Productions at Rivendell Theatre, and The Marvin Gaye Story (Black Ensemble Theater). Regional: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Piano Lesson (Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, Sarasota, Florida). Film credits include Sundance award winners: “Chameleon Street” and “Detroit Unleaded.”
ShPIeL develops and deepens the theatre artist and performance projects through cultural identities and narratives; provides professional networks for theatre and performing art; and is dedicated to creating a transformative community. David Y. Chack is the Producing Artistic Director of ShPIeL, now in its 5th year and a professor in Holocaust Theatre and Jewish Theatre at The Theatre School at DePaul University. Joan Mazzonelli is a co-producer and dramaturg with ShPIeL.
ABOUT PEGASUS THEATRE CHICAGO, co-producer
Pegasus Theatre Chicago has been a mainstay in the Chicago theater community for nearly 38 years. Its mission is to produce boldly imaginative theatre, champion new and authentic voices and illuminate the human journey. The theatre adheres to the core values of community engagement, social relevance, boldness, adventure and excellence.
Pegasus is also committed to initiating important conversations through the arts with strong community engagement and socially relevant programming, including the Young Playwrights Festival for high school-age scribes, which celebrated its 31st Anniversary this year. Pegasus Theatre Chicago has received seventy-seven Joseph Jefferson Citations since its inception.
The Green Book Chicago premiere is made possible in part by The Chicago Community Trust and Affiliates. Pegasus Theatre Chicago is also generously supported by the MacArthur Fund at Richard Driehaus Foundation, the Albert Pick, Jr. Fund, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and a CityArts grant from the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (Rahm Emanuel, Mayor).
The Anti-Defamation League is also a production partner.
Productions
Shakin’ The Mess Outta Misery
31st Young Playwrights Festival
The Green Book
