Displaying items by tag: FleetwoodJourdain Theatre

Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre, the Evanston theatre company that has been thrilling audiences with stories of the Black American and African diaspora experience since 1979, today announced its programming for the 2026 season. Tim Rhoze, the company's Producing Artistic Director since 2010, unveiled the slate of three plays, all of which were written by women and premiered in the 21^st Century. 
 
The season will open in May with GEE'S BEND, the 2008 play by Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder, which follows a family —Alice, her daughters Sadie and Nella, and Sadie's husband, Macon — from 1939 to 2000 as they experience segregation, family strife, and the Civil Rights movement. The play is set in the real-life community of Gee's Bend – an isolated community in central Alabama which has become known for the hand-stitched quilts made by generations of its women. DC Theater Arts said, "GEE'S BEND weaves the essence of the quilt into a theatrical experience that exalts universal themes of family, faith, and overcoming adversity in a deeply moving way. " GEE'S BEND was commissioned and produced by the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and has been performed at Denver Center, Cleveland Playhouse, Kansas City Rep, Northlight Theatre, Philadelphia's Arden Theatre, and Hartford Stage, among others. The FJT production will play from May 23 through June 7. 
 
The season will continue in July with the Pulitzer Prize-nominated IN THE CONTINUUM —  a play that tells the parallel stories of two Black women, one in Los Angeles and one in Zimbabwe, who discover they are pregnant and HIV positive. It was written by the playwright and actress Danai Gurira (author of Broadway's ECLIPSED and cast member of HBO's THE WALKING DEAD) and the OBIE Award-winning actress and writer Nikkole Salter. It premiered at New York's Primary Stages in 2005 and was later produced at Chicago's Goodman Theatre, Washington D.C.'s Woolly Mammoth Theatre, and in Zimbabwe and South Africa. THE NEW YORK TIMES called it "A moving, smart, spirited and powerfully funny production."  It will be performed by Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre from July 25 through August 9. 
 
The season closer will be THE NICETIES, by Eleanor Burgess. This two-character play follows a 20-year-old Black college student meeting with her white professor to discuss the student's term paper about slavery's effect on the American Revolution. The paper's thesis is that the revolution would not have succeeded without the contributions of black slaves. The professor disagrees, and what begins as a polite clash in perspectives explodes into an urgent debate about race, history, and power. The world premiere of THE NICETIES, directed by Chicago's Kimberly Senior, was co-produced during the 2018-2019 season by the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, Massachusetts; Manhattan Theatre Club in New York, New York; and McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, New Jersey. THE NEW YORK TIMES said it was "a bristling, provocative debate play about race and privilege in the United States, and it begs to be argued with." DC THEATER ARTS called it "a brilliant and important play." It will be performed by Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre from October 31 through November 15. 
 
Fleetwood–Jourdain Theatre will also produce the third annual Gloria Bond Clunie Playwright's Festival on July 18 and 19. The festival, named for the founder of Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre and acclaimed playwright Gloria Bond Clunie, will present professional staged readings of three new plays. Titles and playwrights to be announced.
 
Premium Gold Membership cards, priced at $90.00 and including four reserved seats that can be used in any combination throughout the season, are on sale now at https://app.amilia.com/store/en/cityofevanston/shop/memberships/70643 . The card also includes the added benefit of an automatic bonus seat, along with access to other exclusive specials during the season. Tickets to individual plays will be offered later in the year.
 
LISTING INFORMATION
 
GEE'S BEND
by Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder
Directed by Tim Rhoze
May 23 – June 7, 2026
Saturdays at 7 pm, Sundays at 3 pm
Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center
927 Noyes St., Evanston
Tickets $32.00, Students $10.00. On sale later this year at www.fjtheatre.com
Phone 847-866-5914
 
GEE'S BEND is the story of the Pettway women, quilters from the isolated community of Gee's Bend, Alabama. Beginning in 1939, the play follows Alice, her daughters Sadie and Nella, and Sadie's husband, Macon, through segregation, family strife, and the Civil Rights movement. Throughout their lives, the women's extraordinary quilts provide a respite from the turmoil around them. In the last act of the play, it is the year 2000; the quilts have been discovered as folk art and have become very valuable. Sadie is pleased with the recognition, but despite the lure of the big city, she returns to Gee's Bend and continues to quilt. Wilder's play explores the resilience of the human spirit, especially as it is expressed in art. 
 
IN THE CONTINUUM 
by Danai Gurira & Nikkole Salter
Directed by Tim Rhoze
July 25 – August 9, 2026
Saturdays at 7 pm, Sundays at 3 pm
Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center
927 Noyes St., Evanston
Tickets $32.00, Students $10.00. On sale later this year at www.fjtheatre.com
Phone 847-866-5914
 
IN THE CONTINUUM puts a human face on the devastating impact of AIDS in Africa and America through the lives of two unforgettably courageous women. Living worlds apart, one in South Central LA and the other in Zimbabwe, each experiences a kaleidoscopic weekend of life-changing revelations in this story of parallel denials and self-discoveries.
 
THE NICETIES
by Eleanor Burgess 
Directed by Tim Rhoze
October 31 – November 15, 2026
Saturdays at 7 pm, Sundays at 3 pm
Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center
927 Noyes St., Evanston
Tickets $32.00, Students $10.00. On sale later this year at www.fjtheatre.com
Phone 847-866-5914
 
Zoe, a Black student at a liberal arts college, is called into her white professor's office to discuss her paper about slavery's effect on the American Revolution. What begins as a polite clash in perspectives explodes into an urgent debate about race, history and power.
 
BIOS

Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder (Writer, GEE'S BEND) has written THE FURNITURE OF HOME, which deals with the Gulf Coast recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and premiered at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in 2009. Her play THE FLAG MAKER OF MARKET STREET followed at ASF in 2011. THE BONE ORCHARD was commissioned by the Denver Center Theatre and workshopped at the Perry Mansfield New Works Festival. Other plays include FRESH KILLS (Royal Court/London), THE FIRST DAY OF HUNTING SEASON (EST), and THE SPIRIT OF ECSTASY. 
 
Danai Gurira (Co-playwright, IN THE CONTINUUM) Is an award-winning playwright and actress. As a playwright, her works include Broadway's ECLIPSED (NAACP Award; Helen Hayes Award: Best New Play; Connecticut Critics Circle Award: Outstanding Production of a Play), IN THE CONTINUUM (OBIE Award, Outer Critics Award, Helen Hayes Award), and THE CONVERT (six Ovation Awards, Los Angeles Outer Critics Award). Danai's play FAMILIAR received its world premiere at Yale Rep in 2015. She is a recipient of the Whiting Award, a Hodder Fellow, and has been commissioned by Yale Rep, Center Theatre Group, Playwrights Horizons, and the Royal Court. She is currently developing a pilot for HBO. As an actor, she has appeared in the films THE VISITOR, and MOTHER OF GEORGE. She also played Isabella in NYSF's MEASURE FOR MEASURE (Equity Callaway Award) and currently plays Michonne on AMC's THE WALKING DEAD. She holds an MFA from Tisch, NYU. She was born in the US to Zimbabwean parents and raised in Zimbabwe. She is the co-founder of Almasi Arts, which works to give access and opportunity to the African Dramatic Artist.
 
Nikkole Salter (co-playwright, IN THE CONTINUUM). This Los Angeles-born, OBIE Award-winning actress and writer arrived on the professional scene with her co-authorship and co-performance (with Danai Gurira) of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated play, IN THE CONTINUUM. As a dramatist, Ms. Salter has written eight full-length plays, been commissioned for full-length work by six institutions, been produced on three continents in five countries, and has been published in 12 international publications. Her work has appeared in over 20 Off-Broadway, regional, and international theatres. Ms. Salter is also the co-librettist with composer/lyricist Nolan Williams Jr. of the musical GRACE and made her directorial debut opening the 2023/24 season of Baltimore Center Stage with a production of LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL. 
 
Eleanor Burgess (playwright, THE NICETIES). In addition to THE NICETIES, Eleanor Burgess's plays include WIFE OF A SALESMAN, START DOWN, CHILL, SPARKS FLY UPWARD, and GALILEE, 34.  Her work has been produced at theaters across the United States, including Manhattan Theatre Club, South Coast Rep, Geffen Playhouse, McCarter Theatre Center, Huntington Theatre Company, Writers Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Geva Theatre Center, InterAct Theatre, Portland Stage, the Alliance Theatre and the Contemporary American Theatre Festival, as well as the Finborough Theatre in London. She has also written for film and television, including work on PERRY MASON for HBO, WE CRASHED for Apple TV+, INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE for AMC, and screenplays for Bad Robot, Amblin, and Anonymous Content. Originally from Massachusetts, she studied history at Yale College and Dramatic Writing at NYU/Tisch.
  
Tim Rhoze (Director, Producing Artistic Director) Tim Rhoze has been the Producing Artistic Director of Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre since 2010. His directing credits include: THE BALDWIN | GIOVANNI EXPERIENCE, PASS OVER, HONEYPOT: BLACK WOMEN WHO LOVE WOMEN, UNTIL THE FLOOD, FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE/ WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF, 1619: THE JOURNEY OF A PEOPLE, THIS BITTER EARTH, THE LIGHT, AMERICAN SON, HOME, TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES 1992, THE MEETING, FIRES IN THE MIRROR, BLACK BALLERINA (co-writer),  NUTCRACKER(ISH), CROWNS, HAVING OUR SAY, FROM THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA, WOZA ALBERT!, GOING TO ST. IVES, SINGLE BLACK FEMALE, A SONG FOR CORETTA, YELLOWMAN, SWEET, LADY DAY AT EMERSON BAR & GRILL, BEAR COUNTRY, NOBODY, FENCES, PIANO LESSON, AIN'T MISBEHAVIN, K2, THE GLASS MENAGERIE, and others. Tim is also the writer/director of WHY NOT ME? A SAMMY DAVIS JR. STORY, and MAYA'S LAST POEM, both produced at FJT; and BLACK BALLERINA, produced at FJT and Pittsburgh Public Theatre. He was also co-writer and director of THE BALDWIN | GIOVANNI EXPERIENCE and A HOME ON THE LAKE. His performances in August Wilson's PIANO LESSON (1997) and JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE (2024) at the Goodman Theatre were nominated for Jeff Awards.
 
ABOUT FLEETWOOD-JOURDAIN THEATRE 

Founded in 1979, Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre is a professional, award-winning theatre company that has been thrilling audiences with over four decades of unique, inspirational, and invigorating Black American and African Diaspora-centered storytelling. The company has been honored by the Black Theatre Alliance/Ira Aldridge Awards and is frequently listed as a top-rated Chicago theatre company. From original plays to the best of Broadway, Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre has remained committed to supplying the very best in theatre. "Umoja!! ....Working Together in Unity" is the foundation from which FJT began and continues to thrive!
 
It is our mission to present powerful, thought-provoking, Theater Arts programming with a commitment to diversity and creative excellence. We are dedicated to providing a nurturing and creative environment for directors, playwrights, actors, designers, and stage managers. In this positive environment, they can further develop their creative skills and share their artistic expressions. The Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre is funded by the City of Evanston and in part by the Illinois Arts Council, A State Agency.

In 1971, Nicki Giovanni was a young Black poet already risen to prominence when she and the celebrated Black author James Baldwin met for a two hour conversation broadcast from London on PBS. Baldwin, 47, an éminence grise, answered the poet’s questions at length and Giovanni, 28, offered her own commentary as she asked a range of things, from the factual such as, why did he move to Europe, to queries on African-American creatives, writing and about the world at large - all in the context of the Black experience of life.

“The Baldwin | Giovanni Experience” at Evanston’s Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre attempts to capture the essence of that conversation, in a 90-minute world premier of the theatrical work at Evanston’s Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre. Directed by Tim Rhoze who co-authored it with Bria Walker-Rhoze, the work includes music, poetry and dance woven into the discussion, and appropriately so. Especially given that we have Nikki Giovanni (Rachel Blakes) on stage, who is poetry personified.

“To be African-American,” Baldwin tells Giovanni, and the camera, “is to be African without any memory, and American without any of the privileges.” That incisive assessment incredibly forthright for broadcast television in its time. The show was “Soul!” produced by WNET in New York from 1968 to 1973.

Baldwin told Giovanni he felt he had to go to Europe and get away from the U.S. to find his voice, but found he brought many things with him. Away from his home turf Baldwin discovered he carried along the emotional baggage born of systemic racism, one that he realized he had internalized and which imposed on him cultural constraint. “The world is not my only oppressor,” Baldin relates. “I was doing it to myself.” He offers an example of Black internalized limits on behavior. “You don’t eat watermelon or fried chicken in public.”

The conversation goes much deeper in the course of the show, touching on the role of Black churches (“The Church is always in me as a Black man,” Baldwin says), family violence, and laments the loss of Black leaders assassinated.

“What do you say when the chosen few are gone too soon?” Giovanni offers. “Whatever it was, we found a way to love through it,” she says.“We, who were enslaved, found a way to cook, to dance, to laugh”

Both Giovanni and James Baldwin (Sean Blake) talk at length, the poet mostly providing the prompts that lead to lengthy erudite, deeply reflective discourse from Baldwin - as was his wont. With sections drawn directly from the 1971 PBS video (available at YouTube), Sean Blake gives a fully realized performance when he is recounting the words of Baldwin: literary and cultivated, polished and worldly, yet rooted in his origins in Harlem, NY - his utterances salted musically with the vernacular of his birthplace. Blake’s Baldwin is completely convincing.

It is amazing on viewing the original PBS tape how consistently “The Baldwin | Giovanni Experience” represents key points from the original - yet it gives us more. Giovanni speaks up, offering her reflections on life as a Black poet - just like the original.(The show also reminds me of the Baldwin-focused staging earlier this year, “Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley,” also based on a television encounter, this one at Cambridge in 1965.)

But the stage version also diverges, for good, though also in some ways not so much. Giovanni gives us snippets of poetry, and Baldwin on stage adopts periodically a more poetic version of himself, speaking at times in meter and rhyme - letting us know he is being influenced by Giovanni as they speak. Eventually the two are up from their chairs, and we have song and dance - the playwrights offer an imagined Baldwin, in red framed glasses voicing a hip-hop passage. It all seems natural and true, probably relying more on Giovanni in her later years for styles that arose after Baldwin was gone.

Where I felt some disappointment was in how Giovanni is portrayed as though she is lesser than Baldwin, placing him on a pedestal - where he belongs, for sure - but where she should be too. On the PBS video, she is more expressive, more self-possessed and serious, not just a foil for Baldwin the star. On stage, Giovanni becomes more of a worshipful cheerleader, interjecting “I can dig that” multiple times after an elegant and sharp monologue by Baldwin - making the performance more about him than her. To be sure, Giovanni on stage gets her words out, but on the whole seems to stand in Baldwin’s shadow.  

On opening night, a lovely lagniappe was offered in a warmup before the show, as Isaiah Jones, Jr. soloed at the piano and accompanied vocalist Mardra Thomas. 

“The Baldwin | Giovanni Experience” runs on weekends through November 16, 2025 at Evanston’s Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre.

HONEYPOT originated as a creative nonfiction book by E. Patrick Johnson, Dean of the School of Communication at Northwestern University. Johnson has a passion for oral history; for HONEYPOT he interviewed a number of Black Southern women, documented in his book of the same title. Johnson always imagined the work being staged as an ensemble piece; he also “wanted to see what someone else would do with the material”. That someone else proved to be D. Soyini Madison, Professor Emerita at Northwestern, which thrilled Johnson as “it was she who introduced me to oral histories and adapting them for the stage.” Talk about full-circle magic! Madison emphasized the role of co-director Tim Rhoze: “it seemed to be a wonderful fit of intersectionality between traditional theater … with oral history,” said Rhoze.

The stage at Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre is open, with no curtain, so before the action begins we could contemplate and enjoy the set, designed by Tim Rhoze and Kotryna L. Hilko. The murals by Sholo Beverly were spectacular, and as the play developed, we realized some of the images were in fluorescent paint, so they changed with changes in the lighting (Josiah Croegaert, Lighting Designer). The production blends original music (Sound Designer Ethan Korvne), choreography (Marsae Lynn Mitchell), and poetry to reveal the women’s stories, and Stage Manager Rich Oliver, with assistant Eldridge Shannon III, kept it flowing seamlessly.

The main character is Jelani Julyus as “Dr. EPJ”, a stand-in for author Johnson. EPJ, a gay Black man, finds his vivid dreams becoming reality when he’s kidnapped by “Miss Bee” (Tuesdai B. Perry), Queen Bee of the Hive. Under Miss Bee’s direction, EPJ observes and chronicles the stories of the various women inhabiting a metaphysical place variously called the Hive and the Hymen. The honeycomb and bee imagery of the set kept us moored in the communal nature of honeybee communities.

The ensemble included Angelena Browne, Kaitlyn Fields, Nehanda Julot, Santina Juma, Jasmine "Jaz" Robertson, and Sadie Stickler; each performed multiple roles to bring the women’s voices to life.  The actors were a wide range of sizes, skin shades, and general appearance; the sole common characteristic was, as the title states, they were all queer, and Intimacy Coordinator Chels Morgan gave them free reign to commune and consort onstage.

They did talk about being queer – at times with splendiferous jubilation and delectable delight! – but virtually no reflection their being from the South. Perhaps the author did not consider this issue very important, but if so, why include it in the title? There was also no discussion of the issue of being Black – aside from the visual statement that they all were. I was interested in how things were for black lesbians in the South, but I never really learned.

Musical interludes served as transition points, from blues to African-inspired chants, often with drums to accompany the splendid vocal harmonies. The costumes, designed by co-set designer Kotryna L. Hilko, were fairly simple so as not to distract us from the stories, the synchronized voices, and the dancing (choreographer Marsae Lynn Mitchell).

The stories were presented as replies to EPJ’s questions, and Miss Bee prompted each woman in turn to provide her response. The questions covered a wide range of topics, from motherhood to drug addiction to political activism.  Just before intermission there was a long and explicit section on early sexual abuse. Every one of the women provided an unexpurgated account … each different, all wrenchingly the same.

I was puzzled by the presence of a man in this piece that was supposed to be about women and, quite frankly, I couldn’t understand why all these dykes were baring their souls to a man!  Specifically, I became troubled by his interrogatory question: “Did you tell?” I’ve done many examinations on abuse survivors, and I recognize that their reaction to whatever happened when they ‘told’ is critically important. My problem was not with EPJ asking, but with the manner of his inquiry. Every time he used the same three words: ‘Did you tell?’, which sounded more intrusive with each repetition. By the end of that segment I could no longer write it off to inexperience or indelicacy; I experienced the questions as prurient and voyeuristic. The second act provided no segue from the painful revelations we’d just heard but simply began careering through the lives of the different women, their lovers, and their political activities.

I’m fairly sure HONEYPOT did not deliberately set EPJ as the main character, but that was my indelible impression. For me, this decentered the stories of the women in a play that was supposed to teach us about black southern women who love women. Instead, I learned quite a bit about EPJ, from his marriage to his mother's favorite song, but not much about BLACK SOUTHERN WOMEN WHO LOVE WOMEN.

I was really excited to see this show and truly wanted to love it. Sadly, I didn’t.

HONEYPOT: BLACK SOUTHERN WOMEN WHO LOVE WOMEN at Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in Evanston is playing through June 1^st.

*By Sarz Maxwell with much assistance from Arcenia Harmon

*This review is also featured on https://www.theatreinchicago.com/! 

My first impression was, naturally, of the set: a stunning mural by Sholo Beverly in shades of blues and grays, the only color the red white & blue of an American flag. A series of posters were hung from the ceiling, from an announcement of a slave auction through Emancipation, the Civil Rights era and up to a headline from Obama’s first election.

1619 is the story of a journey made by an entire people: embarked upon involuntarily, maintained brutally, perpetuated coercively, and endured bitterly. Portions of the journey became gradually more volitional and intentional, e.g. the Great Migration between 1910 and the 1970s. But even that movement, though Isabel Wilkerson calls it an act of individual and collective agency, was neither truly spontaneous nor discretionary, but in response to the horrors of Jim Crow.

The journey was narrated by three individuals: playwright Ted Williams III, choreographer Marchello Lee, and Shannon Stiles, with four additional actors performing simultaneous enactments: Nicole Ross, Vanessa Love, Lucy Maura, and Ozivell Eckford, who was even more amazing on the West African hand drum as with the contemporary drum set onstage.

1619 is titled for the date that the privateer ship White Lion landed at Point Comfort [sic], Virginia, bearing 20-30 enslaved African people, who were traded by the ship’s chandler for supplies. The agonizing first scenes depicted the arrival of these terrified and traumatized people, and their sale as chattel. Indentured servitude was common in the seventeenth century, largely indigent white Europeans who were enslaved for as long as their indenture proscribed and then returned to their lives as free men. Enslaved Africans held no such contract; they were chattel slaves – property of their owners, as were their children, thus assuring an ongoing and self-renewing (organic and 100% pure; not a speck of cereal) supply of workers on whose backs the American South would build its empire of cotton, tobacco, rice, and indigo.

Our interpreters lead us to Juneteenth 1865, heralding the Emancipation Proclamation which, though flawed and limited, offered putative freedom to enslaved African workers. However, as one freedman stated, “we colored people did not know how to be free, and white people did not know how to have free colored people around them.” The result, of course, was mutual hostility and widespread mistrust, which has persisted to this day – 400 years, as Stiles repeatedly emphasized in her laments.

Stiles was superb, representing the anger, iron will, and exhaustion of Black women throughout history. The other two chroniclers debated in the hip-hop song Booker T or W.E.B.:  Williams made Washington’s accommodationist arguments while Lee aligned himself with W.E.B. DuBois, arguing for activism and reparations. I must admit this is where I began parting company with 1619 myself; attempts were made throughout to represent the virtues of both schools of thought but … see, I was 8 when Reverend King, with Bayard Rustin, Philip Randolph and 249,997 of their closest friends, Marched on Washington. There was, naturally, an article in Newsweek about it, with a sidebar specifically about the “I have a dream” speech. My mother cut that page out of the magazine and gave it to me, saying, “Keep this and remember this man. He’s a great man; he’ll go far.”  I still have that clipping in my childhood scrapbook, with the report cards and other memorabilia. Just sayin’—I’ve reverenced Dr King all my life, but at heart I’m more of a Malcolm sort of girl. Takes all types, n’est ce pas? And 1619 was written to speak to all types.

The music was amazing, comingling hip-hop, jazz, blues, spirituals, wonderful West African drumming by Ozivell Eckford and eight original songs. Marchello Lee’s choreography was marvelous, and masterfully danced by all players: Williams, Lee, and Stiles, with Eckford, Nicole Ross, Vanessa Love, and Lucy Maura. I think it was cool to see the playwright and choreographer on stage with the others; and Williams showed himself to be the consummate multi-tasker by also co-directing, with Fleetwood-Jourdain’s Artistic Director Tim Rhoze.

What didn’t quite work for me was the story sequence, despite the raconteurs. I lost the linear coherence somewhere between Abraham Lincoln and Rosa Parks, and found it difficult to reconnect, though I knew the chronicle fairly well myself.

I applaud Williams’ optimism, but I honestly can’t share it. The final song, about I See the Chains are Gone, wasn’t so much inaccurate as precocious; what event or circumstances does Williams see, present or forthcoming, that will actualize this change? The groundswell following George Floyd’s murder was squelched by a virus, and the many many subsequent murders have failed to revive that spark. Personally, I fear Williams may need to write an epilogue after November.

I was disappointed (though not surprised) at the audience: gratifyingly numerous and responsive, but overwhelmingly pale. True, this is Evanston, but the production was co-sponsored by Evanston Public Library and Northwestern University which, last time I checked, had no race restrictions in their admissions policies.  One hopes the NU Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations (the entity actually collaborating with Fleetwood-Jourdain) will put out some fliers.

Williams states in his biographical blurb that he ‘lives to inspire’. I wouldn’t necessarily call 1619 inspirational, but … let’s say it’s a safe production to recommend to your more ‘un-woke’ friends with reasonable confidence that they will learn something without being scared away. And the show is worth the time simply for the singing and dancing!

1619: THE JOURNEY OF A PEOPLE plays at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre on Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons through June 30.

RECOMMENDED

Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre's 2024 season of four productions will open with the original musical 1619: THE JOURNEY OF A PEOPLE by Chicago writer and performer Ted Williams III. The musical commemorates the arrival of the first 20 Africans on the shores of Point Comfort, Virginia on August 20, 1619. In it, three modern characters lead audience members on a journey through multiple performance pieces, leaving viewers both inspired and challenged about the progress of America's African sons and daughters. This production uses various musical forms including hip-hop, jazz, and blues, to commemorate the struggle for survival and equality and to celebrate the stories and journeys of America's African sons and daughters. FJT is partnering with Evanston Public Library and Northwestern University for this production. 1619: THE JOURNEY OF A PEOPLE will play Saturdays and Sundays from June 15-30, 2024, with the press opening on Sunday, June 16 at 3 pm.
 
Performances will be Saturdays at 7:00 pm and Sundays at 3:00 pm, at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes St., Evanston. Tickets are $30.00 and are on sale now at www.fjtheatre.com. Additionally, 2024 Premium Gold Member Cards, good for all three 2024 summer and fall play productions and A MOODY EXPERIENCE: MUSIC BEYOND THE MARGINS, are now on sale for a very limited time for only $90 - a nearly 30 percent discount off of the regular season ticket prices.
 
LISTING INFORMATION
 
1619: THE JOURNEY OF A PEOPLE
A Musical by Ted Williams III
Directed by Tim Rhoze and Ted Williams III
This is a co-production with Evanston Public Library and Northwestern University
June 15-30, 2024
Saturdays at 7 pm, Sundays at 3 pm
Press opening Sunday, June 16 at 3 pm
Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center
927 Noyes St., Evanston
Tickets $32.00, on sale now at www.fjtheatre.com
Phone 847-866-5914
 
From the beginning of American slavery to Reconstruction, the Great Migration, the Civil Rights Era, and modern movements for justice, 1619 packs generations of history into an amazing musical theater experience that traces the African American journey toward freedom and equality.

OBAMA-OLOGY is about privilege, as experienced and explored by Warren, a young gay Black man, recently graduated from college who takes a job with the 2008 Obama campaign. He arrives in a near-frenzy of excitement, but his ardor rapidly shrivels in the bleak streets of East Cleveland. Warren, ably played by David Guiden, is bewildered at the other volunteers’ indifference – even hostility – to his college education.

Warren is mystified at his volunteer peers’ indifference to his accomplishments, and only gradually does he become aware of the hierarchy he unconsciously assumes – with himself, naturally, at the top of the food chain. Guidan’s depiction of Warren’s grossly overblown excitement when one of his recruits shows up at volunteer headquarters is brilliantly acted. Still, we fully understand Cece’s hesitancy. Warren’s shock at finding her ‘functionally illiterate’ further alienates her; we’re impressed that she hangs in so long, and almost relieved when she drops out after Warren’s offer to fix her with adult literacy classes.

Scenic Designers Tim Rhoze and Evan Sposato choose bright colors for a seemingly simple set design that is surprisingly versatile. Stage/House Managers Barbara Reeder and Lexx Dyer use it very effectively to punctuate the brief, rapidly moving scenes, assisted by Lighting and Sound Designers Michael Rourke and Daniel Etti-Williams. Simple announcements, (e.g., “campaign headquarters”) keep us grounded in time and space. Casting director Lynn Baber selects a small (and excellent) cast: David Guiden is Warren, with all other characters beautifully played by Chris Jensen, Tuesdai B. Perry and Em Demaio. Baber’s costumes help us tell one character from another, but this differentiation is largely accomplished by the actors’ skill and the excellent direction by Fleetwood-Jourdain’s Artistic Associate Bria Walker. I admit I arrived at the theatre ten minutes late (damn the Red/Purple Line Howard Station balls-up!); still, I very quickly caught up with what character(s) were currently onstage.

OBAMA-OLOGY is billed as a comedy and there were indeed some hilarious moments: the local volunteer trainee whose idea of outreach runs along the lines of ‘Yo! Niggah! Git yer black ass to the polls!’, and the aggressively ‘woke’ couple who address other volunteers as ‘sistah soldier’. Excellent acting makes these scenarios truly droll without descent into slapstick. OBAMA-OLOGY is also advertised as drama; there are definitely some dramatic scenes, particularly those involving Warren’s parents exiling their queer son. My companion is into neologisms and called OBAMA-OLOGY a ‘dramedy’, but I would have liked it better if it had been one or the other.

OBAMA-OLOGY’s primary appeal for me was its portrayal of how easy it is to oversimplify the deeply complex phenomenon of privilege in our society. Wikipedia says of playwright Aurin Squire: Many of Squire's plays revolve around multiracial societies in transition or America's changing cultural make-up. His work reflects the Latino, African, Caribbean, African American, and Jewish cultures he grew up around in South Florida. Given this heritage, I’m disappointed at how superficially Squire (through Warren) approaches the critical issue of racial hierarchy in America.

When Warren is told, he must speak to people on their level, he not only cheapens that to speaking in Ebonics but, more importantly, clearly views it as a descent for him. His reaction to Cece’s literacy – the urge to ‘fix’ her – is so very white! Only near the end, when he and his partner endure a traffic stop, does Warren begin to get the memo about black and white in East Cleveland. That vignette could have been crucial, but it’s demeaned by its vanilla outcome. True, OBAMA-OLOGY was written in 2014, pre-George Floyd, but not pre-Rodney King! The play’s ending is equally classic white fairy tale: Cece has (1) gotten her GED, (2) gotten a job, and (3) gotten pregnant – and this is meant to be a happy ending! There a thousand far more interesting things Squire could have done with Cece.

I don’t much care for comedy; I chose OBAMA-OLOGY because shows I’ve previously seen at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre were exceptional, and I will continue to watch the Fleetwood-Jourdain’s seasons hoping for more. OBAMA-OLOGY was light, pleasant, and fairly funny, but definitely not thought-provoking.

Through June 25th at Fleetwood-Jourdain at the Noyes Cultural Center. For tickets and/or more show information, click here. 

You know that breathless moment of silence after the curtain falls and before the applause begins? That moment doesn’t happen often, and it always indicates a truly extraordinary performance. That silence occurred Sunday night as the stage of AMERICAN SON at Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre went black: we all sat stunned for just a moment before erupting into a standing ovation.     

AMERICAN SON was written by Christopher Demos-Brown in 2018 but in today, post-George Floyd et al, it’s even more relevant and impactful. The plot is simple: a bi-racial teenager has had some sort of run-in with the police. His parents, separated only a few weeks, meet at the police station seeking information about their child. In this charged atmosphere the estranged couple confront the dissolution of their marriage and the challenges of raising a biracial son in a privileged community.

Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre Artistic Director Tim Rhoze directs AMERICAN SON with compassion and finesse. The theatre has no actual curtain, giving us ample time to examine the set designed by Rhoze with Technical Director Evan Sposato.  Nondescript institutional furniture is rigidly arranged against a striking backdrop of abstract graphics painted in grey tones with ominous splashes of red.  Huge enigmatic faces have a distinct tribal vibe, infusing every word and movement with racial significance.   

It's a small cast and all four actors are superb. Michael Manocchio brings a sense of uncertainty and vulnerability to the role of Officer Larkin, whose unenviable task it is to placate the parents with meager scraps of sketchy information.  The mom describes him as ‘a low-level flunkey who’s not too bright”.  His subconscious racism is transparent to us, as in his fumbling attempt to bond with the father by “speaking badge to badge” while sweating it out until the all-knowing Detective Stokes turns up. 

Detective Stokes, impeccably played by Darren Jones, finally arrives, positively bristling with authority but without much additional information. Though he maintains his rigid professional preeminence with the frantic parents, occasional glimpses of well-concealed humanity unavoidably break through.

The central characters are the parents, Scott (Darren Andrews) and Kendra (Alexandra Moorman). Andrews plays Scott as the prototypical affluent White Male, reeking of privilege and self-importance. Scott believes his marriage proves he’s unprejudiced, but his subliminal racism inevitably breaks through with words like ‘uppity’. Yet Andrews’ treatment of Scott’s vulnerable moments are equally credible and satisfying. There is a lovely scene where Scott and Kendra review the issues they agree on – Thelonious Monk and sex, basically. Scott is not likeable, but we can’t help being moved as he tenderly recalls the happiest day of both their lives: the day their son was born.   

I saw Alexandra Moorman a month ago in What to Send Up When It Comes Down” at Lookingglass. She was phenomenal there, but as Kendra she purely took my breath away. At several points, starting with the first five minutes of the play, Moorman is alone, and fills the stage with her consummate presence. She maintains this aspect throughout, managing to enrich the other performances without eclipsing them. I noted this same quality in What to Send Up: a troupe production, but Moorman’s genius can’t help but show.  Her light will penetrate any bushel … and besides, she’s gorgeous! 

The production crew is vital in creating such an awesome production. Director Tim Rhoze and Technical Director Evan Sposator both double as co-Set Designers. Name coincidence is good for David Goodman-Edburg and David Goode as Lighting and Sound Designers, respectively. Bria Walker is Dramaturg, Production Stage Manager is Barbara Reeder, and Lynn Baber costumes the characters with penetrating character discernment.

I don’t often add VERY to my rating, but AMERICAN SON is VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED