Displaying items by tag: FleetwoodJourdain Theatre
Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre announces 2024 season - celebrates local artists and two of the most significant Black female writers of the past 50 years
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TED WILLIAMS III (writer, 1619: THE JOURNEY OF A PEOPLE), is a performing artist and educator who lives to inspire. He has taught Political Science at Wright College, Chicago State University, and currently is the Chairman of the Social Sciences Department at Kennedy-King College. He holds degrees in Public Policy Studies from the University of Chicago and Rutgers University and is the former host of WYCC-PBS Television's THE PROFESSORS weekly talk show. He has provided political commentary for BET-TV, WGN-TV, NBC-TV, UPFRONT WITH JESSE JACKSON, PRI's SMILEY AND WEST, WVON radio, and a host of additional media outlets.
NTOZAKE SHANGE (writer, FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE/WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF). Ntozake Shange (1948-2018) was an American author of plays, poetry, and fiction noted for their feminist themes and racial and sexual anger. 
CARLIS L. MOODY, JR. (writer/performer THE MOODY EXPERIENCE: MUSIC BEYOND THE MARGINS). is Senior Pastor of Evanston's Faith Temple Church of God in Christ and a Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter who is keeping the spirit of traditional gospel music alive. He has written over 100 songs for traditional and contemporary gospel artists such as, Shirley Caesar, Olanda Draper, Babbie Mason, Melinda Watts, J Moss, Excelsior, and Milton Brunson & the Thompson Community Singers. Pastor Carlis has four Grammy Awards to his credit, one of which is for "Through God's Eyes," two Stella Awards, one Gospel Music Workshop Award, and numerous awards for legendary songs like "I'm Available To You," recorded by the Milton Brunson's Thompson Community Singers.
DAEL ORLANDERSMITH (writer, BEFORE THE FLOOD) is an American actress, poet and playwright. Orlandersmith was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and Drama Desk Award nominee for Outstanding Play and Outstanding Actress in a Play for YELLOWMAN in 2002. THE BLUE ALBUM, in collaboration with David Cale, premiered at Long Wharf Theatre in 2007. Bones was commissioned by the Mark Taper Forum, where it premiered in 2010. She wrote and performed the solo memoir play FOREVER at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, the Long Wharf, New York Theatre Workshop, Portland Center Stage in 2016 and the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.|
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TIM RHOZE (Artistic Director) Tim Rhoze has been the Producing Artistic Director of Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre since 2010. His directing credits include: THIS BITTER EARTH, THE BALDWIN - GIOVANNI EXPERIENCE, THE LIGHT, AMERICAN S, ON, 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, FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF, 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, et. al. 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 co-writer and director of A HOME ON THE LAKE, co-produced with the Piven Theatre Workshop.Review: 'OBAMA-OLOGY' At the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre
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.
'American Son' at Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre: This show is miraculous!
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
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