Items filtered by date: November 2007

What does a cigar factory in 1920s Florida have to do with Tolstoy’s epic novel ‘Anna Karenina’? More than you might think it turns out. In Nilo Cruz’s 2003 Pulitzer Prize winning play ‘Anna in the Tropics’, cigar rollers working in a factory are inspired when a new lector reads the classic Russian novel to them while they work.

Ofelia (Charin Alvarez) and Santiago (Dano Duran) own an antiquated cigar rolling factory and work the line along with their daughters Marela (Alix Rhode), Conchita (Krystal Ortiz) and her husband Palomo (Roberto Mantica). When Ofelia hires lector Juan Julian (Arash Fakhrabadi) to read aloud while they roll cigars, the themes in Tolstoy’s novel begin to unlock everyone’s secret desires. The further Juan Julian reads, the more the character’s lives start to mirror those in the book.

Retelling the story in hot and steamy Florida allows for something the original Victorian era novel cannot—sex. While Tolstoy subtly addresses sex in his novel, Cruz’s script doesn’t shy away from the passion between his characters. Director Laura Alcala Baker’s production is dripping with sex, but in a way that portrays women as being the dominant gender.

The female ensemble in Remy Bumppo’s revival of ‘Anna in the Tropics’ is a triad of perfection. Charin Alvarez leads this talented cast and from the first line of dialogue she instantly captures the audience. The bittersweet scenes between her and Dano Duran will melt even the hardest hearts.

Most of the play focuses on the love triangle that forms between Conchita, Palomo and the lector Juan Julian. A tepid marriage begins to heat up with the arrival of Juan Julian, who inadvertently helps reignite Palomo’s passion for his wife. The chemistry between these three is palpable, and nobody is as sultry as Krystal Ortiz. Her fascinating performance is hard to shake longer after the curtain closes.

‘Anna Karenina’ is Tolstoy’s exploration of morality and he does so through two main characters: Anna and Levin. In Cruz’s version Levin is represented by Cheche (Eduardo Xavier) who is the nephew of the family who owns the cigar factory. He sees the progress of a new century and resents the old ways of doing things. Through Cheche’s character, Cruz makes his points about what things shouldn’t be modernized, such as the love that goes into a hand rolled cigar. Much like Tolstoy documenting the twilight of an era for Russian aristocracy, Cruz is documenting a way of manufacturing that has vanished in many industries, replaced by the coldness of a machine.

‘Anna in the Tropics’ is a brilliant take on a classic. Cruz in some ways brings more passion to this already romantic story. Could this play operate without the direct relationship with the novel? Probably not, but a lack of familiarity with the novel in no way impedes on the emotional experience of the play. Remy Bumppo has arranged a perfect cast led by three incredible actresses. Laura Alcala Baker’s vision for this production has a style of its own, rather than just a faithful restaging. An infectious flirtation runs throughout this unique play.

Through March 19 at Remy Bumppo at Theater Wit. 1229 W Belmont Ave. www.remybumppo.org

“Signed, Sealed, Delivered: A Stevie Wonder Experience with John-Mark McGaha” was a warm refuge from the frigid Chicago weather for its opening night February 23. The Mercury Theater at Southport in Wrigleyville is the perfect venue for a show like this, intimate but big enough for the inevitable crowds of Stevie Wonder fans—myself included.

Two approaches are usually taken to creating live cover shows of favorite artists —a tribute band that impersonates the performer, or an interpretive review. “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” is the latter, and a better approach, given Stevie Wonder’s already long career and sweeping catalog. It also allows for a definition of Wonder’s place in the pantheon of greats, and a recount of the forces that shaped his soul, which infuses his music and lyrics. 

This show describes Wonder’s overall creative energy as one expressive of “jubilation” and that essence is the best explanation I have heard. His music celebrates life, and shares his joy.
His work can be approached from many angles, with his many platinum tracks, and so many hits from this precocious musical phenomenon. Wonder at age 12 was the youngest ever to have a Billboard No. 1 record - “Baby, Everything is Alright” - which writer and director Angela Ingersoll places early in the evening, and generally the 16 or more songs performed in the show were chronological.

Performing Stevie Wonder’s songs is John-Mark McGaha. Warm and personable, he sings, plays guitar and piano, and is backed by a second keyboardist (Will Kurk on synth/keyboard and lending vocals) a trumpet, saxophone, base guitar, drums, and a pair of back-up singers. With this retinue they were able to play every style of song Wonder is known for, from his big production mega hits like “Superstition,” “Always,” “For Once in My Live” and “You Can Feel It All Over.” While Wonder’s signature harmonica was missing, occasionally Kurk filled in with a synthesized version.

The show does not mimic or impersonate Wonder’s recordings, though some numbers precisely followed the originals. But this is indeed a Stevie Wonder Experience, in which Ingersoll’s script and McGaha’s ongoing patter provided context for some works that cast a new meaning and new insights into the songs. McGaha, an accomplished performer and highly trained musician, has a personal passion for Wonder, and he shares personal anecdotes (once in awhile a little long) about how the music touched his own life

We learned about Stevie Wonder’s mother, who fled an abusive marriage with children in tow. We learn that one of Wonder’s early songs, written at 16 after a teenage romance fell apart, was put on hold, then released two years later by his producers. The song? “My Cherie Amour.” Until he was 21, Wonder’s music earnings were held in trust. He did receive an allowance: $2.50 a week. When he received the money held in trust, Wonder had earned $31 million in royalties, though he netted just $1 million. That's showbiz, and Wonder, also the youngest artist inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, soon took full control of his career, song rights, and recordings.

Some arrangements were very fresh. Opening night the acoustics were probably not fully tuned, and seemed to be affected by the room filled for the first time with an audience. At times McGaha strained to be heard above the band. In his own performances Stevie Wonder’s voice is always preeminent.

When McGaha left the stand-up mic and sat at the baby grand to sing, the band was in better balance with him. One particularly arresting number—Wonder’s 1985 “Overjoyed” —featured McGaha accompanying himself solo on electric acoustic guitar. It was his very own treatment of a song that had personal meaning to both the performer and Wonder. And it was so deliciously good and emotionally powerful that I hope McGaha releases his version

Wonder’s melodies, chord progressions, and inventive lyrics are among the reasons we regard him as a genius. While some of his cuts were topping the charts, Wonder’s pop hits were played so continuously they became grating. I was not looking forward to hearing “I just Called to Say I Love You.” But the story McGaha told of its origins and the arrangement by Kurk was really, really wonderful.

After playing Wonder’s biggest hit, “Superstition,” the show reached its finale with “Ribbon in the Sky,” one of my all time favorite Wonder songs. This intimate and sensitive rendition stayed with me all night, and was a wonderful closer on a show. "Signed, Sealed Delivered: The Stevie Wonder Experience" runs through March 12 at rthe Mercury Theater.

Caryl Churchill’s ‘Fen’ is a tragic love story laid out against a complicated backdrop. Set in the 1980s, we meet Val (Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel), a mother of two, who wants to leave her husband because she has fallen for another man, Frank (Alex Goodrich). She planned for them to take her children and run away to London, but Frank won’t go, so she settles for moving in with him.

But Val’s husband will neither divorce her, nor surrender the children to her. She must return to him to be with them. Equally, Val cannot live without Frank. Betwixt these irreconcilable poles, Val unhappily lives, and the dismal pallor of her internal conflicts settles over the two lovers like a dark cloud.

The playwright strips the passion from this ill-fated romance, giving us a utilitarian core by which to examine the oppressive constraints, grounded in economics, Churchill seems to say, under which women labor with futility to find fulfilling lives.

Val charges through the play seeking some way to come to shed the unhappiness. She meets other women who cope or compensate by several means - religion, drink, cruelty - and none of these ways work for her. So she just suffers, and it is Frank’s unhappy lot to be her partner in it.

The love story is a bit like Lady Chatterly’s Lover, whose aristocratic heroine sacrificed all to live happily ever after with her working-class paramour. Unlike the well-heeled Lady Chatterley, Val’s attempts to find happiness in her love are thwarted by circumstances, and she can find no solace.

The other dimension to ‘Fen’ is the succinct and searing portrait of a very dark world. Val and Frank are among a populace of poorly paid tenant farmers working under oppressive overseers in the Fenland, a fertile reclaimed coastal marshland in the east of England. Locals harbor resentments from generations of feeling exploited by profit-seeking landowners. 

Once a paradise where people lived off the land and fishing, the Fenland is a dismal place where dreams die, or never are born, a place of hopelessness. The play gives us a succinct portrait of the increasingly impersonal nature of the landowners, as local farms and the estates of gentry alike are snapped up by ever-larger global agri-businesses. It is in the exploration of these aspects of the Fenland that Churchill's immense skills as a wordsmith and playwright shine. It is why she is regarded as a pre-eminent English playwright - recalling 'A Number' at Writers Theatre still gives me chills -  and the chance to see a serious presentation of any of Churchill's works is not to be missed. 

Churchill’s script has been given a fully realized production, with a beautifully constructed set (Scenic Design by Collette Pollard) dominated by rows of potato fields, the stage big enough for a full-sized tractor to roll through. Director Vanessa Stalling orchestrates excellent performances from a sprawling roster of 22 characters, played by just six actors, as is the playwright's intent. Yet there is no confusion for the audience as actors reappear, playing as many as five characters, with distinctive costumes ((Izumi Inaba) and dialect (Eva Breneman). One key to understanding the action is to follow the character of Val, the only role played by Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel. Especially noteworthy are the performances of Alex Goodrich - the only male cast member - and Elizabeth Laidlaw.

Depending on your taste in theater, ‘Fen’ may seem bewildering, but it is entertaining nonetheless. While Churchill frames big ideas in the play, she is also a master at dialog, and the characters are colorful personalities engaged in intriguing repartee.'Fen' runs at Chicago’s Court Theatre through March 5.

“Thank you very kindly, my friends. As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about.”

Opening to the “I’ve Been to The Mountaintop” sermon by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Katori Hall’s deceptively simple play “The Mountaintop” imagines who he was talking about.

"The Mountaintop" first opened in London's West End in 2009, receiving the prestigious Olivier Best New Play Award. It is now receiving a spectacular mounting by Invictus Theatre Company under the watchful direction of Aaron Reese Boseman.

The premise is simple, In Memphis to support the striking sanitation workers, Martin Luther King Jr. (Mikhá el Amin) has returned to his room at the Lorraine Motel after delivering his “I’ve Been to The Mountaintop” speech. He has sent Ralph Abernathy to the store for Pall Mall cigarettes. While waiting for his cigarettes, he works on a new speech “Why America is Going to Hell”. Frustrated, he places a telephone call to the front desk asking for room service to bring him a cup of coffee. When Camae (Ny’ ajai Ellison) knocks on the door with coffee, cigarettes, whiskey, body and personality, the play kicks into its next gear. At this time in the civil rights struggle, King was known for his womanizing, the FBI had him under surveillance, and he was fatigued and full of self-doubt. Is it possible Camae was sent to entrap King?

If only it were that simple.

The chemistry between King and Camae is palpable, thanks to Hall's clever writing and Boseman's pas de deux directing technique.

Amin was born to play the role of Martin Luther King, Jr.  Not only is there a slight resemblance to King, he also speaks and delivers words evoking how the real-life King spoke. It is obvious Amin studied King to wonderful results. Amin is too fine an actor to resort to mimicry. There are times we see a near-broken man, so haunted by death threats that every peal of thunder outside the motel causes a panic attack. We see a vanity in King that seems honest.  Amin’s depiction of King is strongest when he expresses his fears, anxieties, and desires. One of Amin’s most powerful scenes as King features him on a telephone call. It's heart wrenching to watch him plead and rationalize. It’s a garden of Gethsemane moment. To say anymore would spoil the beauty.

Ellison is spot on casting for the role of Camae. When she says “Preacher Kang” she tells us a world of what we need to know about Camae. Ellison’s Camae is eloquent but mouthy, sensitive yet crude, blatantly sexual yet resistive to King's urgings, skeptical about nonviolence and instead sympathetic to the Black Power ideology of Malcolm X. Ellison’s Camae is every bit a match for Amin’s King. She provides a comedic foil to Amin’s serious King. During the night, they challenge each other, They talk about the future; they talk about the past; they talk about politics, and she is just too many wonderful things. Ellison’s most impactful acting comes at a serious moment involving Camae's background story. Her story is powerful and one that will linger in the memory.

Scenic Designer Kevin Rolfs has created an accurate recreation of room 306 of the Lorraine Motel down to the original 1960’s color scheme. Liz Cooper’s Lighting Design worked well with Warren Levon’s thunder and ambient rain sounds that runs throughout the production. Thunder and lightning serve as punctuation for important lines of dialog.

The projection and special effects designer DJ Douglass is masterful in his execution. Together this design team changes a simple hotel room into something magnificent.

Highly Recommended —The Mountaintop reminds us that even our icons are human. We are all kings and King is all of us. "This baton is no longer the burden my image can bear," he says. "For you are the climbers, the new carriers of the cross. I beg you, implore you, don't give in and toss it off."

Side note:  

This is just another example of the excellence coming from Invictus Theatre Company. They constantly exceed their reach. I have to remind myself this is a storefront theatre.    

Performed at Reginald Vaughn Theatre through March 19th. For tickets and/or more show info, click here.                    

Happy ballets are alike; every unhappy ballet is unhappy in its own way. Joffrey Ballet brings their haunting production of ‘Anna Karenina’ to the Lyric Opera House for a brief revival. It’s easy to see why this new ballet was such a hit when it held its world premiere in Chicago back in 2019. It’s a remarkably succinct retelling of Leo Tolstoy’s epic novel about an unhappy woman’s choice to leave her marriage shortly before the Russian revolution.

Devised and choreographed by Yuri Possokhov, this version of ‘Anna Karenina’ is for both those who have read the novel and those who haven’t. The plot is pared down to the most essential moments. That said, it’s impressive how much is included and how creatively certain scenes are staged, most notably a brutal horse race that closes the first act.

Possokhov’s choreography is sexually evocative and those familiar with the deeply psychological drama will surely recognize the emotions in the dance, especially between Anna and Vronsky, danced by prima ballerina Victoria Jaiani and Alberto Velazquez. Scenes move at a fast clip and are told through a blend of large props, minimalist projections, and soaring vocals. Those who haven’t read the book may miss some of the nuances, but the visuals make the plot clear.

Victoria Jaiani and Alberto Velazquez in 'Anna Karenina" at Lyric Opera House

With live orchestration by the Lyric Opera Orchestra and vocals performed by Jennifer Kosharsky, the original score by Ilya Demutsky leaps off the stage. The music is cinematic but like the choreography, the torment is conveyed through sharp, staccato sequences. In the novel, Anna refers to Vronsky as a murderer after they begin their love affair. Pussokhov’s staging faithfully captures the fact that Anna and Vronsky will never know a moment’s peace. The great irony of Tolstoy’s sweeping love story is that great passion does not always make for a lasting relationship.

‘Anna Karenina’ can be difficult for some readers as large swaths of the book take the focus off Anna and put it onto semi-autobiographical character Levin and his love interest Kitty. A lot of these sections are about the intricacies of Russian farming. Levin is a bit absent from this production as such, but through the contrasting choreography, Anna and Levin’s parallel search for true love is apparent.

This award-winning production returns to Chicago under considerably different political circumstances between Russia and the US. However, Joffrey Ballet honored the Ukrainian people with a moving tribute before the ballet began, demonstrating an awareness and solidarity the Ukrainian people.

Through February 26 at Joffrey Ballet Chicago. 20 N Upper Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60606. www.joffrey.org.

‘Right to Be Forgotten ' is a play for our times, in contemporary language and a production at Raven Theatre that is laser-focused on an issue of our day—the inability of the average person to remove online content about themselves that is damaging or even life-threatening.

Directed by Sarah Gitenstein from a script by Sharyn Rothstein, this Chicago premiere features minimalist sets—a simple table and chairs evokes a coffee shop; a desk makes an office—and characters that are quickly recognizable types. The stage features a surround of screens on which social media posts and Google search results are displayed, apropos of the subject: the indelible stamp made by digital records of our lives.

Hapless 17-year-old nerd Derril Lark (Adam Shalzi), who for weeks dogged his first school crush, Jamila Tyler (Eve Salinsky), was called into the principal’s office and set straight. Mending his ways thereafter, his stalking behavior was documented on the ‘High School Girl’ blog, and he soon became a symbol of stalkers despite stopping his behavior.

A decade later Darril Lark is at work on his PhD in literature, and dreaming of settling into a serious relationship. Dating through match-up apps, he meets Sarita (Kelsey Elyse Rodriguez), and the two hit it off. But very soon he divulges to Sarita that his profile carries an assumed name, for his real name is infinitely attached to the hashtag #lurkinlark. The story of his brief high school misstep was subsumed into an onslaught of posts about other heinous aggressions suffered by girls and women everywhere, along with numerous related supportive posts, all of which appear when anyone googles his real name.

The story leads us through Darril's futile attempts to have his history cleared voluntarily by the search engine giant, using their appeals process. In desperation he pleads his case to a lawyer known in the field for battling internet behemoths, Marta Lee (Susaan Jamshidi), who takes his case. The plot now turns on the legal and eventually political jousting around his case, leading us through the twists and turns of a first-rate courtroom drama.

‘Right to Be Forgotten’ is an artful exploration of the dynamics of a fraught societal issue. Threaded neatly with exposition of the subject, we learn that Europeans have the right to be forgotten, and upon request can have their histories expunged from the web. Via the clashes among lawyers, politicos, and individuals online (who are both consumers and suppliers of content) the playwright leads the audience to understand the unresolved tension in the U.S. between freedom of expression, and the right to privacy, both enshrined in the Constitution.

In some respects this script is a series of vignettes, and characters and dialog are lean and purposeful, like a web search result. While not naturalistic—we get just what we need to know, both about the characters, and for scenes to advance the action—the whole of ‘Right to Be Forgotten’ works together to conjure our empathy for individual suffering. And it ends with a satisfying, even optimistic resolution. Running through March 26 at Raven Theatre in Chicago, ‘Right to Be Forgotten’ is unforgettable, and comes highly recommended.

*Extended through April 2nd!

Just on the heels of a very successful run of The Sound of Music, the three-hour production of Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award winning Into the Woods at the lushly appointed art deco Paramount Theatre is here to delight another round of theatregoers. Simply stunning and jam-packed with talent and energy, Paramount gives us another production to rave about. Upon entering the theater, the enormous set by designer Jeffrey D. Kmiec, with romantic and powerful lighting by Jose Santiago, is a spectacle to behold with its beautiful stately trees and fairy tale castle towers which dazzles the eye and ignites the audience's senses.

Into the Woods is a slightly adult version of a mashup of Brothers Grimm fairy tales that is really a metaphor for venturing out into the world and in everyday life on new paths to find happiness and love. Mixed together in this epic and humorous adventure are characters and plot lines from Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel.   

Although this is clearly an ensemble piece with a large and exciting cast, the play is held together and given a continuous depth of meaning by its Narrator, played by outstanding character actor Larry Yando (he also doubles as Mysterious Man). I went to college with Yando at the Goodman/DePaul School of Drama back in 1987 and now all Chicago audiences know and love his work as Ebenezer Scrooge in Goodman Theatre’s long-running Christmas favorite, A Christmas Carol.

The production contains numerous catchy Sondheim musical numbers including its title track that opens the show along with "Our Little World", "Ever After", "No One Is Alone" and the very funny “Agony” wonderfully performed by Cinderella's Prince (Alex Syiek) and Rapunzel's Prince (Devin DeSantis) – in perhaps the one of the shows funniest scenes. Another standout for me includes outstanding vocal performances from Cinderella, played with great humor by Hannah Louise Fernandes who questions why she is "running from a Prince?” after her fairy Godmother used magic to help her attend the ball. Also, Little Red Riding Hood, played by the sardonic and ruby-lipped Lucy Panush, is adorable throughout. Panush is forever changed by her encounter with the lusty Wolf who sniffs her as if she is a tasty pastry and she recalls with misty wonder how being "swallowed by the wolf" let her fall into a deep dark place that she surprisingly found quite fascinating. 

Paramount Theatre’s Into the Woods features (from left) Stephen Schellhardt as the Baker, Will Koski as Jack, Natalie Weiss as the Witch, Hannah Louise Fernandes as Cinderella and Lucy Panush as Little Red Ridinghood. Photo by Liz Lauren.

The show is bursting with talented performances throughout and peppered with brilliant comedic and singing performances including that of Sarah Bockel as the Baker’s Wife, Will Koski as Jack and Natalie Weiss as The Witch. Its story is fun and has a twist around every corner while the extraordinary set and lighting/sound effects keep us smack dab in the middle of an enchanted world like no other.

The music throughout is impressive and big. I always love to walk down at the end of a show to see the orchestra in the pit, and this large gifted group of musicians led by Music Director/Conductor Kory Danielson are a character in their own right. And the music that comes from an orchestra of this size is something you can feel pulsing in your heart as the play takes the audience through all "the feels" from joy to loss, sensual longing to satisfaction and everything in between. 

Into the Woods has so many great characters and intertwining storylines, each with their own moral lesson, that there is something everyone can relate to at every age, whether it is the joys and disappointments that come with leaving home, reckoning with your parents’ goodness or mourning the loss of a loved one.

I highly recommend this outstanding and exciting, colorful and dramatic production for audiences between the ages of 12 to 91 (the age Sondheim passed away in 2021) who are seeking a rich, quality and satisfying night out at the theater. 

Into the Woods runs through March 19th at the Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Ave., in Aurora. For tickets visit paramountaurora.com or call 630-896-6666.

The start of the civil rights movement was not Rosa Parks refusal to leave her seat on a bus. The civil rights movement started when the photo of 14-year-old Emmett Till, laying in his coffin beaten beyond recognition was graphically published on the cover of Jet Magazine for the world to bear witness. He was the victim of a heinous attack by brothers Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam.

“Trial in the Delta” is a reenactment of the trial held at the Tallahatchie County courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi on September 23, 1955. This reenactment took 2 hours thanks to the laborious job of paring down 5 days of actual court transcripts into a cohesive 2-hour production. The adaptation by G. Riley Mills and Willie Round was sharp and concise making the arguments of both sides extremely clear.

It had to be difficult directing a production where everyone knows the outcome and keep it fresh and new, yet this is exactly what the directing team of Dana N. Anderson and Anthony Moseley accomplished. They made the audience spectators to this miscarriage of justice. They never took the easy road of playing on emotions. They went for words that were spoken they went for intent. They were aided by a spectacular cast.

Although their backs were to the audience most of the time, the body language of JW Milam (Matt Miles) and Roy Bryant (Tyler Burke) spoke volumes. There were times I couldn’t take my eyes off them. Prosecutor Gerald Chatham (Andy Luther) pushed and pleaded knowing it was all in vain while Defense Atty. JJ Breland (Steve Silver) played verbal gymnastics with the witnesses knowing he had the upper hand. All the witnesses that took the stand had different perspectives. I felt the fear of Moses Wright (Darren Jones) as he pointed. Undertaker Chester Miller (Lyle Miller) was dignified as his profession required. The testimony that gripped me was Carolyn Bryant (Maddy Brown).  It was alarming. The work that Carolyn Bryant put into that story and the way Maddie Brown brought that story to life made me pinch myself. I realized this is a tactic that’s been around forever, and it still works. The way Bryant/Brown weaponized her tears broke my heart. It was evident this trial was over, and these men would be free. Mamie Bradley (Kayla Franklin) remained stoic thru all the proceeding even when was her turn to take the stand. Her last speech is powerful.

Looking at the program for this production, I noticed there are major people in the theatre community associated with this production and it shows. DuSable Museum, while not my favorite place to see a play, made this production work. The set is a maple wood courtroom. To the left of the witness box are 12 empty seats. The Jury…..12 White men.  Whenever the jury came or left the courtroom, we see a projection of 12 white men entering of leaving and we hear their footsteps. There are maple bannisters separating the Attorneys from the spectators.

Witnesses are seated throughout the audience and as they are called walk up to the witness stand and are sworn in.

This production is an example of how systemic racism works and as such would not be shown in Florida. Governor Ron DeSantis has signed into law the Stop-Woke (Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees) Act, which prohibits educational institutions and businesses from teaching students and employees anything that would cause anyone to feel guilt, anguish or any form of psychological distress due to their race, color, sex or national origin. I’m sure this production was not created to cause any undo harm or guilt. This is not only African American history, but also American History.

When: Through February 19th - 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday

Where: DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, 740 E. 56th Pl.

Tickets: $30-$55

Info: Collaboraction.org

Sometimes a deceivingly "small" story can pack a wallop, and that is the case with LaDarrion Williams’ ‘Boulevard of Bold Dreams,’ premiering at TimeLine Theatre before it moves on to Boston.

Set in 1940, this finely crafted script quickly establishes fully fleshed out characters Arthur (Charles Andrew Gardner), a bartender at Los Angeles’s Ambassador Hotel, and his friend, Dottie (Mildred Marie Langford), who is a maid there.

Both are recent arrivals from Alabama, friends since they were two. Arthur, an unapologetic optimist, came to pursue a dream of directing movies, while the more cynical Dottie, who is a singer, is fleeing more pain-filled circumstances back home.

This is a night like no other. It is February 29, 1940, the evening ‘Gone With the Wind’ will win a slew of Oscars and Hattie McDaniels will become the first Black actor to receive the award. But McDaniels (Gabrielle Lott-Rogers), as she enters the bar to avoid the press, only knows she has been nominated.

When she hesitantly appears at the doorway to the bar, it is clear McDaniels has goose-bump inducing star power. Credit director Malkia Stampley for the cadence of this entrance, the spotlighting, the costuming, and Lott-Rogers’ acting skills. It’s not overdone, just the right touch, to let us know a power player has arrived. And indeed, that was the case with McDaniels, whose dad put her on the stage beginning at 10, for his traveling minstrel shows.

The plot turns around McDaniel’s ambivalence about accepting the award at all. In the white world, the Oscar nomination looked like progress. (Ethel Waters had been nominated the year before.) But in the black community, there were mixed feelings: the NAACP felt the role of the step-n-fetch-it slave Mammy was a demeaning stereotype. Others felt “grin and bear it” for the value to future generations of a Black breakthrough. (This territory was covered in Alice Childress’ 1955 backstage drama, ‘Trouble in Mind,’ suppressed from wide exposure in its day and remarkably cogent in its TimeLine Theatre production in November.)

McDaniels also was sequestered to a table hidden in the ballroom corner of the ordinarily segregated Ambassador Hotel with her Black friends. She was not allowed to sit with Olivia de Havilland, Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable and the rest of the cast. She was given a prepared speech expressing the hope that she would remain “a credit to her race.” Ugh.

We know how McDaniels decided, and the footage of her acceptance is played. What playwright Williams gives us is the nuanced dimensions of the internal struggle within Daniels’ heart, and within the Black community. The interweaving of exposition and dramatic interchange is artful at an exceptional level. In an epilogue scene we hear the speech the playwright imagines McDaniels might have delivered, and it’s standing-ovation stuff.

A must-see show, ‘Boulevard of Bold Dreams’ runs through March 19 at TimeLine Theatre, 656 W. Wellington Ave. in Chicago.