Displaying items by tag: Toccara Castleman
GEE'S BEND, playing May 23 – June 7 at Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center
Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre today announced full casting and production team for its season-opening production of GEE'S BEND, the 2008 play by Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder, to play Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons from May 23 to June 7 at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center at 927 Noyes Street in Evanston. GEE'S BEND follows a family —Alice, her daughters Sadie and Nella, and Sadie's husband, Macon — from 1939 to 2002 as they experience segregation, family strife, the Civil Rights movement, and celebrity. The play is set in the real-life community of Gee's Bend – an isolated community in West Alabama's Black Belt, which has become known for the hand-stitched quilts made by generations of its women.
Tim Rhoze, Producing Artistic Director of the company since 2010, will direct the production and design the set. His cast features Toccara Castleman, who is double-cast as Alice, the matriarch of the family, and later as Asia, Alice's granddaughter. Castleman is a multidisciplinary writer and actress whose credits include CONFEDERATES at Redtwist Theatre and I DON'T WANT TO PLAY MYSELF at The Tank in New York City. Alice's daughter Nella will be played by Jasmine Robertson, who performed in the two-actor cast of FJT'S UNTIL THE FLOOD in 2024, and was seen there most recently in 2025's HONEYPOT: BLACK SOUTHERN WOMEN WHO LOVE WOMEN. Cast in the lead role as Alice's youngest daughter, Sadie, is Kaitlyn Fields, a recent graduate of Northwestern University, who was among the cast members of HONEYPOT. Sadie's husband, Macon, will be performed by Rashun Carter, whose Chicago stage credits include GODS AND MONSTERS at Theater Wit and REASONS: A TRIBUTE TO EARTH, WIND AND FIRE for Black Ensemble Theatre.
The GEE'S BEND production team, in addition to Rhoze as director and set designer, includes David Goodman-Edberg (Lighting Designer), Rick Sims (Sound Designer), Kate Parker Barrows (Costume Designer), Sarah Kaiser (Muralist), Ben Blount (Props Designer), Melissa Blount (Quilting Instructor), Howard Godfrey Jr. (Musical Director), Charity Moody (Assistant Musical Director), Tuesdai B. Perry (Movement Specialist), Phil Timberlake (Dialect Coach), Bria Walker-Rhoze (Artistic Associate/Dramaturg), Tara Malpass (Production Stage Manager), Mary Dixon (Assistant Stage Manager), Shadana Patterson (Graphic Artist), Sholo Beverly (Poster Artist), and Shane Rogers (Technical Director/Set Builder).
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.
Tickets to GEE'S BEND are $33 and can be purchased at fjtheatre.com. Students and seniors can purchase tickets for $20 at the box office on the day of the performance. FJT is also offering Premium Gold Membership cards for $90.00 that include four reserved seats for any of the productions of the 2026 season, and other exclusive bonuses. The card can be purchased on Evanston's Parks and Recreation site.
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 $33.00, Students and Seniors $20.00 at the box office. On sale 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 Nella and Sadie, who is inspired by the real-life Gee's Bend descendant Mary Lee Bendolph, 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 finale, Part III of the play, it is the year 2002; the quilts have been discovered as highly praised and sought-after folk art. Sadie, now 78 years old, is delighted with the recognition, and despite the lure of celebrity and the big city, she returns home to Gee's Bend and continues her lifelong passion for quilting. Wilder's play explores the resilience of the human spirit, especially as it is expressed in art, language, and gospel music.
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