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Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, Chicago's only professional theater that seeks to advance women through the power of storytelling, announces additional performance dates for  the world premiere of Jeff Award winning playwright Alex Lubischer's Pivot, directed by RTE Member Hallie Gordon.  The original run dates, February 12- March 21, 2026, are sold out and are available through a waitlist only. Added performances are March 25-April 4, 2026, with the best availability April 1-4, 2026.

The 30^th Season takes place at Rivendell's home, 5779 N. Ridge Avenue in Chicago. Tickets are on sale at www.RivendellTheatre.org; (773) 334-7728. For placement on the waitlist for sold out performances, call the box office, (773) 334-7728.

The cast features ensemble members Keith Kupferer (George), Tara Mallen (Anne), Ashley Neal (Kara), and Glenn Obrero (Doug) with David Stobbe (Levi /Fr. Matt/ Ryan).

The creative team includes Eric Slater* (Asst. Director) Jackie Penrod (Scenic Design), Janice Pytel* (Costume Design), Diane Fairchild* (Lighting Design), Joyce Ciesil (Sound Design), Andres Fiz* (Projections Design), Tanya Palmer* (Dramaturg), Kristi Martens (Production Stage Manager) and Pat Fries* (Artistic Producer)

*Denotes Rivendell Ensemble member

"There is no better way to launch our 30th Anniversary Season than by bringing longtime ensemble member Hallie Gordon back home to helm another world premiere featuring so many members of our gifted ensemble," comments Artistic Director Tara Mallen. "Alex Lubischer has given us a play that's gutsy, provocative, deeply human – and perfect for Rivendell. Pivot brings the largely invisible and often underrepresented voices of the rural community to the forefront, illuminating the experiences of midwestern farmers, and highlighting both the challenges they face and the essential roles they play. As we celebrate three decades of championing complex stories that offer fresh perspectives, I am filled with gratitude for the artists and audiences who've helped build Rivendell — and looking forward to this vibrant new chapter."

The Riv Pass is available for only $95 and includes a ticket to each of the three shows, plus invitations to special readings and events. Riv Pass holders may attend each production as many times as they'd like and special benefits, including reserved seating, are available. While the Riv Pass is non-transferable, purchasing the Riv Pass for as a gift is encouraged. The Riv Pass is available at (773) 334-7728 or www.RivendellTheatre.org.

Pivot production sponsors are Cathy and David Dixon. Rivendell's 30th Anniversary Season is sponsored by Sharon I. Furiya.

FACTS

PIVOT
A world premiere by Alex Lubischer
Directed by RTE Member Hallie Gordon
February 12 – April 4, 2026

This world premiere by Alex Lubischer (Bobbie Clearly, You Deserve to be Here), a Chicago-based, Jeff Award-winning playwright originally from rural Nebraska, is directed by longtime Rivendell Ensemble member and current Senior Associate Director at the Olney Theatre Center Hallie Gordon (Eat Your Heart Out, Dry Land, Cal in Camo) and featuring ensemble members Ashley Neal, Keith Kupferer, Glenn Obrero, and Artistic Director Tara Mallen with Eric Slater as Assistant Director. 

All Kara wants is a giant wedding reception and a solid three-year crop rotation plan for the farm. But when her wedding plans blow up in her face, Kara is prepared to upend the entire town of Milton, Nebraska to fight for the future that should have been hers.  Save the date for this dark comedy about getting your way, making a scene, and father-daughter dances to the Chicks.

Dates:

Previews: February 12-21, 2026

Thursday, February 12 at 8pm

Friday February 13 at 8pm

Saturday, February 14 at 8pm

Sunday, February 15 at 3pm

Thursday, February 19 at 8pm

Friday, February 20, at 8pm

Gala Opening: Saturday, February 21 at 7pm

Press Opening: Monday, February 23 at 7pm

Regular Run: February 26 - March 21, 2026

Thursday - Saturdays at 8pm; Saturdays at 4pm

Added Performances: Sunday March 8 at 3pm (International Women's Day)

and Mondays, March 9 and March 16 at 8pm (Industry Performances)

EXTENSION DATES:

Wednesday, March 25 at 8pm

Thursday, March 26 at 8pm

Friday, March 27 at 8pm

Saturday, March 28 at 4pm and 8pm

Wednesday, April 1 at 8pm

Thursday, April 2 at 8pm

Friday, April 3 at 8pm

Saturday, April 4 at 4pm

About the Artists
Alex Lubischer (Playwright) is a queer Midwestern writer, born and raised on a farm in Nebraska. He lives in Rogers Park, Chicago. His plays include Bobbie Clearly (Roundabout Theatre Company, Steep Theatre, Jeff Award Winner: Outstanding New Play), Pivot (Yale School of Drama, GPTC New Play Conference 2024, Shelterbelt Theatre, Angels Theatre Company, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble), You Deserve to Be Here (Goodman Playwrights Unit commission; Roundabout Theatre Laura Pels commission, The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting - Longlist), Do Wasps Have Desires? (Milwaukee Repertory Theater), Weird Kids (Haven Chicago), The Quonsets (Yale Cabaret, co-written with Majkin Holmquist), and Survey No. 5 (House of International Theatre, Copenhagen).

Lubischer is a former Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence at Roundabout Theatre Company. He has developed new work at Playwrights Horizons, Atlantic Theater Company, South Coast Repertory, Page 73, The Orchard Project, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Victory Gardens Theater, First Floor Theater, The Understudy, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. He has been a semifinalist for the P73 Playwriting Fellowship and a three-time finalist for the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference.

Current screenwriting projects include Big Dave, an hour-long TV pilot co-conceived with Danilo Gambini—Hyperobject Industries is attached to produce—and three features: a 90s-set boy band movie for Division Global and Sappho Screen; an original thriller, Evildoers; and a bi coming-of-age dark comedy, The Deep End, co-written with Hanna Kime.

He teaches playwriting at DePaul University and Bramble Theatre in Chicago. MFA: Yale. BA: University of Southern California.

Hallie Gordon (director), a longtime ensemble member of Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, has directed Eat Your Heart Out, Dry Land, and Cal and Camo for Rivendell and is currently the Director of Artistic Development at Kansas City Repertory Theatre. Hallie is formerly the Artistic Director Steppenwolf for Young Adults & Artistic Producer at Steppenwolf. Hallie has directed the following for Steppenwolf Theatre: HIR, The Rembrandt, the world premiere of Animal Farm, The Book Thief, along with To Kill A Mockingbird, the world premiere of The House on Mango Street, and Harriet Jacobs, adapted for the stage by Lydia R. Diamond. A new premiere of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, also adapted by Lydia R. Diamond, which won a Black Excellence Award from the African American Arts Alliance of Chicago. This production was also transferred Off-Broadway to The New Victory Theatre. For Writers Theater, Smart People and Eclipsed for Northlight Theatre, and has directed staged readings for The Goodman Theatre, Timeline Theatre, Chicago Dramatists and Steppenwolf Theatre Company. And is the recipient of The Helen Coburn Meier & Tim Meier Achievement Award.

Keith Kupferer (George) can currently be seen in Alex Thompson and Kelly O'Sullivan's Ghostlight which premiered at Sundance in January 2024 to rave reviews and was released by IFC Films nationwide last summer. Keith has received widespread praise for his "powerhouse performance" (Deadline Hollywood) and has garnered multiple prestigious end-of-year nominations from the Gothams and Independent Spirit Awards, was the recipient of Best Actor in a Comedy by the Satellite awards and named the "2025 Chicagoan of the Year In Film" by the Chicago Tribune.

A veteran of the stage, Keith has appeared at Chicago's most prestigious theaters including Steppenwolf, The Goodman, Victory Gardens, Writer's Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, Northlight Theatre, A Red Orchid and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. He is a founding member of Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, now celebrating its 30th anniversary and performed in the critically acclaimed premieres of A Mile in the Dark, The Cake, American Wee-Pie and Cal in Camo (Jeff Award for Supporting Actor). Other notable theater credits include Support Group for Men, God of Carnage, and Sweat (Goodman); The Seagull, The Great Leap, The Qualms, Good People, and Middletown (Steppenwolf); Hillary and Clinton, Never the Sinner and Appropriate (Victory Gardens); West Side Story (Lyric Opera) and the world premiere of The Humans (American Theatre Company).  

Film credits include Ghostlight; Widows; The Dilemma; Dark Knight; Public Enemies; The Express; Stranger Than Fiction; Road to Perdition; Finding Santa; Fred Klaus; The Last Rites of Joe May; and The Merry Gentleman directed by Michael Keaton. TV credits include The Bear; Emperor of Ocean Park; Better Call Saul; Empire; Chicago P.D.; Betrayal; Crisis; Chicago Fire; and Detroit 187. Keith is represented by the Gersh Agency and Fusion Entertainment.

Tara Mallen (Anne), producer, actor, director, is the Founder and Artistic Director at Chicago's award winning Rivendell Theatre Ensemble. She is a 3Arts William Franklin Grisham Awardee, a 2024 Impact Award winner from the Chicago Foundation for Women and a Volunteers of America Silver Star Award. In 2024, Tara appeared alongside her husband, Keith and daughter, Katherine in Alex Thompson and Kelly O'Sullivan's film Ghostlight, premiering at Sundance in to rave reviews and released by IFC Films nationwide. Most recently she was seen onstage in GORGEOUS (co-production between Rivendell and Raven), directed the sold-out, critically acclaimed world premiere Wipeout for Rivendell and played "Aunt Lizzie"in Rivendell's smash-hit production Motherhouse as part of their Jeff Award winning ensemble. In 2018, she won a Jeff Award for "Actor /Principal Role" for her portrayal of "Della" in The Cake. Other stage credits include The Luckiest (Raven Theatre - Jeff Nomination – Supporting Actor); the world premiere of Lynn Nottage's Sweat (Arena Stage); Rivendell's world premiere productions of Laura and the Sea, Look, We Are Breathing and Rasheeda Speaking among many others; and How Long Will I Cry at Steppenwolf Theatre. Since Rivendell's inception in 1996, Tara has produced and acted in over fifty productions. She received a Joseph Jefferson award for "Supporting Actress" for work in WRENS and was also a part of that production's Jeff winning "ensemble". She was nominated the following year for "Actress in a Principal Role" for her work in My Simple City.

Screen credits include Steven Soderbergh's Contagion; The Last Shift (Sony Pictures); The Emperor of Ocean Park (MGM+); Dark Matter (Apple TV); Empire (Fox); Boss (Starz); Chicago Fire (NBC); Doubt (CBS/Sony Pictures); Chicago P.D.(NBC); Sense8 (Netflix) and the independent feature FOOLS. She plays a leading role in Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson's soon-to-be-released film Mouse. 

Tara co-conceived and directed the world premiere of Women at War, directed the Jeff nominated Midwest premieres of The Electric Baby, 26 Miles (co-production with Teatro Vista); Fighting Words; Psalms of a Questionable Nature; Elliot, a Soldier's Fugue (co-production with Stageworks/ Hudson); and the brief and brilliant Shady Meadows by Lisa Dillman as part of the 2007 Chicago Humanities Festival.

Ashley Neal (Kara) has appeared with First Floor Theater; Killing Game, The Nether, and Red Handed Otter with A Red Orchid Theatre; Cal in Camo, Scientific Method, Alias Grace, and many others with Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, where she is an ensemble member and the resident casting director. She has also worked with theater companies including Griffin, Steep Theatre, Redtwist, Remy Bumppo, and many more. TV credits include Chicago Fire, PD, and numerous commercials. She is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago where she is now a professor, as well as teaching at The School at Steppenwolf.

Glenn Obrero (Doug) has appeared with Rivendell in Scientific Method and Wipeout. Some Chicago Theater credits include: The Great Leap (Steppenwolf Theatre), 20K Leagues Under The Seas (Lookingglass Theatre), The Chinese Lady (Timeline Theatre), Ironbound (Raven Theatre), and A Tale of Two Cities (Shattered Globe Theatre). He's also worked in Regional Theaters such as Peninsula Players Theatre, Kitchen Theatre, and Asolo Repertory Theatre. Film and TV Credits: Chicago Fire (NBC), Next (FOX), and When Cats Fly (Upcoming Feature Film). He is a Casting Associate of Rivendell Theatre Ensemble and is represented by Gray Talent. Group.

Eric Slater (Asstistant Director), a member of Rivendell since 2005, has appeared in Rasheeda Speaking, The Tasters and Cal in Camo. Some Chicago credits include: Support Group for Men, Feathers and Teeth, Smokefall (Goodman Theatre); The Doppelganger (an international farce) (Steppenwolf Theatre Co.); What the Butler Saw, Fen (Court Theatre); Hand To God, Tiny Beautiful Things (Victory Gardens); Small Jokes About Monsters (16th Street Theatre); Off-Broadway: Juvenal Players (The Kitchen); The Dudley's: A Family game! (Theatre for a New City); Our Greatest Year (Kraine); Original cast of Gloryana (Workshop Production, The Public Theatre); Cyanocitta (The Beckett / Theatre Row). Film: Widows, Coming To You. TV: "Fargo", "Chicago Fire". Eric is also a contributing writer for The Neugents with the North Carolina Writers Project.

David Stobbe (Levi /Fr. Matt/ Ryan) is a founder of The Tramp Collective and an ensemble member of Avalanche Theater, David's Chicago credits include the premiere of PRO-AM (First Floor Theater), Marie Antoinette and The Magical Negroes (Story Theater), and Ophelia in Space (The Tramps). Regional credits: Waitress (Paramount Theater) Oaken in Frozen (Fulton Theater), The Big Bopper in Buddy Holly (Marriott Lincolnshire), Pap/King Silas (Mercury Theater). He can be seen in John Mossman's "Good Guy with a Gun" on Apple TV+.

About the 30^th Season

Rivendell is celebrating three decades of groundbreaking, women-centered storytelling with new works that embody its legacy of centering women's voices, sparking crucial dialogues and advocating for women. This season is both a celebration of Rivendell's award-winning past and an invitation to experience the bold narratives shaping the future. The 30^th season of new plays continues with:

DO SOMETHING PRETTY
A world premiere by Melissa Ross

Directed by Jessica Fisch
May 2 - June 7, 2026 

Written by Melissa Ross (The Luckiest, Thinner Than Water, Nice Girl,  A Life Extra Ordinary) and directed by Rivendell favorite Jessica Fisch (The Firebirds Take the Field, I Want to F**king Tear You Apart), this world premiere production marks RTE "junior" member Katherine Mallen Kupferer's Rivendell debut. 

Summer of 1992. The United States is in a recession. Arkansas governor Bill Clinton is about to run for president. Kurt is married to Courtney. Yo MTV Raps is on the television. And Zach Morris is the only kid with a cell phone. 

On a hot August night in a small Massachusetts town. The last few weeks before school starts. Three teens try to navigate their way through the murky path to adulthood. Phoebe wants to grow up. Jason wants Evie. And Evie just wants to get as far away from everyone as she possibly can. ​                                                           

BONNIE'S LAST FLIGHT

A World premiere written by Eliza Bent
Directed by RTE Member Devon de Mayo
September 11 - October 17, 2026

Bonnie's Last Flight is written by Eliza Bent, former New York playwright produced throughout the country, now a Northwestern University faculty member, and is directed by longtime RTE member Devon de Mayo (Scientific Method, Laura and the Sea, The Tasters), Director of Performance in Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Chicago.

It's Jan's retirement flight. Everyone knows, except for Greig, Jan's best friend and coworker of many years. As Greig waxes nostalgic, Jan worries about life post- retirement. LeeAnne, a klutzy newbie flight attendant with a dark past, must avoid her ex on the plane while Captain, a waggish pilot with a weakness for Bloody Marys, is caught in a love triangle. Erik, the co-pilot with a heart of gold, can't get a word in edgewise. Presiding over the flight is the OG of travel: Mark Twain.

In a comedy set on everyone's least favorite mode of transit, we must reckon with our crew's dreams and regrets and ask ourselves: What does it take to really start living?

The Folded Map Project 

In Development

Rivendell's immersive and collaborative devising process continues with the The Folded Map Project, a groundbreaking play created in collaboration with artist, activist and 2026 MacArthur fellow Tonika Lewis Johnson.

Led by a dynamic team of writers, performers, designers and community advocates, to engage with real-life stories from Tonika's transformative Folded Map Project, highlighting the divides in Chicago's neighborhoods. This past summer, the artist team convened in partnership with University of Chicago's Performance Lab for a session that culminated in a public sharing of the work-in-progress script. 

Rivendell's aim for the Folded Map is to produce a fully realized theatrical production, inspired by the Folded Map Project, creating a pathway to social justice for all who experience it.

About Rivendell Theatre Ensemble's 30^th Anniversary Campaign:

The 30^th anniversary marks a pivotal moment for Rivendell and the company is meeting that moment by launching a special fundraising campaign. As part of this campaign, the RTE Board is hosting a series of specially curated events to commemorate and underwrite Rivendell's role as an important platform for new women's voices.

Rivendell is the leader in new play development for women playwrights and a major platform for emerging writers and artists as the only women-focused Equity storefront theatre in Chicago. The company has earned 16 Joseph Jefferson awards and nominations in our 57-production history. In an average year, we serve about 200 artists and 3,500 audience members, partner with other theatre companies both in Chicago and nationally, practice direct audience engagement, and perform extensive community outreach initiatives.

For more information about Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, visit http://rivendelltheatre.org. Follow Rivendell on Facebook at Facebook.com/rivendelltheatre and on Instagram at @rivendelltheatre.

Rivendell Theatre Ensemble is supported by generous grants from: SIF Fund at The Chicago Community Trust; ArtsWork Fund: TERRA Foundation for American Art; Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; Shubert Foundation; Bayless Family Foundation; Driehaus Foundation; Illinois Arts Council Agency; and The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation.

As a Buddy Holly obsessive—glasses tattooed around an arm, email handle for years, a novel and even a podcast someplace or the other—I was beyond thrilled when I learned the fine folks at the Marriott Theatre would be reviving Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, a show I’ve seen quite a few times over the years. About five years ago, I was privileged to review American Blues Theater’s Jeff Award-winning Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, still one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. And as I perused the playbill for the Marriott’s current revival, names from that 2018 show jumped off the page and assured me that this production would be in capable hands.

The capable hands of this Buddy Holly are attached to Kieran McCabe, who in 2018 played The Crickets’ drummer, Jerry Allison. Here’s the thing about Buddy Holly—he was young. His very short career—cut short by a fateful winter plane ride from Iowa bound for Fargo—ended when he was just 22 years old. So, while many Buddies have the look, have the guitar chops, have the West Texas drawl, and even have the hiccupping vocals, most of them are grownups wearing Buddy Holly glasses.

Not McCabe. He brings a fresh-faced, boyish energy to the role. He’s no adult cosplaying as a kid. He’s a young rock ‘n’ roller with a pair of dark-rimmed specs on his face, a Fender Stratocaster strapped to his chest, and a whole life of possibilities ahead of him, not a care in the world. As McCabe’s Buddy leads us through Holly’s catalog of songs—did I mention the brevity of the career during which these songs were created?! — with rockers like “Peggy Sue,” “Oh Boy,” and “Not Fade Away” getting us moving, and tender ballads like “True Love Waits” breaking our hearts since we how this story ends, he transports us not just to Buddy’s life in Texas and New Mexico and New York, but more importantly to a simpler, younger time of backbeats and rockabilly. Song after song after song, Kieran McCabe’s Buddy Holly rocks.

Reprising her part from the 2018 production as Buddy’s young wife Maria Elena, Molly Hernandez joins McCabe in bringing confident familiarity to the show. Besides her role as Buddy’s muse, Hernandez also adds to the cast’s musical prowess—providing close harmonies in western girl group numbers, backing vocals throughout, and some really good trumpet playing during the show’s final concert.

Also returning to a role he’d played before is Shaun Whitley as Crickets bassist Joe B. Mauldin. Whitley leads the cast—not just the Crickets, filled out here by Jed Feder as drummer Allison and Michael Kurowski as the “4^th Cricket” (the show’s stand-in for Buddy’s real-life rhythm guitarists Niki Sullivan and Tommy Allsup), but everyone else, too—through a setlist of rock ‘n’ roll classics, from Buddy’s songs to others the audience knew and loved.

Kieran McCabe as Buddy Holly. Photo by Liz Lauren.

The rest of the cast is rounded out by musical ringers, too. Ellie Kahn as Vi Petty sprinkles angelic charm onto Buddy’s ballad, “Everyday,” as she tinkles the celesta, and plays keyboards and piano throughout, as does Cory Goodrich. Alex Goodrich’s Norman Petty and various other old-timey music industry fellows are as vital to the story as his musical contributions are to the show. Marcus Terell and Christopher Wren fill out the cast and the band, while Jordan Arredondo’s Ritchie Valens gets the crowd on their feet with a rousing “La Bamba.”

Valens, of course, died in the same crash that took Buddy’s life, as did J.P. Richardson, known to the world as The Big Bopper. David Stobbe, most recently seen stealing scenes—and his son Huck’s nest egg—in Mercury Theater’s Big River, fills out the Bopper’s flashy period suit and plays the role to the hilt. Another local favorite, Melanie Brezill—who has amazed in every show I’ve seen her in, from Chicago Children’s Theatre to a play about Nina Simone—dazzles, especially during the Apollo Theater scene in which she duets with Terell on “Shout.”

But, again, it’s the music that’s the point of this show, from Buddy Holly’s songs to Valens’ and Richardson’s and all of the other oldies the audience enjoys. And it’s this cast, directed by Amber Mak, who put the songs center stage. Because while Holly and Valens and Richardson and so many other rock ‘n’ rollers might have died far too soon, their music will always be alive, so long as there are youthful and talented singers and musicians to keep them that way. Sing and dance along, from now through August 13, to Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story at The Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, to this music that will never die.

Let me begin by saying, this was one helluva 90 minutes in Chicago theatre. We enter the theatre to the sound of a combination of Jazz, trap music and hip-hop. There is a sign reading “This is not history”. On stage, the set, a French street with boarded up storefronts with the name of the play prominently on display. I was not aware of the roller coaster ride I was about to witness.

Terry Guest successfully uses the French Revolution as background for several Black uprisings. A tall order to say the least. The cast enters and opens what appears to be a pandora’s box of costumes. We are off to a thrilling night of theater. This is just the beginning of the time travel and the various people we will meet.

The ensemble consists of Jim Crow (Keith Iliddge), Mammy (Amber Washington), Sapphire (Danyelle Monson), Sambo (Maya Vinice Prentiss), Savage Nathaniel Andrew. They are not history. They’re stereotypes. These ensemble members also play other characters as well such as JFK, Jacqueline Kennedy (complete with bloody pink Chanel suit) Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Ida B. Wells, Axel Von Fersen, Toussaint L”Ouverture and Napoleon. Yes, that Napoleon. This is History.

Joining these characters on stage in various times of their lives are Marie Antoinette (Brenna Di Stasio) and Louis LVI (David Stobbe). The goings on at Versailles is commentated by a on scene reporter to hilarious results. This ensemble was wonderful to watch. They assumed the characters and told the story with excitement and verve.  

The play moves at an extremely fast pace. You have stay awake to catch everything, and you do want to catch EVERYTHING! You got to be woke. We may start in 18^th century France, but we travel to the Haitian Revolution, Los Angeles “Rodney King” uprisings, Ferguson Missouri, for Michael Brown, Minneapolis for George Floyd, and other places where there have been uprisings. Through all these metamorphoses the ensemble shifts effortlessly. In a surprising turn the audience becomes the Revolutionary Tribunal convicting Marie Antoinette to death after a vote. This is a fun evening.

The script is wonderfully complex. Terry Guest’s writing reminds me of a young Susan Lori Parks. I’m excited to see what else he has to say. He has directed the cast to work as efficiently as possible to fantastic results. This play is a must see, maybe twice, you’re bound to miss something.

The Story Theatre’s Marie Antoinette and the Magical Negroes is playing thru July 17^th at Raven Theatre.  

*Extended through July 24th

Set in 1830, Lifeline Theatre’s Middle Passage, beautifully directed by Ilesa Duncan, is an exciting show: absolutely entertaining, well-produced and well-acted.

And yet, entertaining as it is, Middle Passage also recounts the horrific enslavement and transport of Africa’s Allmuseri people, their inhumane treatment by a cruel ship’s captain, and the desecration of their sacred possessions. How do these opposites co-exist in one play? Look to the source.

Based on the bestseller by Charles Johnson (adapted by David Barr III and the director), Middle Passage the book is a fictional first-person narrative by a 20-year-old freed slave, Rutherford Calhoun (Michael Morrow), who makes his way from Southern Illinois to New Orleans to sow his wild oats.

“She’s a town with almost religious pursuit of sin,” Calhoun says of New Orleans, in an aside to the audience.

Johnson gives us a picaresque novel, with a wandering young man, like other 19th century literary characters (think Thackeray’s Barry Lyndon). Both the book and the play recount from the first-person point of view, Calhoun’s experiences – good and bad passing before his eyes - during his adventures. So, as in life, the good and the bad, the lighthearted moments and the tragic, co-exist.

Like Barry Lyndon, Rutherford Calhoun is on the make in New Orleans, and without means – courting young ladies, but also running up debts. This comes to the notice of Papa Zeringue (Bryan Carter), a Creole mob boss holding all Calhoun’s promissory notes. Papa Zeringue tells Calhoun he must pay, or he will be thrown into the deeps of the Mississippi.

Thankfully for Calhoun, he has flirted (chastely) with Isadora (Shelby Lynn Bias), a young black schoolteacher from Boston, whose family has been free for generations. Isadora has some savings, and unbeknownst to Calhoun, negotiates to pay his debts to Papa Zeringue, on one condition – Calhoun will be forced to marry her.

When he learns of the plan, Calhoun stows aboard the ship Republic. When it puts out to sea, he discovers it is a slaver, on its way to Africa to pick up human cargo.
And with that, the story opens to an exciting, rollicking seafaring tale with all the trappings- storms, cannon fire, mutiny, betrayals, slave rebellions. Calhoun is there for selfish reasons - “Of all the things that drive men to sea, the most common disaster, I've come to learn, is women” – as one character puts it.

As an “everyman” character, we watch Calhoun avoid dirtying his hands in the fray, but eventually, he moves from aloof observer to responsible man, developing his moral compass through the trials.

The cast is uniformly good - really good - and most play multiple ensemble roles, as well as their principle character. Particularly notable performances were delivered by Patrick Blashill as Captain Falcon and Andres Enriquez as navigator Peter Cringle. Shelby Lynn Bias’s Isadora is both nicely written, and very well delivered – she is very 1830s Bostonian. Hunter Bryant (Calhoun’s brother Jackson), also, notably plays the role of a young slave learning English who bonds with Calhoun. Bryant launches convincingly into a somewhat lengthy delivery in an Allmuseri language.

Michael Morrow as Rutherford Calhoun carries the weight of the play on his shoulders, also making asides to the audience about the action or his feelings. Opening night, Morrow seemed a little uncertain in the beginning moments – but eventually warmed and really did command the role.

The set (Alan Donohue) is a lovingly crafted sailing vessel with multiple decks, stowage, working winche, mast and beam – all integrated to the projection design (Paul Deziel and Alex J. Gendal) and sound design (Barry Bennett). With this we feel for all the world we are at sea, particularly during storms and battles. A puppet parrot was less compelling.

The play originated at Pegasus Players in 2016 under the title, Rutherford’s Travels. But this version seems very strongly rooted in African storytelling culture, which taps a type of magical realism, to my mind (like Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad). Its title is far more resonant today: Middle Passage, the slave shipping route that represents the crucible of emotional and spiritual transformation from free, cultured Africans to impoverished American slaves.

Lifeline Theatre is also making Middle Passage very accessible: Tickets are $20 for military, veterans, and students, and for rush tickets sold 30 minutes before curtain. Middle Passage runs through April 5 at Lifeline Theatre,6912 N Glenwood, Chicago 60626. www.lifelinetheatre.com