New Route Theatre's BLACK VOICES MATTER Festival Starts Thursday

Inspired by the national #BlackLivesMatter movement, New Route Theatre has created a three-day theatre festival they're calling "Black Voices Matter: New Voices, New Plays, New Directions." "Black Voices Matter" showcases new work written, directed and performed by African-Americans from Bloomington-Normal and Chicago.

First up will be the play Shades written by Leola Bellamy, performed on Thursday, February 18th at 7:30 pm. That will be followed by Black, by Kamaya Thompson, scheduled for Friday, February 19th at 7:30 pm. Glass Half Black, by Matty Robinson, takes center stage on Saturday, February 21st, with a matinee at 2:30 pm and and an evening performance at 7:30 pm.

New Route will offer discussions following each performance to give audiences a chance to talk about what they've seen with the casts,  playwrights Leola Bellamy, Matty Robinson and Kamaya Thompson, and directors Jamelle Robinson and Gregory D. Hicks. Because there are three different plays and each post-play discussion will be different, New Route is encouraging audience members to attend every performance.

Although the shows are free, New Route suggests a $5 donation at the door. Performances will take place at the First Christian Church, 401 West Jefferson Street in Bloomington.

Here's the complete schedule:

SHADES
By Leola Bellamy
Thursday, February 18 at 7:30 pm

BLACK
By Kamaya Thompson
Friday, February 19 at 7:30 pm

GLASS HALF BLACK 
By Matty Robinson
Saturday, February 21 at 2:30 and 7:30 pm.

For more information about New Route Theatre or the "Black Voices Matter" project, please contact Don Shandrow, Artistic Director or Jamelle Robinson, Development Director at new.route.theatre@gmail.com or check them out on Facebook.

New Route Theatre Offers Two New Festivals for Black and LGBTQ Playwrights

New Route Theatre has two exciting projects coming up, with a playwriting competition aimed at producing staged readings of winning works written by LGBTQ authors and a second program of fully staged works by African-American playwrights from Illinois under the banner "Black Voices Matter: New Voices, New Plays, New Directions."

As of January 14, New Route is looking for new plays by Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, or Queer playwrights for a LGBTQ festival of staged readings scheduled for April. New Route will select three plays to be presented in readings April 22 through 24 in Bloomington-Normal. They are asking for submissions to be in by February 20, 2016, and they'd like to see materials submitted by email at new.route.theatre@gmail.com.

Duane Boutté

If you're submitting, you are asked to include "Attention: Duane Boutté" on your email. Duane Boutté , who is acting as the curator of this series, is a member of the faculty at Illinois State University's School of Theatre and Dance. A performer, director and playwright, he has appeared on Broadway and off-Broadway, at theaters across the United States, including the Goodman in Chicago and Arena Stage in Washington DC, and in film and television, as well. In 2015, Boutté directed Cabaret and Fences at ISU.

This festival of LGBTQ voices is presented in partnership with Bloomington-Normal's Prairie Pride Coalition.

Also coming up in February for New Route is their "Black Voices Matter: New Voices, New Plays, New Directions" festival, which has been created to showcase brand-new work written, directed and performed by African-Americans from Bloomington-Normal and Chicago.

New Route's three-day event will feature original poetry and plays, intended to "give voice to the current #‎BlackLivesMatter‬ movement." The pieces that form the "Black Voices" festival are Shades by Leola Bellamy, Black by Kamaya Thompson, and Glass Half Black by Matty Robinson. Dates and times are:

SHADES
By Leola Bellamy
Thursday, February 18 at 7:30 pm

BLACK
By Kamaya Thompson
Friday, February 19 at 7:30 pm

GLASS HALF BLACK 
By Matty Robinson
Saturday, February 21 at 2:30 and 7:30 pm.

Performances will take place at the First Christian Church, 401 West Jefferson Street in Bloomington. Audiences will be offered an opportunity to interact with actors, playwrights and directors Jamelle Robinson and Gregory D. Hicks following each performance. New Route is encouraging audience members to attend all three shows to experience the full spectrum of voices. They're are presented free of charge, with a suggested donation of $5 at the door.

New Route Theatre’s mission -- to present "professional-quality theatre using a broad spectrum of artists who represent the community in all of its diversity" -- is clearly reflected in both festivals.

For more information about New Route Theatre or either of these projects, please contact Don Shandrow, Artistic Director or Jamelle Robinson, Development Director at new.route.theatre@gmail.com or check them out on Facebook.

FLASHBACKS Coming Up Next Week at New Route

New Route Theatre will present Flashbacks, "a multi-media work that examines the intersections of childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence, teenage pregnancy, poverty, sexism and racism through poetry, rap and dialogue" next Friday in the new New Route space at 814 Jersey Avenue in Normal.

Flashbacks is based on the writings of Erica Thurman, as adapted for this staged  reading by Thurman and Gregory D. Hicks. Hicks directs a cast that includes Connie Chojnacki Blick, Michael Howard, Gabrielle Lott-Rogers, Jennifer Rusk, Claron Sharrieff, Miles Michael Spann and Jaimie Taylor. Blick and Lott-Rogers were recently seen in Heartland Theatre's Fowl Plays, while Rusk was part of Community Players' Shrek and Taylor appeared in Illinois State University's Dancing at Lughnasa last fall. Lott-Rogers, Rusk and Sharrieff have all acted in the Illinois Voices/McLean County Museum of History Discovery Walk at Evergreen Park, as well.

This staged reading of Flashbacks is scheduled for Friday, August 15 at 7:30 pm. Although there is no charge for admission, donations will be accepted at the door. Note that this is a general admission event without reserved seating, so you are advised to come early if you want to have a choice of seats.

There will be a "talk back" with the cast, director and playwright Erica Thurman after the performance.

Upcoming in August

August is a bit calmer month for local entertainment, but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty to keep you busy.

The Illinois Shakespeare Festival continues through August 9, with their all-male Much Ado About Nothing at 7:30 pm in the theater on the grounds of the Ewing Cultural Center on Tuesday the 5th and Thursday the 7th and in the Illinois State University Center for the Performing Arts at 1:30 pm on Saturday the 9th; Antony and Cleopatra at Ewing at 7:30 pm on Wednesday the 6th and 8 pm on Saturday the 9th and inside the CPA at 1:30 pm on the 8th; and the not-written-by-Shakespeare-but-featuring-him-as-a-character play Elizabeth Rex, written by Canadian playwright Timothy Findley, at Ewing at 8 pm on the 8th and in the CPA at 1:30 pm on the 6th. If that sounds like a lot of performances, remember that this is the last week. And check here on the calendar if you want to keep it all straight or see ticket information.

Also continuing through the 9th is the Station Theatre production of Amy Herzog's 4000 Miles, a much-acclaimed new play about a grandmother and grandson trying to find common ground after he bikes across America and lands in her West Village apartment. Sara Boland-Taylor directs Janice Rothbaum and Casey Thiel as grandma Ida and grandson Leo in performances at 8 pm Wednesday through Saturday at the Station Theatre on Broadway in Urbana.

Terry Gilliam's weirdly wonderful Brazil comes to Champaign's Art Theater Co-op on August 6 and 7 in the 10 pm slot. Gilliam, the only American member of the Monty Python troupe, paints a picture of a sort of anarchic alt-world, not exactly the future or the past or the now, just a world that ours might have been or might become, where paranoia, an all-powerful bureaucracy and eccentric technology, as well as a lot of duct work, tubes and pipes, rule the day. That world is crushing the spirit of an everyman named Sam Lowry, played by Jonathan Pryce. It's funny, strange and sad, but never depressing. And visually, it is indeed a "nonstop dazzler," as the Art's website calls it.

If you were a fan of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series of time travel romance novels, you'll either be thrilled or horrified to find out there's finally a screen adaptation of her work. It's on Starz and it starts August 9 at 8 pm Central. And if you just can't wait, Starz is making the first episode available online now. Irish actress Catriona Balfe plays English nurse Claire Randall, the one who tumbles backwards in time, away from war-torn Britain, landing in Scotland in 1743. Her Scottish love interest, rough and tumble Jamie Fraser, is played by Scotsman Sam Heughan.

New Route Theatre is officially moved in to its new space at 814 Jersey Avenue in Normal now, and they have been celebrating that fact with a summer schedule of workshops and staged readings. The next one up is set for August 15th. It's called Flashbacks, and it is written by Gregory Hicks and Erica Thurman, based on Thurman's prior writings.  Hicks also directs. New Route describes Flashbacks as "a multi-media work that examines the intersection of childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence, teenage pregnancy, poverty, sexism and racism through poetry, rap and dialogue." The performance will begin at 7:30 pm on August 15, with a talkback afterwards. Tickets are available at the door for a donation. If you'd like more information, you can visit New Route's Facebook page or email new.route.theatre@gmail.com

The University of Illinois' Krannert Center for the Performing Arts recently sent out its big annual packet on the 2014-15 season, featuring "Renée Fleming, Ragamala Dance, KODO, Cassandra Wilson, the Mark Morris Dance Group, Rosanne Cash, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Circus Oz, and dozens of other artists and intriguing events," as they put it. Tickets go on sale August 16 at 10 am for everything from the season's opening night festivities September 12 with Tiempo Libre, Mariachi Sol de México de José Hernández and Samba Soul to the Mark Morris Dance Group's Acis and Galatea in May, 2015. All the details are available here.

Doctor Who with new doctor Peter Capaldi comes to BBC America on August 23 with the "takeover" episode at 7 pm Central that night. But there's a slew of Doctor Who programming before and after the premiere, including a live pre-show and after-show, a marathon of episodes voted through by fans, and movie theater screenings. To see the trailer for Who with Capaldi, click here. For the complicated list of what exactly is happening to usher in Doctor No. 12, thumb through BBC America's roundup.

New Route Climbs Back to Katori Hall's MOUNTAINTOP

New Route Theatre and director Don Shandrow have decided to bring their production of Katori Hall's The Mountaintop back one more time for area audiences.The image you see here is from their previous production in 2013, so pay no attention to those dates! The new dates are January 31, and February 1-9. But the venue is the same -- the McLean County YWCA on Hershey in Bloomington -- and you can still email new.route.theatre@gmail.com or call 309-827-7330 for reservations. Tickets are $10.

Hall's play imagines Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the last night of his life at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He is visited by a hotel maid who brings coffee and stays for conversation that ranges from the mundane to the spiritual. The Mountaintop has become a spiritual phenomenon for playgoers, too, as they've flocked to see it in London, Broadway and regional productions.

New Route last performed The Mountaintop in February 2013, featuring Gregory D. Hick as Dr. King and Fania Bourn as Camae, the maid who is not necessarily what she appears to be. They will both be back for this 2014 version, and that's Bourn at left in character.

The Mountaintop opens in New Route's YWCA space on January 31, 2014. For more information on this production, you can visit the event's Facebook page here.

THE MOUNTAINTOP Continues This Weekend at New Route Theatre

I apologize for being under the weather and seriously late with info that you must have to celebrate your February properly.

So, apologies to New Route Theatre, which opened its production of Katori Hall's The Mountaintop last week. Hall's play imagines what might have happened in the last night in the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., if he'd had the opportunity to ponder life, cigarettes and his earthly and heavenly missions with a lively debating partner -- the maid who brings his room service -- in his room at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis.

Early reports are that this is a terrific production, starring Gregory D. Hicks as the Reverend King and Fania Bourn as the maid, under the direction of New Route Artistic Director Don Shandrow. Fans have taken to the event's Facebook page to call it "terrific work" and note it was a "powerful presentation and a moving experience."

Performances of The Mountaintop continue Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week and next. Friday and Saturday performances are scheduled for a 7:30 pm curtain, while Sunday matinees will be at 2:30 pm.

You can secure tickets by emailing new.route.theatre@gmail.com or by visiting the New Route Facebook page. Or you can purchase them at the door on the night of performance.

New Route Climbs to THE MOUNTAINTOP

As New Route Theatre gears up for the last production of their 2012-13 season, they are also celebrating their accomplishments from 2012.

It was a very good year for New Route, moving into a new space in the YWCA on Hershey Road in Bloomington, producing shows with longer runs, adding the Word Weavers writing program for seniors and still keeping the One Shot Deal series alive at the Eaton Gallery. That's a lot of production for one small, fairly new company! But, after all, New Route has a mission. What is the mission? To do professional quality theatre using a broad spectrum of artists who represent the community in all of its diversity.

As Artistic Director Don Shandrow notes, "If you look at our 2012-2013 season that reaches its summit with The Mountaintop you will see ten productions, across all of our programs, that reflect the diversity of this community."

He explains: "Of these ten productions, three were compilation scripts. Of the seven remaining scripts, six were by women playwrights. Of those six, one was by a Palestinian-American woman and the remaining three by African-American women.

"As we move forward into 2013 and beyond, it is our intent to build on this foundation as we work toward an even more diverse and inclusive theatre company."

And about that Mountaintop... Katori Hall's play about the last night in the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. premiered in London in 2009 in a much-acclaimed production directed by James Dacre with British actor David Harewood as Dr. King, then hit Broadway in 2011 with Samuel L. Jackson in the lead role. Jackson's costar was Oscar nominee Angela Bassett.

Katori Hall, Samuel L. Jackson, Angela Bassett and Kenny Leon, who directed the Broadway Mountaintop, each did a brief video piece about the play if you'd like to learn more.

Don Shandrow will direct The Mountaintop for New Route, with Gregory D. Hicks as his Dr. King. Hicks has been involved with New Route Theatre with productions like Fabulation, which he directed and acted in last year, and with area theaters like Heartland Theatre Company, where he played young poet Franco Hicks in Superior Donuts last spring. He's also worked with the Black Actors Guild at Illinois State University, directing The Mystical Willie Lynch in February, 2011.

Fania Bourne will star opposite Hicks as Camae, a mysterious maid who brings coffee to King's hotel room on that last day and begins a conversation with him about life, death, what it is to come up short, and what it means to dream big. The name Camae is a nickname for Carrie Mae. Or perhaps "Carry Me."

Bourne has also appeared before with New Route, most recently in Fat Jack's, a One Shot Deal show in 2011.

The Mountaintop will begin performances at 7:30 pm on February 8th, continuing with 7:30 shows on the 9th, 15th, 16th, 22nd and 23rd, and 2:30 pm matinees on February 10th, 17th and 24th. New Route's performances of The Mountaintop will take place at the YWCA of McLean County, which is located at 1201 North Hershey Road in Bloomington. Tickets can be reserved by e-mailing new.route.theatre@gmail.com.

For more information about New Route Theatre and their entire schedule, you can visit their Facebook page here.

The Return of Fabulous "Fabulation" -- This Week at New Route Theatre

Lynn Nottage's play "Fabulation, or the Re-education of Undine" comes back to New Route Theatre at the Bloomington YWCA this week, and there's all kinds of fun stuff out there in Internet Land to prepare the way.

As you may recall, New Route offered "Fabulation" a little more than a year ago as part of its One Shot Deal series at the Eaton Gallery. With limited space and few technical frills, director Gregory D. Hicks and his cast did a very credible job with the material, telling the story of one high-achieving African-American woman brought down by some double-dealing and her own ego. Forced to go back home and mend some fences, Undine (real name: Sharona Watkins) finds the real person under all the pretense, but it's not an easy trip down this particular rabbit hole.

This time out, actress Melissa James Shrader appears as Undine, with a supporting cast that includes Leola Bellamy, Jennifer Cirillo, Corey Hardin, Gabrielle Loft-Rogers, John D. Poling, Miles Spann and Skylar Tempel, with Jennifer Rusk acting as stage manager. New Route Artistic Director Don Shandrow is the producer, which means he is, as always, looking out for the big picture.

Shandrow and Hicks both appear in this video piece about "Fabulation," with cast members talking about their roles and their thoughts on the play in this one, Shandrow giving some info about "Fabulation" from a producer's perspective here, and director/actor Hicks back with Rusk, his stage manager, in yet another behind-the-scenes video, as he talks about how he came to be involved and she discusses her own role with the project.

New Route Theatre is "a multi-racial and multi-cultural theater company that produces new as well as established works that explore the nature of the human spirit in the context of ethical, political, and social choices," with a mission "to do professional quality theatre using a broad spectrum of artists who represent the community in all of its diversity."

"Fabulation" certainly aims for the bull's eye on those targets, as Nottage's script examines the human heart and mind and more specifically, the heart and mind of one female member of the African-American community as she grapples with her choices, good and bad. We see how she tries to reconcile her aspirations with a sense of love and connection, how she fits into the scheme of 21st Century America as a smart, talented, ambitious, pretty darn unlucky woman. Undine is a fascinating character, and Jamelle Robinson did a great job with the character back in July 2011. I can already tell from the videos linked above that Melissa James Shrader will be creating a slightly different Undine/Sharon. Equally fascinating, smart, talented, ambitious and unlucky, you can bet, but still... With the different tones and layers that a new actress automatically brings to the role.

Shrader and Co. are part of that "broad spectrum of artists" the New Route mission refers to, and by doing "Fabulation" twice, they get to include more actors and broaden their spectrum even more. I believe that Corey Hardin and Miles Spann are the only acting holdovers from the first production, which means new shadings almost all around.

"Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine" opens August 31 in the New Route space tucked into the Bloomington YWCA. Performances continue September 1, 7 and 8 at 7:30 pm, and September 2 and 9 at 2:30 pm.

Auditions for "Fabulation" June 4-6

Gregory D. Hicks, who will be directing Lynn Nottage's "Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine" for New Route Theatre, has announced that he will be holding auditions for roles in the show on June 4th, 5th and 6th from 6 to 10 pm at the YWCA theater space New Route is now calling its own.

Hicks previously directed the one-night workshop production of the play New Route produced in July of 2011. That production had limited space for scenery or lights, but it still clicked in all the right places and showcased the style and the message in Nottage's funny, sad, pointed script. With more resources and an expanded run, the new "Fabulation," scheduled for performances on August 31, September 1, 2, 7, 8 and 9, should be even better.

"Fabulation" involves one Undine (birth name: Sharona) who has chucked every connection to her old life in the projects as she climbed the ladder to success. But now the Fates (and a cheating, stealing boyfriend) have pulled the ladder out from under her, and Undine has to figure out who Sharona was before she can be a new, stronger, better Undine. She needs a re-education. And life is going to hand her one whether she wants it or not.

Nottage is a Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright whose work is smart, stylish, emotionally grounded, psychologically rich and quite powerful. Her plays leave an indelible mark on your psyche, and you'll be thinking about the issues she raises -- love, romance, self-worth, ambition, identity -- long after you leave the theater.

Hicks says he is looking for 4 men and 5 women to play roles ranging from Undine herself to various family members and people Undine meets along her route from hot-shot PR woman to out-of-work and out-of-luck nobody. That includes inmates, support group folks, co-workers, lowly bureaucrats, rappers, doctors, judges, and Undine's wily, heroin-addicted grandma.

Hicks plans a rehearsal schedule that will begin on June 18th at 6 pm with a tour of the new YWCA facility, two nights of read-throughs, and the beginnings of character work. After two nights to get acclimated, he will begin rehearsal schedule five nights a week starting June 25th.

For more information, click here or here for the "Fabulation" audition pages on Facebook.

Opening Tonight: Tracy Letts' "Superior Donuts" at Heartland Theatre

Tracy Letts hit it big with "August: Osage County," a scorching play about family bonds and family destruction that earned him the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. He has been a member of Chicago's Steppenwolf ensemble since 2002, appearing as an actor there in a range of plays from "Glengarry Glen Ross" to "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" But "Superior Donuts," which opened at Steppenwolf in 2008 before transferring to Broadway, is the first play Letts has written set in his adopted hometown.

Everything about "Superior Donuts" says Chicago. There's a Polish-American guy from Jefferson Park who owns a doughnut shop in Uptown, and his store is frequented by a streetwise kid whose mom works in the cafeteria at Senn, an Irish-American cop, a gambler from Bridgeport, and a Russian immigrant from down the street who owns an electronics store. It has a real neighborhood feel, focusing on the kind of family-owned business that has always been a mainstay in Chicago but is disappearing in the wake of Starbucks and Krispy Kreme on every corner. If nothing else, "Superior Donuts" serves as a comment on and commemoration of a distinctive Chicago way of life, marked in time before it's gone completely.

Heartland Theatre Company and director Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson bring "Superior Donuts" and its Chicago stylings to Normal beginning tonight, with performances running through April 29. You can see the complete list of performances here if you're interested in choosing a night that suits your schedule. Reservations are strongly encouraged, except for opening night, which is a special Pay-What-You-Can preview performance where no reservations are accepted.

What's great about "Superior Donuts" is its heart. That may seem odd coming from the guy who wrote "Bug" and "Killer Joe," but friendship and camaraderie, forming a family unit from people of different ages and backgrounds, is what "Superior Donuts" is all about.

In Heartland's production, Michael Pullin plays Arthur Przybyszewski (it's pronounced Shu-ber-shev-ski), the world-weary man inside the doughnut shop, while Gregory D. Hicks takes on the role of Franco Wicks, an energetic black kid who needs a job and gets his foot in the door in Arthur's store.

Pullin has been seen many times on area stages, most recently as a wealthy stamp collector (and the polar opposite of Arthur Przybyszewski) in "Mauritius." He is also Heartland Theatre's resident scenic designer, and, yes, he did the "superior" set you'll see in "Superior Donuts."

Hicks is active with New Route Theatre and ISU's Black Actors Guild, where he coordinated and appeared in "The Mystical Willie Lynch" last month, and he appeared in Heartland Theatre's "Three for the Show" and 10-Minute Play Festival in 2010.

The supporting cast includes Heartland board president Todd Wineburner, who was seen to such good effect in Deborah Zoe Laufer's "Sirens" at Heartland last fall, and Clark Abraham, who did excellent work in Joel Drake Johnson's "The End of the Tour" last spring. Wineburner plays Max, the friendly (and ambitious) Russian from down the street, while Abraham portrays Luther Flynn, a scary bookie who doesn't look kindly on people who owe him money.

They are aided by Cathy Sutliff and Marcus Smith as a pair of beat cops who keep coming back to Superior Donuts, Holly Klass as a slightly dotty bag lady who thinks of the place as her own, and Aric Rattan and Jay Hartzler as two different kinds of muscle.

"Superior Donuts" is at times funny, profane, sweet, profound and affecting. It fits perfectly within Heartland Theatre's commitment to offer theater that means something, that touches the human heart and expounds on the human condition. You may leave yearning for doughnuts or for old school neighborhood stores, but you will also find a fulfilling dramatic experience.

SUPERIOR DONUTS
By Tracy Letts

Heartland Theatre Company

Director: Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson
Scenic Designer: Michael Pullin
Lighting Designer: Jesse Folks
Costume Designer: Lauren Lowell
Fight Choreographer: Tony Pellegrino
Stage Manager: Rachel Krein

Cast: Clark Abraham, Jay Hartzler, Gregory D. Hicks, Holly Klass, Michael Pullin, Aric Rattan, Marcus Smith, Cathy Sutliff, Todd Wineburner.

Running time: 2:20, including one 10-minute intermission

Performances: April 12-14, 19-21 and 26-28 at 7:30 pm and April 15, 22 and 29 at 2 pm.

Box office: http://heartlandtheatre.org/boxoffice.html or call 309-452-8709

New Route Examines the "Willie Lynch" Phenomenon

New Route Theatre is back with a "One Shot Deal" at the Herb Eaton Gallery. This time, New Route is reprising "The Mystical Willie Lynch: A Musical, Poetic and Mental Exploration," which appeared last month in two quick performances at ISU's Milner Library.

Here's what I wrote about the show by way of introduction to its previous performances:

"Is the Willie Lynch letter real? Did somebody make it up in the 1970s as a cautionary tale or a call to arms? Does it really matter?

"Gregory Hicks, who works with the New Route Theatre and has been bringing programming to ISU under the auspices of the ISU Black Actors Guild, directs an examination of those questions in 'The Mystical Willie Lynch: A Musical, Poetic and Mental Exploration.' The cast of  'Mystical,' which includes Trace Gamache, Charlene Ifenso-Okpala, Ariele Jones, Jennifer Rusk, Don Shandrow, and Hicks himself, performed the show once last week, with another performance this Wednesday, February 29, at 7 pm in the AirPort Lounge (APL) in ISU's Centennial West building, and a third scheduled in March for New Route.

"In addition to the poems and songs performed by the ensemble, poems will be handed to the audience to read.

"So what is the Willie Lynch letter? When this letter first showed up, it told a very grim story, about one William Lynch, supposedly a prosperous plantation owner (and slave owner) from the West Indies who had been asked to speak to American slave owners in Virginia in 1712 to share his secrets for controlling slaves not just in the present, but for 'at least 300 hundred years.' Those secrets are unspeakable and horrifying, advising slave owners to divide and conquer, torture and brainwash, isolate and terrorize, in order to manage one's slaves for maximum financial gain. Like I said, horrifying.

"The authenticity of the letter has been much debated on the internet, with several scholars casting serious doubts on the letter and the 1712 speech the letter supposedly reported. If I'm reading descriptions of this new program, 'The Mystical Willie Lynch,,' correctly, Hicks and his cast are treating the 'real' Willie Lynch letter as a 'what if' proposition, not suggesting that the letter is real, but instead looking into the issues and concerns it raises even if it didn't exist in fact. 'Using a bit of theatricality,' Hicks' press materials say, 'a talented group of actors, and singers will present a poetry show. Through this performance, we begin to explore the teaching of The Mystical Willie Lynch. The works of artists such as Nikki Giovanni, Amiri Baraka (a.k.a. LeRoi Jones), Langston Hughes, Billie Holiday, Gregory D. Hicks, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Nicki Minaj, Saul Williams, Pat’s Justice, will help us explore this letter.'

"All of this, Hicks suggests, is to get at the question, 'If knowledge truly is power, what will you do with it?'"

"The Mystical Willie Lynch" will begin at 7 pm tonight at the Herb Eaton Gallery at 411 North Center Street in Bloomington. To see details and a map, visit this page. Seating is limited inside the gallery, so you are asked to RSVP on the page linked, or to email new.route.theatre@gmail.com with your information, including the number of tickets you need.

Heartland Announces Cast for Upcoming "Superior Donuts"

Tracy Letts' award-winning "Superior Donuts" is coming to Heartland Theatre in April, with Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson, associate professor at University of Illinois-Springfield, directing a cast that includes Michael Pullin, Gregory D. Hicks, Todd Wineburner, Clark Abraham, Cathy Sutliff, Marcus Smith, Holly Klass, Aric Rattan and Jay Hartzler.

The poster from Steppenwolf's "Superior Donuts"

"Superior Donuts" is a Chicago play, Letts' first set in his adopted hometown, and it premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, with Michael McKean (the Lenny half of Lenny and Squiggy from "Laverne and Shirley" and then immortalized as David St. Hubbins in "This Is Spinal Tap") and Jon Michael Hill (who stepped straight from the theater department at U of I to the Steppenwolf ensemble) in the lead roles. McKean played Arthur Przybyszewski, the owner of a neglected doughnut store in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood, while Hill created the role of Franco Wicks, a smart kid who talks his way into a job at Arthur's store. Franco has dreams of becoming the next great American poet, but he's got some bad decisions and bad connections from the past that are standing in the way. Both Arthur and Franco need to overcome the past in order to have a future, whether that future involves doughnuts or not.

The play's themes of personal growth, connection and redemption are universal, and they fit nicely within Heartland's missions "to explore the human condition through the art of theatre" and to call "attention to the experience of being human and the shared pain, joy, sorrow and celebration that it entails." There is pain, joy, sorrow and yes, even a celebration in "Superior Donuts."

For Heartland, Michael Pullin, just seen as Sterling, the ruthless stamp collector, in "Mauritius," will play Arthur, while Gregory D. Hicks, who has recently performed in "The Women of Lockerbie" at ISU and "The Mystical Willie Lynch" with ISU's Black Actors Guild, will take on the role of Franco.

Todd Wineburner, who last appeared at Heartland in Deborah Zoe Laufer's "Sirens" in November, is slated to play Max Tarasov, the friendly (and ambitious) Russian down the street, with Clark Abraham, seen in Joel Drake Johnson's "The End of the Tour" last spring, as Luther, the loan shark who has no compunctions about keeping his minions in line, with whatever means necessary.

Cathy Sutliff and Marcus Smith will play the pair of cops who hang out at Arthur's shop, often running into another patron, a lady who goes by the name of Lady, played by Holly Klass. Rounding out the cast are Aric Rattan and Jay Hartzler, playing Luther's henchman and Max's nephew respectively.

"Superior Donuts" opens at Heartland on April 12, with performances through April 29. No word yet on whether they will be offering doughnuts at intermission, but we can hope!

ISU Black Actors Guild Presents "Willie Lynch" for Black History Month

Is the Willie Lynch letter real? Did somebody make it up in the 1970s as a cautionary tale or a call to arms? Does it really matter?

Gregory Hicks, who works with the New Route Theatre and has been bringing programming to ISU under the auspices of the ISU Black Actors Guild, directs an examination of those questions in "The Mystical Willie Lynch: A Musical, Poetic and Mental Exploration." The cast of "Mystical," which includes Trace Gamache, Charlene Ifenso-Okpala, Ariele Jones, Jennifer Rusk, Don Shandrow, and Hicks himself, performed the show once last week, with another performance this Wednesday, February 29, at 7 pm in the AirPort Lounge (APL) in ISU's Centennial West building, and a third scheduled in March for New Route.

In addition to the poems and songs performed by the ensemble, poems will be handed to the audience to read.

So what is the Willie Lynch letter? When this letter first showed up, it told a very grim story, about one William Lynch, supposedly a prosperous plantation owner (and slave owner) from the West Indies who had been asked to speak to American slave owners in Virginia in 1712 to share his secrets for controlling slaves not just in the present, but for "at least 300 hundred years." Those secrets are unspeakable and horrifying, advising slave owners to divide and conquer, torture and brainwash, isolate and terrorize, in order to manage one's slaves for maximum financial gain. Like I said, horrifying.

The authenticity of the letter has been much debated on the internet, with several scholars casting serious doubts on the letter and the 1712 speech the letter supposedly reported. If I'm reading descriptions of this new program, "The Mystical Willie Lynch," correctly, Hicks and his cast are treating the "real" Willie Lynch letter as a "what if" proposition, not suggesting that the letter is real, but instead looking into the issues and concerns it raises even if it didn't exist in fact.

"Using a bit of theatricality," Hicks' press materials say, "a talented group of actors, and singers will present a poetry show. Through this performance, we begin to explore the teaching of The Mystical Willie Lynch. The works of artists such as Nikki Giovanni, Amiri Baraka (a.k.a. LeRoi Jones), Langston Hughes, Billie Holiday, Gregory D. Hicks, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Nicki Minaj, Saul Williams, Pat’s Justice, will help us explore this letter."

All of this, Hicks suggests, is to get at the question, "If knowledge truly is power, what will you do with it?"