Congo Square Theatre Extends WHAT TO SEND UP WHEN IT GOES SOWN Until May 7

Congo Square Theatre Company, GRAY, and Theaster Gates's Rebuild Foundation are proud to announce that the Chicago Premiere of What to Send Up When It Goes Down, by award-winning playwright Aleshea Harris, has been extended by popular demand with three additional performances at the Rebuild Foundation's Stony Island Arts Bank (6760 S. Stony Island Avenue) from April 21 through May 7, 2022. This run follows the critically acclaimed first weeks of performance at GRAY Chicago which opened March 31.

Described as a play-pageant-ritual-homegoing celebration, What to Send Up When It Goes Down responds to the gratuitous loss of Black lives and interrupts discourses that enable the ubiquity of racialized violence in our society.

What to Send Up When It Goes Down is a participatory, shapeshifting experience intent on creating space for collective catharsis, cleansing and healing. The performance unfolds as a series of vignettes which employ a variety of forms including parody, song, movement, and facilitated dialogue. Breaking the fourth wall, cast members enact the script differently in each performance as members of the audience are invited not only to behold the piece as spectators, but to become part of the current that holds the story together.

This intimate, interactive 90-minute work is co-directed by Congo Square Artistic Director Ericka Ratcliff and Ensemble member Daniel Bryant and feature Ensemble members Ronald L. Conner and Anthony Irons along with Jos N Banks, McKenzie Chinn, Victor Musoni, Alexandria Moorman, and Penelope Walker. Other creative team members include Sarah Grace Goldman (Dramaturg), Estrellita Edwell (Production/Tour Manager & Technical Director), Sydney Lynne Thomas (Set & Props Designer), Alexis Chaney (Costume/Wig/Makeup Designer), and Levert "Levi" Wilkins (Lighting Designer).

What to Send Up When It Goes Down intends to create a space for as many Black-identifying audience members as possible and was created for a Black audience, but all are welcome.

From April 21 - May 1, What to Send Up When It Goes Down will be performed as follows: Thursday and Friday evenings at 7:30 PM; Saturdays at 2:30 PM and 7:30 PM; and Sundays at 2:30 PM. The three additional performances take place Thursday-Saturday, May 5-7, at 7:30PM. To maintain the integrity of the production and intimacy of the venue, only 50 guests will be accommodated at each performance. Tickets are priced at $35.00. An equal number of tickets for each performance will be donated to members of community groups and schools. Tickets are now sale by visiting congosquaretheatre.org/whattosendup To inquire about group tickets, please contact info@congosquaretheatre.org.

Please note that all ticket holders must present proof of COVID-19 vaccination and a photo ID to enter the venues.

Aleshea Harris's Is God Is (directed by Taibi Tagar at Soho Rep and Ola Ince at the Royal Court) won the Relentless Award and an OBIE Award. What to Send Up When It Goes Down (directed by Whitney White, produced by The Movement Theatre Company, BAM, and Playwrights Horizons) was featured in the April 2019 issue of American Theatre Magazine and received a special commendation from the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Her illustrated audio play BROTHER, BROTHER (dir. Shayok Misha Chowdhury, illustrated by Ibrahim Rayintakath) premiered at NYTW in summer of 2020. Awards include the Windham-Campbell Literary Prize, Mimi Steinberg Playwriting Award, Hermitage Greenfield Prize, and the Horton Foote Playwriting Award.

Rebuild Foundation is a platform for art, cultural development, and neighborhood transformation. Its Stony Island Arts Bank is a hybrid gallery, media archive, library, community center and home for the Foundation's archives and collections. Spearheaded by artist and social innovator Theaster Gates, our projects support artists and strengthen communities by providing free arts programming, creating new cultural amenities, and developing affordable housing, studio, and live-work space. Rebuild's mission is to make art accessible by demonstrating the impact of innovative, ambitious, and entrepreneurial arts and cultural initiatives. The work is informed by three core values: Black people matter, Black spaces matter, and Black things matter. Learn more about our work at www.rebuild-foundation.org.

Inspired by the creativity of artists and the passion of collectors, GRAY is a globally recognized team of art professionals devoted to fostering the development of historically important artist careers and to building outstanding art collections. Founded in 1963, GRAY has built its reputation as a resource for Modern, Post-War, and Contemporary art with prominent private and institutional clients worldwide. Known for producing critically acclaimed exhibitions and programming from its galleries in Chicago and New York, GRAY represents a roster of internationally recognized artists such as McArthur Binion, Jim Dine, Torkwase Dyson, Theaster Gates, David Hockney, Rashid Johnson, Alex Katz, Jaume Plensa, Susan Rothenberg, and Evelyn Statsinger. For more information, visit www.richardgraygallery.com.

One of the nation's premier African American theatres, Congo Square Theatre Company, under Executive Director Charlique C. Rolle and Artistic Director Ericka Ratcliff, is an ensemble dedicated to producing transformative work rooted in the African Diaspora. We are a haven for artists of color to challenge and redefine the theatrical canon by amplifying and creating stories that reflect the reach and complexities of Black Culture. Congo Square is one of only two African American Actors' Equity theatre companies in Chicago. Founded in 1999, Congo Square aimed to provide a platform for Black artists to perform and present classic and new work that exemplified the majesty, diversity, and intersectionality of stories from the African Diaspora. Congo Square has risen to become one of the most well-respected African American theatres in the nation. Previously mentored by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson, Congo Square would go on to cultivate talents such as playwright Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), who penned the 2006 Jeff nominated play Deep Azure, and playwright Lydia Diamond, who penned the massively successful Stick Fly, a critically acclaimed play that explores race, class, and familial friction. Stick Fly ultimately ran on Broadway and is currently being developed into a full-length series for HBO with Alicia Keys serving as a producer. Congo Square also produced the widely praised Seven Guitars, which would eventually go on to win top honors for best ensemble, best direction, and best production at the 2005 Joseph Jefferson Awards. This would earn the theatre company the distinction of being the first African American theatre company to receive such an honor.

Congo Square's Educational Programs bring the impact of theater to young audiences. Its outreach programs, CORE (Curriculum Objectives Residency Enrichment), and CAST (Congo After School Theatre), present and teach theater arts by providing classroom and after-school residencies that provide Teaching Artists to build upon already established Chicago Public Schools literature and art curriculums. CORE and CAST impact students and schools located on the South and West sides of the city

For more information about Congo Square Theatre Company or its production of What to Send Up When It Goes Down, please call 773-296-1108 or visit www.congosquaretheatre.org.

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