Lookingglass Theatre Announces Post-Show Discussions for Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting

Lookingglass Theatre Company announces a series of Community Engagement Conversations to enhance its hit production, Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting, written by Ed Schmidt and directed by Ensemble Member J. Nicole Brooks. The production is currently running through February 19, 2012 at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson.

Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting: Community Engagement Conversations are free to ticket holders and will follow select performances.

The series will include:

Game-Changers: Paul Robeson, Joe Louis, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Branch Rickey, & Jackie Robinson
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Mr. Rickey Calls A Meeting puts these five icons together in one room for one afternoon for one conversation. Who were they, and how did each of them shape their times? What men and women are today’s “game-changers”? Dr. Harvey Young, Associate Professor of Theater, Performance Studies, African-American Studies and RVTF, Northwestern University will join this panel discussion, moderated by WBEZ’s Natalie Moore.

1947 to 2012: Choices and Changes, Then and Now
Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012
To kick-off Black History Month, we feature a post-show conversation that will examine how the choices made by figures during the period of the play have shaped our present, and how the choices we make today will impact the future. The evening will be hosted by Lookingglass Junior Board members, and speakers will include Miller Green, a Freedom Rider in Mississippi in 1961 and Chuck Meyers, Senior Program Associate at Facing History and Ourselves.

The Speed of Change: Revolution or Evolution?
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Every social movement has its radicals and its reformers—those who demand “Change now!” and those who advocate a more moderate course. Is one path more successful than the other? Or are they both roots of the same tree? And where do you stand on the spectrum? WBEZ’s Alison Cuddy will moderate the evening, and Mona Noriega, Commissioner of Human Relations, City of Chicago, and Dr. Barbara Ransby, Professor of African American Studies and History at UIC and biographer of civil rights activist Ella Baker, will join the conversation.

Barrier-Breakers
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Whether it’s on the playing field, in the board room, through the glass ceiling, or elsewhere—and whether the barriers are race, gender, sexual identity, or others—the first one through the door faces particular challenges, obstacles, and unchartered territory. This post-show conversation will focus on those challenges and how they are overcome. Lookingglass Board members will host affinity groups from their companies, including Northern Trust, Sara Lee, and Motorola. The evening will be hosted by Lookingglass Board members and speakers include Phil Burgess of Phil Burgess Consulting; Connie Lindsey, the Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, Northern Trust; and Roberto Sepulveda, Manager of Diversity and Inclusion at Sara Lee.

The Rise and Demise of the Negro Leagues: What Was Lost, and At What Cost?
Sunday, February 12, 2012
The integration of baseball was a step towards full-scale integration across American culture. But it also meant the end of the Negro Leagues, a vast and vibrant baseball league dedicated to African-American players and fans otherwise excluded from America’s ballparks. How did baseball and America change when the color-barrier was finally broken? Dr. Carol Adams, President and CEO of the DuSable Museum, and Pemon Rami, Director of Educational Services, DuSable Museum, whose father played with the Negro Leagues, will join the conversation.

Who’s In The Game?: Race and Sports, Then and Now
Sunday, February 19, 2012
From Little League to the Major Leagues, the Saturday morning soccer pitch to Monday Night Football, Americans spend lots of hours and dollars playing or watching sports. How have professional sports changed since Jackie Robinson’s debut in the major leagues? How do issues of race and class play out in sports today? What are the economics of sporting events—who is playing in uniform, and who is paying to watch them? Minnie Minoso, three-time Gold Glove Winner and “Mr. Chicago White Sox,” will join the conversation, along with Bill Savage, Professor of American History at Northwestern University.

Photo: Sean Williams

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