Stage Left Theatre to Present Chicago Premiere of INSURRECTION: HOLDING HISTORY

Stage Left Theatre announces the upcoming Chicago premiere of Insurrection: Holding History, written by Robert O'Hara and directed by Wardell Julius Clark.

Insurrection: Holding History is the second production of Stage Left's 36th season. Press opening is Thursday, January 11, at 8 PM in Studio 2 at the Athenaeum Theatre Chicago, 2936 N. Southport Ave. The show runs through February 11.

Ron, a young, gay African-American graduate student, trying to complete his thesis on Nat Turner's slave rebellion, is feeling lost in his life and alienated from his family. When his 189-year-old great, great grandfather TJ takes him back in time to meet Turner in the flesh, both men find answers they never expected. The play deals with themes of racial identity and sexuality, as Ron comes to face his ancestors' history, and his own personal identity. A raucous, wrenching story, part Roots, part The Wizard of Oz, part In Living Color, and all Robert O'Hara, Insurrection: Holding History will change how you see the past, and just maybe yourself as well.

In keeping with Stage Left's theme for Season 36, Insurrection: Holding History asks "where have we been?" by reimagining the story of Nat Turner's 1831 slave rebellion through the lens of one family's ancestry and journey of self discovery. Through this comic and compelling retelling, Robert O'Hara examines how America's past continues to inform the structure of institutionalized oppression that remains an overwhelming aspect of our national DNA. The acknowledgement - or lack thereof - of this pivotal chapter in the history of the United States still looms large today. In debates over heritage, identity and ownership, specifically in regards to black culture, communities and bodies, the U.S. still struggles with, not only how to move forward, but also how to reconcile our past with our present.

Insurrection: Holding History runs Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 PM, and Sundays at 3:00 PM from 1/5/18 through 2/11/18. Tickets are $22-32 and will be available through the Athenaeum Theatre's box office either online at athenaeumtheatre.org or by calling 773-935-6875. Press opening is Thursday, January 11, at 8:00 PM. Previews are Friday 1/5, Saturday 1/6, and Wednesday 1/10 at 8:00 pm and Sunday 1/7 at 3:00 pm. Preview tickets are $20-22.

Insurrection: Holding History will be performed at Athenaeum Theatre Chicago at 2936 N. Southport Ave. in Chicago. The theater is accessible and convenient to CTA via the Belmont El (Wellington Brown Line).

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Robert O'Hara (Playwright) has recently released his Film Writing and Directing debut, The Inheritance. He received the 2010 NAACP Best Director Award for his direction of Eclipsed by Danai Guiria. He received 2010 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play for Antebellum and an OBIE Award for his Direction of the World Premiere of the critically acclaimed In The Continuum at Primary Stages. He wrote and directed the World Premiere of Insurrection: Holding History at the New York Shakespeare Festival, the piece received the Oppenheimer Award for Best New American Play and was subsequently published by both TCG and Dramatist Play Service. He Directed the World Premiere of Brother/Sister Plays (Part 2), Co-Production at McCarter Theater/ New York Shakespeare Festival. His recent Stage Directing: Tough Titty, Magic Theater. Eclipsed, CTG/Kirk Douglas Theater. A Life In The Theater, Alliance Theater. Brother Size, City Theater. His new play Etiquette of Vigilance was produced in the Steppenwolf First Look Festival 2010. ACT/Zeum recently produced his play, Good Breeding. His play, Bootycandy, under his direction, was presented at the Woolly Mammoth Theater. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at NYU/TISCH School of the Arts.

Wardell Julius Clark (Director) hails from Fairfield, Alabama.Chicago Directing Credits include Associate Director for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (Court Theatre) - Spring 2018, The One Minute Play Festival, Shola's Game (Black Lives, Black Words Chicago 2), Assistant Director for The Scottsboro Boys (Porchlight Music Theatre); Satchmo At The Waldorf and Gem Of The Ocean (Court Theatre). Chicago Acting Credits include Silent Sky (First Folio Theatre); Apartment 3a (Windy City Playhouse); Gem Of The Ocean (Court Theatre); A Raisin In The Sun (TimeLine Theatre); The Whipping Man (Northlight Theatre); We Are Proud To Present... and The Gospel According To James (Victory Gardens Theatre); Invisible Man (Court Theatre); The Beats (16th Street Theater); Ghosts Of Atwood (MPAACT), for which he received the Black Theater Alliance Denzel Washington Award for Most Promising Actor; and Topdog/Underdog (American Theater Company/Congo Square Theater). Regional credits include Othello, Macbeth, The Learned Ladies (Theater at Monmouth); The Whipping Man (Cardinal Stage); Cymbeline (Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival); Fences (Carver Theatre). TV/Film: Shameless, Chicago Fire Seasons 1 and 4, Transformers: Dark the Moon. He holds a BFA in Acting from The Theatre School, at DePaul University. He has studied at Lincoln Center in NYC with directors, actors, and visual artists in a summer intensive at the Artist Development Lab. Wardell is the Casting and Producing Associate with TimeLine Theatre Company, where he is also an Associate Artist, and serves as a teaching artist in the Living History Program, as well as a teaching artist for Victory Gardens Theatre. He is also an Associate Artist with the Black Lives, Black Words theatre collective.

The cast of Insurrection: Holding History includes Stage Left Ensemble Member David Lawrence Hamilton (Ova Sea Jones/Nat Turner), as well as Breon Arzell (Ron), Ian Martin (TJ), Shariba Rivers (Mutha/Mutha Wit), Sydney Charles (Gertha/Mistress Mo'tel/Clerk Wife), Anna Dauzvardis (Octavia/Katie Lynn), Nathaniel Andrew (Hammet), Sam Boeck (Reporter/Cop/Buck Naked), and Ayanna Bria Bakari (Izzie Mae/Clerk Son).

The production staff of Insurrection: Holding History includes Stage Left Ensemble Members Kathy Arfken (Scenic Design) and Kanomé Jones (Assistant Director), as well as Kaili Story (Lighting Design), Uriel Gomez (Costume Design), Matthew Bonham Lockdall (Sound Design), Ardarius Blakely (Technical Director), Breon Arzell (Movement Consultant), Brian Plocharczyk (Violence Design), and Jared Bellot (Dramaturg).

Founded in 1982, Stage Left Theatre inspires debate by cultivating new work and producing plays that explore political and social landscapes. Through a full subscription season and our new play development program Downstage Left, Stage Left strives to ask provocative social and political questions by producing a mix of new works, regional premieres and timeless classics. The 2017/2018 season will be Stage Left's first at the Athenaeum Theatre.

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