THE LAST CADILLAC Opens Tonight at the Athenaeum

THE LAST CADILLAC began yesterday, August 28, with a press opening tonight, August 29 at 8pm, and runs at The Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N Southport in Chicago, through September 21.

The play tells the story of Isaac, a young wanderer on a quest that he doesn't fully understand. One night he breaks into an auto shop and finds himself on the wrong end of Big Daddy's shotgun, an event that will change both their lives forever. Isaac goes to work for Big Daddy to pay off his debt, and he soon discovers there's more to this garage than meets the eye. In addition to the captivating beauty of a tomboy named Sam and a potentially dangerous rival named Elijah, Isaac meets Big Daddy's friends, who might just be a group of ancient African deities in exile. A tale of gods, grease, lost cities and found heritage, The Last Cadillac is an unforgettable blend of ancient mythology and contemporary drama.

The cast includes Zach Blackwell (Two Gentlemen of Verona, Spectralia Theatre), Teresa Champion (Tell Martha Not To Moan, Athena Project), Charlee Cotton (Conjunction Mercury-Jupiter, Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Arch Harmon (Freud Skating On Thin Ice, Halcyon Theatre), Merrina Millsapp (The Flowers, About Face Theatre Company), Andrew Muwonge (The Veil, Uprooted Theatre), Jamarr Tillman (Chosen, Epic Arts), and Johnathan Wallace (Blacula: Young Black And Undead, Pegasus Players)

Reginald Edmund is a resident playwright of Chicago Dramatists, previously a 2009-2010, 2010-2011 Many Voices Fellow playwright. He was the inaugural recipient of the Kennedy Center Fellowship at Soul Mountain Retreat as well as the 2009 National Runner-up for the Lorraine Hansberry and Rosa Parks Playwriting Award, and most recently winner of an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award for his play Southbridge. He received his BFA in Theatre-Performance from Texas Southern University and his MFA in playwriting at Ohio University. Southbridge, winner of the 2013 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award and the 2013 BTAA Best New Play, was produced by Chicago Dramatists in 2013 where it demonstrated "a keen sensitivity to his characters' psyches, leaving each one multidimensional and morally uncomfortable," according to Stage And Cinema Review. His subsequent Blacula: Young Black And Undead was produced at Pegasus Players in 2013 and praised for its "sly sociological commentary" by the Chicago Tribune. Timeout called it "a creature that gets livelier as its characters become deader." Blacula was nominated for the 2014 BTAA for Best Writing.

Samuel G Roberson Jr is the Artistic Director of Congo Square Theater and a Teaching Artist for Steppenwolf For Young Adults.

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