Cast And Creative Team Announced For The World Premiere Of SOMETHING HAPPENED IN OUR TOWN

Children's Theatre Company has announced the cast and creative team for the CTC commissioned world premiere production of Something Happened in Our Town, written by Cheryl L. West (Broadway's Play On!, Last Stop on Market Street, Akeelah and the Bee) and directed by Timothy Douglas (Round House, The Kennedy Center, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Great Theatre of China, and more).

The production is based on The New York Times bestselling children's book, Something Happened in Our Town: A Child's Story of Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano, PhD, ABPP, Marietta Collins, PhD, and Ann Hazzard, PhD, ABPP, which was published in 2018 by Magination Press, an imprint of the American Psychological Association. The creative team includes Scenic Designer Junghyun Georgia Lee (New York Theatre Workshop, Ma-Yi, The Public, Soho Rep, and more), Costume Designer Trevor Bowen (2021-2022 McKnight Theatre Arts Fellow; Spamtown, U.S.A., Bob Marley's Three Little Birds), Lighting Designer Alan C. Edwards (Audelco Award and Lucille Lortel Award recipient, Harry Clarke (Off-Broadway)), and Composer and Sound Designer Victor Zupanc (credited with over 300 CTC productions). The cast includes De'Anthony Jackson (Josh Perkins), Calvin Zimmerman (Malcolm Perkins), Kevin D. West (Calvin Perkins), Rajané Katurah (Bella Perkins), Lola Ronning (Emma Hartley), Autumn Ness (Sue Hartley), Dean Holt (Uncle Manny), Julia Isabel Diaz (Ms. Garcia), Zachary Bagnoli (Daniel), McKinley Fant (Sophia), Ines Rose Mojica (Ling), and Geoffrey Morrison (Omar). The full cast and creative team and bios are listed below.

Playwright Cheryl L. West states, "In a time of reckoning in our country, this work is a call to action, to facilitate the much-needed discussion about inclusion, compassion, and what it really means to be peace makers in our homes, schools, and communities. Hopefully, this story will move us one step closer to healing our racial divide."

Friendships challenged, a world changed, and two young people struggling to make sense of it together. Follow friends and neighbors, Josh and Emma, as they navigate their way through an experience beyond their control and understanding.

Josh and Emma have many questions about the tragic killing of a Black man by a White police officer. Real questions that deserve real answers. But during conversations over dinner, at bedtime, before anda??aftera??school, their families (one Black and one White) find such answers don't come easily. Layereda??witha??compassion and humor, this show invites you to walk alongside Josh and Emma asa??they confronta??uncertainty within their town and between themselves. More than just a "must see," this play will helpa??families more fully understand how their neighbors' experiences might be different than their own.

"Something Happened in Our Town accurately and respectfully mirrors the world our kids live in today," says Kristine Enderle, Editorial Director of Magination Press. "We are thrilled that Children's Theatre Company is taking the conversation further and partnered with us to produce an honest, unflinching, and authentic work. Together we hope it will empower kids to start a better pattern and actively fight for social justice and respond to the prejudices and exclusion that emerges into their community and schools."

CTC will facilitate talk backs after most performances with community, business, and non-profit leaders as well as CTC staff who's work or personal experiences intersect with racial equity. Additionally, local CBS-affiliate, WCCO has been following the process of Something Happened in Our Town, which included a family special that aired multiple times talking about race with families and experts and added resources for families and caregivers that can be accessed at wcco.com/inourtown. The television station is also producing a five-part, behind-the-scenes series on the making of Something Happened in Our Town. The episodes will air on their digital platform, CBS News Minnesota throughout February and March, 2022.

"When I was given this book, I knew immediately that it was right for us to adapt to the stage," states CTC Artistic Director, Peter C. Brosius. "This is a story that helps us see these complex issues through the eyes of children and to journey with them as they work to understand and process these events. I knew this was a story that was not only timely, but essential. We so look forward to the conversations that this play will engender and hopefully lead to a deeper insight into each other's lives and experience."

Something Happened in Our Town runs February 27-March 27, 2022 on the UnitedHealth Group Stage. Tickets can be purchased at childrenstheatre.org/town or by calling the ticket office at 612.874.0400. Ticket prices range from $15-$63. Something Happened in Our Town is proudly supported by Thomson Reuters, Wells Fargo, Beverly Grossman, and The National Endowment for the Arts.

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