Chicago’s Congo Square Theatre Company, one of the nation’s premier African American theatres, kicks off Juneteenth weekend with a celebration of all things Black, beautiful and bodacious! Blackity, Black, Black, Congo Square’s 2023 Homecoming Benefit, takes place Thursday, June 15 from 6:00 – 10:00 p.m. at LM Studios, 808 S. Michigan Ave.
Congo Square’s annual Homecoming Benefit celebrates the beauty of Black art, Black culture, and Black community. Hosted by WTTW’s Angel Idowu, Three Chicago theater-makers will be singled out and recognized for their artistic excellence and contributions to the local theater scene: rising star actor and producer Tosin Morohunfola will receive the Emerging Artist award; award-winning actor, screenwriter, producer, and director Morocco Omari will receive the Artistic Excellence award; and legendary Chicago producer, director, and Illinois Arts Council board member Pemon Rami will be awarded the Lifetime Legacy award.
Attendees will also be invited to build community over food and drink, while enjoying live entertainment provided by multi-disciplinary artist Yaw Agyeman and DJ Rae Chardonnay filling the dance floor!
Blackity, Black, Black tickets for the public start at $250, and, thanks to Congo Square’s ongoing commitment to radical generosity, industry and community tickets are $50 (subject to availability). Thanks to the Radical Expansion Premier Sponsor, Paul and De Gray and In the Works Fund, all contributions made through May 31, 2023 will be matched dollar for dollar up to $15,000. To purchase tickets, make a donation, or become a sponsor, visit congosquaretheatre.org/homecoming
Founded in 1999, Congo Square will be celebrating its 25thAnniversary Season beginning in Fall 2023. Details about this landmark season will be announced during the Homecoming Benefit.
About the Awardees:
Tosin Morohunfola is an actor, writer, director and son of Nigerian immigrants, best known for his magnetic charm and smoldering intensity as a series regular on Run The World (STARZ). His next role is alongside David Oyelowo in the western Bass Reeves (Paramount+).
Morohunfola also has recurring roles on Julia (HBOMax), and Everything’s Trash (Freeform). Other notable TV appearances include a teleporting supervillain on Black Lightning (CW) and a heartbreaking and vulnerable queer ark on Love Is (OWN). He has also been seen on The Chi, Stumptown, NCIS, I’m Sorry, and recurring as a doctor on Chicago Med. Morohunfola stars in Amazon’s Blackbox opposite Phylicia Rashad, Always A Bridesmaid, North of the 10, and Friend Request (BET), and in Oscar-winner Kevin Willmott’s The 24th, which was nominated for a NAACP Image award. Up next, he’ll costar in the heist film 1992 with Ray Liotta and Tyrese Gibson and in a new comedy called Russ & Dru alongside Meagan Good and Terrence J.
Morohunfola earned his theatre degree at the University of Kansas, where his proudest accomplishment was founding the “Multicultural Theatre Initiative.” As Artistic Director of the MTI, he brought to life 4 of his own original plays and produced 7 others. He began his professional career in Kansas City regional theatre before moving to Chicago, where he performed in Thaddeus & Slocum at Lookingglass Theatre, Miss Bennet at Northlight Theatre, Native Son at Court Theatre and Pullman Porter Blues at The Goodman theatre. He also won the Best Supporting Actor award from the Black Theatre Alliance for his performance in Victory Gardens Theatres' The Gospel of Lovingkindness.
Also a filmmaker, Morohunfola’s festival-selected films include: Endowed, a parable about fatherhood, and On Sight, a social justice police thriller. His new feature thriller, The Pulpit is in development now. His writing and filmmaking centers on stories of empathy, awareness, belonging and seeing the human as hero in the face of institutional opposition.
Morocco Omari has taught acting in LA, Chicago, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Gaborone Botswana, Kigali Rwanda, Nairobi Kenya, Kampala Uganda, Lagos Nigeria, and Buea Cameroon.
Omari's directing credits include (Mis)Leading Man, Good Intentions, Mission Mom Possible, Make A Name and the music videos Big City, and Kanyama. Omari is the Executive Producer and writer of The Male Groupie which aired on HBO. He also produced two television pilots in Uganda: The Reporter, and Cultural Creations and is the executive producer on the Ugandan film, The Girl In The Yellow Jumper streaming on Netflix Africa and Allblk.
Omari’s acting TV/Film credits include roles in the films Wendy Williams The Movie, 21 Bridges with Chadwick Boseman; series regular roles on P- Valley, and Empire; recurring roles on 61st Street, Homeland, Chicago Fire, NCIS, and Joan of Arcadia; and guest star roles on FBI, Blue Bloods, Person of Interest, The Good Wife, Prison Break, and 24.
Omari’s theater credits include A Streetcar Named Desire, and A Time To Kill on Broadway, as well as performances at notable theatres such as Lincoln Center, Huntington, Steppenwolf, Goodman, Geffen, Denver Theatre Center, Congo Square, Pittsburgh Public, St. Louis Rep, Lookingglass, and Virginia Stage.
Pemon Rami is an author, international film producer and director, member of the Board of the Illinois Arts Council, a member of the Luminary Board of the Independent Film Alliance, former member of the Joseph Jefferson Theatre Awards committee, and former National Endowment for the Arts Program Evaluator. While in his teens Rami was cast in a reoccurring role on the weekly PBS TV series Bird of the Iron Feather: television’s first black soap opera. He also appeared in the acclaimed feature films The Spook Who Sat by The Door and Mahogany.
Rami has served as Associate Director of Theodore Ward’s South Side Center for the Performing Arts; director of the Kuumba Workshop; Artistic/Managing Director of the Lamont Zeno Theatre; Managing/Artistic Director for the Phoenix Black Theatre Troupe, and General Manager for Marla Gibbs Crossroads National Education and Entertainment Complex in Los Angeles. The first African American film casting director in Chicago, Rami provided talent for the classic feature films and television movies; Blues Brothers, Cooley High, and Uptown Saturday Night. Rami produced the feature film Of Boys and Men starring Angela Bassett and Robert Townsend and 93 Days starring Danny Glover and for which Rami was nominated for an African Academy Award and an African People’s Choice Award.
As Director of Education and Public programs for the DuSable Museum from 2011 to 2016, Rami coordinated the Interdisciplinary African and African American Studies Professional Development training for Chicago Public School as well as the Illinois Amistad Commission curriculum for the Illinois State Board of Education. In January 2020 Rami was commissioned to develop the curriculum framework for the Terra Academy for the Arts, the leading cultural center in Nigeria.
Rami received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago African American Arts Alliance and was selected an Illinois Humanities Road Scholar as well as one of the Chicago Defender’s 50 Men of Excellence. He was presented the Pan African Film Festival Visionary award and the Deloris Jordan Award for Excellence in Community Leadership from the Black Harvest Film Festival. Rami served as Keynote Speaker for the 24th Gwendolyn Brooks Black Writers’ Conference: held at Chicago State University in October 2022 and moderator for the Filmmaking in Illinois: A Transformative Medium for Local Changemaking at the One State Conference in Springfield, Illinois. His memoir When Blackness Was Golden – Observations from the Front Line launched in May 2022 and was featured during Black History Month as part of Chicago Public Library’s Voices for Justice series.
About the Host:
Angel Idowu is currently the JCS Fund of the DuPage Foundation Arts correspondent for Chicago's PBS station, Chicago Tonight. Prior, she served as a reporter and producer for CBS affiliate WJTV12 in Jackson, MS.
Idowu received her Master’s of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. This opportunity allowed her to work as an on-air reporter in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and South Africa. It was while working for the Pretoria News in South Africa that Angel was one of two American journalist that reported on the historic ruling on the death of anti-apartheid activist, Ahmed Timol.
As a current reporter and producer, Idowu believes juggling both positions on a daily basis has not only allowed her to strengthen her sense of news judgement, but is also reflective of her ability to work well under pressure amongst a team. Maintaining both roles has allowed her to best understand what is required to execute a captivating and interactive newscast.
About Congo Square Theatre Company
Congo Square Theatre Company 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 theater companies in Chicago. Founded in 1999, Congo Square aimed to provide a platform for Black artists to present works 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 theaters 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 (Marvel Studio’s 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 theater company the distinction of being the first African American theater company to receive such an honor.
Congo Square’s Community Engagement and Education programs bring the impact of theater to young audiences. Its outreach programs, CORE (Curriculum Objectives Residency Enrichment), and CAST (Congo After School Theater), 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, schools, and community organizations located on the South and West sides of Chicago.
For more information on Congo Square, visit www.congosquaretheatre.org.