Pegasus Theatre Chicago announces Gonna Be Somebody community outreach and post-performance events in support of Lifeline Theatre and Pegasus’ co- production of From the Mississippi Delta, by Dr. Endesha Ida Mae Holland and directed by ILesa Duncan. The play runs April 27 - June 18 at Lifeline Theatre, 6912 N. Glenwood Avenue. For tickets to From the Mississippi Delta, go to LifelineTheatre.com. Group sales may be obtained via boxoffice@pegasustheatrechicago.org. The events are complimentary, but reservations are required. To reserve tickets go to PegasusTheatreChicago.org or Gonna Be Somebody.
The current From the Mississippi Delta events include:
Saturday, April 8 at 4 p.m.
- From The Mississippi Delta Sneak Peek
- With Community Partner Guild Literary Complex
- Lifeline Theatre, 6912 N. Glenwood Ave.
Part of Lifeline’s season programming, join the actors, director and a member of the production team discussing the process with an excerpt from the play From the Mississippi Delta. A Q+A will follow with guest co-facilitator: Andrea Change, executive director, Guild Literary Complex
Thursday, April 13 at 6-8pm
- Writing Workshop at the Honeycomb Network
- Humboldt Park, 2659 W. Division Street
Facilitator Mojdeh Stoakley will work with participants to create pieces based on their life experience, using both poetry and prose.
Monday, April 24 at 7 p.m.
- Virtual Panel - link TBA
- Black Women and the Power of Organizing
Anne Ream (Voices & Faces Project), Anika Sterling Florez (Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation), Scheherazade Tillet (A Long Walk Home) and Brenda Myers-Powell (Dreamcatchers Foundation) will participate in the virtual panel discussion on Black women and the power of organizing in a reflection on the coalition that they created in 2021 called #ProtectBlackGirls.
Monday, May 8 at 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 7 p.m.)
- Black Feminist Poetics: From the Dirt to the Delta
- Co-produced by Guild Complex and Surviving the Mic
- Pegasus at Chicago Dramatists, 765 N. Aberdeen (theater entrance)
This program explores the poetics inspired by From the Mississippi Delta. Saunte Harden-Tate, Nikki Patin, Mojdeh Stoakley and members of the Guild Complex will perform works written by Nina Simone, Beah Richards, Gwendolyn Brooks and other Black feminist poets and then perform their own pieces written as response, resulting in a poetic conversation about and for Black women.
ABOUT FROM THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA
From the Mississippi Delta is based on Dr. Holland’s memoir of the same title as she recounts her 20-year journey from humble beginnings in Greenwood, Mississippi to achieving her Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota. Directed by Lifeline Artistic Director and Pegasus Producing Artistic Director ILesa Duncan, invites audiences to experience a story of triumph in the face of extreme adversity that expertly weaves through the trials and tribulations of Dr. Holland’s life relayed through the bodies and voices of only three actors, all in tribute to one of America’s unsung “sheroes.”
ABOUT PEGASUS THEATRE CHICAGO
Pegasus Theatre Chicago has been a mainstay in the Chicago theater community for more than four decades. Its mission is to champion new, authentic voices and produce boldly imaginative theatre primarily by and about black or other people of color. The company promotes cultural equity while celebrating diversity, inclusion and first voice and is committed to initiating important conversations through the arts with strong community engagement and socially relevant programming, including the Young Playwrights Festival for high school-age scribes, which celebrates its 36th year this season. Pegasus Theatre Chicago has received 77 Joseph Jefferson Awards since its inception.
ABOUT LIFELINE THEATRE
Celebrating its 40th season, Lifeline Theatre continues to explore, interpret, and reimagine books and other literary works to create stories that move us beyond the margins of our own lives. Lifeline Theatre – Big Stories, Up Close.
