Xtigone: Each shoe represents a life loss to gun violence

"each shoe represents a life loss to gun violence"

A letter from CDE's Executive Director and Founder about Xtigone

When the opportunity came to present Xtigone by Chicagoan, Nambi E. Kelley, about gun and gang violence in the city of Chicago, I knew we had to do it.

When I was 10 years old, my family friend, Ross Collura, a Milwaukee Police Officer, was killed in the line of duty. I saw how this destroyed the lives of those close to me. At 15, I loss my childhood friend Mike to gun violence. I remember seeing his mother crying and his shrivled up hand due to the loss of blood. I wish this was the last experience but it wasn't.

Each year, CDE works with over 4,100 kids in the Chicago area and each year a student or a family or friend of our students die from gun and gang violence. We have been teaching in the middle of the day, just to have a drive by shooting happen in front of the building.

Xtigone is about the politics and the people plagued by guns and gangs.

We have received this recent note from someone who attended last week: "Wonderful, thought-provoking performance - what I've come to expect from Chicago Danztheatre!"

On June 7th, we will be having a talk back with myself and Betty Owens, a resident of Patty Crowley Apartments of Deborah's Place, who saw the show opening weekend and said that this story is of all the kids that she knows.

We hope that you will join us this weekend or until June 14th.

Location:

Ebenezer Lutheran Church Auditorium, 1650 W. Foster at Paulina, Free street parking

Run: 8 pm, Fridays and Saturdays, 7 pm Sundays, May 15th to June 14th, 2015

Tickets: $20 Advance / $25 Door, available at Xtigone.brownpapertickets.com

More info: danztheatre.org

More about the production:

Chicago. Present Day. Xtigone's brothers have both been killed in drive-by shootings by each other's rival gangs. Xtigone's Uncle, Marcellus da Man (Mayor), calls a press conference on CNN to announce that the bodies should be buried instead of uncovering the truth of violence in the streets of the City. Will Xtigone go against her powerful Uncle and risk death by uncovering her brother's bodies? Using hip hop poetry, dance, and slick language, this re-imagining of Sophocles' Antigone tells the story of the ill-fated Xtigone and her quest for her community's truth. A potent tale of gun violence and political corruption, Xtigone, feels particularly relevant in a city that struggles everyday with the right it's moral compass. Xtigone was developed at LaMaMa's International Symposium for Playwrights under the auspices of Pulitzer Prize Winner Lynn Nottage, and was a finalist for the Kennedy Center College theatre Festival.

Playwright: Nambi E. Kelley

Director: Alexander St. John

Assistant Director: Arlicia Ketchum

Production Manager: Ashley Bowman

Executive Producer: Ellyzabeth Adler

Musical Director: Shawn Wallace

Choreography: Lisa Leszczewicz & Kylee Wellons

Fight Choreography: Barbara Charlene

Props Designer: Victoria Alvarez-Chacon

Costume Designer: Kristen P. Ahern

Set Designer: Michael Stults (Bread & Roses Productions)

Lighting Designer: Michael Goebel (Bread & Roses Productions)

Cast:

Tigs: BrittneyLove Smith

Marcellus: Lee Peters

Tea Flake: Allyce Torres

Fay: Corina Morris

Beau: Noor Hamdi

Chorus 1: Tiffany Small Henderson

Izzy: Maren Rosenberg

Chocolate Boy: Maria Jacobson

Chorus 2: Nichole Green

Old Blind Woman: Olivia Charles

Spirit: Victoria Alavarez-Chacon

Chorus 3: Matthew Webb

Le Roi: Johnathan Wallace

Ernesto: Brian Boller

Chorus 4: Amy Gorelow

E-Mem: Kevin Hope

Brace: Breon Arzell

Press comps are available: please contact Anthony Romero at [email protected] to reserve tickets.

Who is Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble?

Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble challenges, engages and inspires audiences both onstage and in the classroom, through innovative, multidisciplinary storytelling in the genre of Tanztheatre, which unites all art media and to achieve an all-embracing, radical change in humankind. As an Ensemble, we collaboratively create thought-provoking arts performances and educational outreach programs incorporating elements of theatre, music, movement, visual arts and literary text. We are dedicated to "performance with a purpose. www.danztheatre.org

Who is Nambi E. Kelley?

Nambi E. Kelley's productions span New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and internationally. Commissioned work includes projects at The Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Court Theatre, American Blues Theatre, Health Works Theatre (Chicago), and internationally with LATT Children's Theatre/Unibooks Publishing Company (South Korea), Teatri Sbagliati (Italy), and The Finger Players (Singapore). Professional Writing Affiliations include: Goodman Theatre Playwrights Unit 2011-12, Steppenwolf Theatre Company New Plays Lab Playwright-In-Residence, La MaMa Playwrights Symposium Playwright-In-Residence, Spoleto, Italy under the tutelage of Pulitzer prize winner Lynn Nottage. Special Writing Awards/Nominations include: Joyce Award Nominee 2013, Court Theatre, Black Ensemble Theatre Playwriting Award for the Black Playwrights Initiative 2009, and 3 Arts Fellowship 2009. Ms. Kelley is an ongoing guest lecturer at Lake Forest College.

Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble is funded in part by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; The Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelly Foundation,The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Mardi Gras Fund, Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation, The Boeing Company, and many wonderful individuals.

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