Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Court Theatre series takes audiences on a tour through 100 years of Black theater

wbez.org · 5dShare

When Ron “OJ” Parson thinks about the past century of Black arts, he can’t help but zero in on one genre: theater. The resident artist of the University of Chicago’s Court Theatre, Parson had an idea about a decade ago alongside his friend, the Chicago-based director Chuck Smith. Both Parson and Smith have a reputation for being former collaborators of the legendary playwright August Wilson. Parson is on the cusp of directing all 10 plays of Wilson’s famed “American Century Cycle,” a set of 10 ambitious works that dramatize the lives of Black Americans in different decades, with a 2027 production of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.” “Chuck Smith said he was going to do an August Wilson reading series,” said Parson. “I thought we should do something like that at Court, but from a different angle. We'll do the Black Theater movement.” That idea led to the Spotlight Series, which has highlighted Black playwrights both historic and contemporary in its decade of existence. Parson, who studied t

First report: Court Theatre series takes audiences on a tour through 100 years of Black theater — suntimes.com, 5d