by Shay Youngblood | May 15 -June 15
Pegasus Theatre Chicago—the recipient of seventy-seven Joseph Jefferson awards— reimagines Shay Youngblood’s story of a young black girl’s coming of age during the turbulent 1960s. As a young adult “Daughter,” recalls being raised by a community of women after the tragic loss of her mother. As her story unfolds, she transforms into a child as the women embody her memories of growing up–recalling the rituals, the healings, the stories told and the lessons learned about survival, healing, spirituality and mystery. Pegasus Artistic Director Ilesa Duncan directed this hit play most recently in 2017. The Chicago Tribune said, “…this is an optimistic play that celebrates the power of the human spirit.”See the Chicago revival of this hit play!
The Cast features: Sharyon Culberson, Caitlyn Dobbins, Stacie Doublin, Justice Ford,: Felicia McNeal, Destynee McMichaels, debrah neal. The production team includes Addoris Davis, Tanji Harper, Marquecia Jordan, Harrison Ornelas, Sheryl Williams
About the Production Team
SHAY YOUNGBLOOD (1960-2024) Georgia born writer Shay Youngblood authored novels Black Girl in Paris and Soul Kiss (Riverhead Books) and a collection of short fiction, The Big Mama Stories (Firebrand Books). She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including a Pushcart Prize for fiction, a Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, an Edward Albee honoree, several NAACP Theater Awards, an Astraea Writers’ Award for fiction and a 2004 New York Foundation for the Arts Sustained Achievement Award. Ms. Youngblood received her MFA in Creative Writing from Brown University and has taught Creative Writing to faculty and graduate students at NYU and has been Visiting Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi and Texas A&M Universities. She was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts sponsored Japan-US Creative Artist Fellowship for 2011. Born Sharon Ellen Youngblood in Columbus, Ga., in 1959, Youngblood penned novels, poetry, children’s books, and plays, creating powerful Southern Black women characters who were unapologetically self-possessed and free in ways not typically seen in women characters in general, and Black women in particular, in the U.S.
ILESA DUNCAN (Director) is the producing artistic director at Pegasus. Her recent directing work includes Native Son, From The Mississippi Delta and Middle Passage (Lifeline Theatre), Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea, and Eclipsed at Pegasus, Duncan has worked with Goodman Theatre, Writers Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, Stage Left and Chicago Dramatists, as well as Contemporary American Theatre Company (Ohio), The Alliance Theatre (Atlanta), Arena Stage (Washington DC) and Lincoln Center Theater (New York). Ilesa’s creative nonfiction short stories have been published (Columbia College Chicago), and she’s written poems and screenplays. She was a co-writer and director Rutherford’s Travels/Middle Passge, and a contributing writer on Blakk Love: Storeez of A Darker Hue , and facilitated the group writing project Portraits for the Chicago Foundation for Women.
SHAWN WALLACE (Music Director) is a keyboardist, composer and music director. He has music directed and composed for such theatres as MPAACT, Chicago Theatre Company and DanzTheatre Chicago. He has worked with luminary artists such as Common, Ice Cube, Bobby Brown, Dwele, Johnny Gill, Jon B., Bilal, Estelle, Julie Dexter, Rene Neufville, Rakim, Eric Roberson, Maggie Brown, Ugochi and Cherisse Scott. Shawn studied Music Theory and Composition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and currently serves as Musical Director for two New Thought congregations: The Emmaus Center and the Namaste Center for Spiritual Living-Chicago. Shawn has worked for several years as a Teaching Artist throughout Chicago schools teaching Record Production and Theatre Tech to youth from 6th through 12th grades. His independent film score credits include; Severed Ties (Showcase Productions/ Lions Gate Films), Puzzle Love (Storybox Productions) and Son of America (Tanskin Productions/N’Spire Entertainment INC).
TANJI HARPER (Choreographer) Tanji Harper is a choreographer and teaching artist from the South Side of Chicago. Harper was trained by the Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theater, Chicago Dance Medium, Homer Bryant, and Joel Hall, and is an alumna of The Chicago Academy of the Arts under the instruction of Anna Paskevska, Winifred Haun, Claire Bataille, Roger Turner, and Randy Duncan. After high school, she trained in both Los Angeles and New York, then started dancing for both R&B and Hip Hop mainstream music acts. Her resume includes R. Kelly, Sparkle, Do or Die, Avant, and Busta Rhymes from 1997 to 1999. After touring and performing all over the country. Harper came home and began teaching in Chicago. She landed a life-changing position that would grow her into the position of artistic director at The Happiness Club and began piloting dance programs that grew into apprenticeships through After School Matters for Chicago Public School teens aged 14-18.