Consider taking in one of the special events marking Black History Month and supporting one of the city’s most ambitious live-arts organizations by attending “Direct From Death Row—The Scottsboro Boys,” which begins a one-month run later this week at the Guild Theatre (2828 35th St. in Oak Park).
Here’s how Celebration Arts describes Mark Stein-penned play, for which Anthony D’Juan is the director and 2016 Pulitzer Prize nominee Harley White Jr. is the musical director:
“This play offers a peek into the South’s unforgettable brutal system of justice toward African Americans back in the 1930s through the tragic story of injustice the real-life Scottsboro Boys faced. And with the effects of white supremacy in policing still being experienced and felt today in our communities, our stellar cast will tell the story of the Scottsboro Boys live on stage through narrative and vaudeville in a biting satire.”
The cast consists of Brooklynn T. Solomon as Ozie, Maurice Ngakane as Clarence, Sarina Krastev as Leroy, Taylor Vaughan as Eugene, Tylre Allen as Haywood, Howie Bryant as Andy, Conrad Crump as Charlie, Naimah Moon as Olen, Maurice Cephus III as Willie and Joey Archie Jr. as Piano Man.
Showtimes are at 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 p.m. Sundays, starting this coming Friday (Feb. 10) through Sunday, March 5. Tickets are $15 to $23 and may be purchased online.
Celebration Arts’ next show is “What To Send Up When It Goes Down,” April 7–30. The play, written by Aleshea Harris, is described as “a play-pageant-ritual-homegoing celebration in response to the physical and spiritual deaths of Black people as a result of racialized violence.”
Learn more about Celebration Arts by visiting its website.
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