The play is about a young gay African American college graduate from New York who takes a job with the 2008 Obama campaign. He’s fired up and ready to go — until he lands in the troubled streets of East Cleveland where he is sent to knock on doors and recruit volunteers. He sees that his experiences and privilege are a long way from those of the poor residents and that he doesn’t know how to communicate with them about their lives. Somewhere between knocking on doors, fending off cops, and questioning his own racial and sexual identity, he learns that changing society isn’t as easy as he imagined.
Performances of OBAMA-OLOGY will be June 10-25, 2023, Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes St., Evanston. Tickets for all productions in the 2023 season are $30. on sale now at http://www.fjtheatre.com or 847-866-5914. Additionally, 2023 Premium Gold Member Cards, good for all three 2023 summer and fall play productions and THE BALDWIN | GIOVANNI EXPERIENCE, are now on sale for a very limited time for only $85 – a nearly 30 percent discount off the regular season ticket prices.
Squire is a graduate of Northwestern University and the Julliard School whose plays have been produced off-Broadway in New York and in London’s West End. He was a reporter for the CHICAGO TRIBUNE and MIAMI HERALD and is the book writer for the Broadway-bound musical A WONDERFUL WORLD, a biography of Louis Armstrong that will have a pre-Broadway engagement in Chicago in October 2023. OBAMA-OLOGY, a comedy about a volunteer for Barack Obama’s first Presidential campaign, was developed in 2014 at The Juilliard School’s New Play Festival, before opening to critical acclaim in London’s West End at the Finborough Theatre and then the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre Associate Artistic Director Bria Walker will direct the production, which will play June 10-25, 2023.
Walker’s cast will include David Guiden (he/him/his), who has worked with the Chicago companies Lifeline Theatre, UrbanTheater Company, Victory Gardens, and eta Creative Arts Foundation, and was the recipient of a Black Theatre Alliance Award for Most Promising Actor; Tuesdai B. Perry (she/her/hers), of FJT’s HOME, CROWNS, and THE NUTCRACKER(ISH); Chris Jensen (he/him/his), who appeared in Glass Apple Theatre’s DRACULA in 2022; and recent transplant from New York Em DeMaio (she/her/hers).
COMING LATER IN THE 2023 SEASON
THE LIGHT
By Loy A. Webb
Directed by Tim Rhoze
August 5-20, 2023
Saturdays at 7 pm, Sundays at 3 pm
Press opening Sunday, August 6 at 3 pm
Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center
927 Noyes Ave., Evanston
Tickets $30.00 — For a limited time use the code: FJT2023 when purchasing tickets online for a $10.00 discount per ticket.
Tickets on sale now at http://www.fjtheatre.com; Phone 847-866-5914
Not every marriage proposal goes as planned. Loy A. Webb’s THE LIGHT introduces us to Rashad and Genesis on what should be one of the happiest days of their lives, but their joy quickly unravels when ground-shifting accusations from the past resurface in this gripping two-character drama.
THE BALDWIN | GIOVANNI EXPERIENCE
Written by Tim Rhoze and Bria Walker
Directed by Tim Rhoze
Limited run – September 2-3, 2023
Saturday, September 1 at 7 pm, Sunday, September 2 at 3 pm
Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center
927 Noyes Ave., Evanston
Tickets $30.00 — For a limited time use the code: FJT2023 when purchasing tickets online for a $10.00 discount per ticket.
Tickets on sale now at http://www.fjtheatre.com; Phone 847-866-5914
The dynamic poeticism of Spoken Word and the piercing directness of Prose is at the forefront of this momentous theatrical experience inspired by the 1971 broadcast conversation between authors James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni. Infused with originally composed music, choreography, and mural artwork, this will be an intellectual, spiritual, and artistic journey of a lifetime.
THIS BITTER EARTH
by Harrison David Rivers
Directed by Tim Rhoze
October 28 — November 12, 2023
Saturdays at 7 pm, Sundays at 3 pm
Press opening Sunday, October 29 at 3 pm
Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center
927 Noyes Ave., Evanston
Tickets $30.00 — For a limited time use the code: FJT2023 when purchasing tickets online for a $10.00 discount per ticket.