Simply Social: An Issue of Blood
Join Friends, Followers and Fans of Soleil's To-Dos and Tofu Chitlin' Circuit on Sunday, April 19, 2015 at Victory Gardens Theater for a special three-course Simply Social! Tickets are only $25 with Discount Code Soleil, but you can also enter to win tickets using the entry form on this page.
Here's the plan:
First Course: Pre-Performance Reception, 2pm
Join us in the lobby for a complimentary cocktail and snacks! Meet and greet other Friends/Fans/Followers and find out more about Tofu CHitlin' Circuit and its programming!
Second Course: An Issue of Blood, 3pm
It’s 1676 in Virginia – a time when class, not color, defined an American’s destiny. Historic figure and wealthy landowner Negro Mary believes a vile curse has been cast upon her family and land. But her plans to break the curse are thwarted by a secret wedding, an interracial love triangle, and a crime of passion. Can Mary cheat fate and change the course of history? Or will their lives end in division and destruction? In An Issue of Blood, Victory Gardens Ensemble playwright Marcus Gardley and Artistic Director Chay Yew (The Gospel of Lovingkindness) look to a pivotal moment in our collective past to understand how we arrived in our tumultuous present.
Third Course:
Black Lives Matter: Past, Present, And Future
Town Hall
Cries of “I can’t breathe” and #BlackLivesMatter have shed harsh light on our country’s struggle with race, discrimination, and police brutality. Systems of oppression and racial inequity date as far back as colonial America – before Ferguson, before Selma, even before slavery. What do we do with a system we’ve inherited? Join us for a performance of Marcus Gardley’s historical drama, then stick around for this crucial town hall conversation as we unearth our roots and discover new ways of moving forward.
About The Tofu Chitlin' Circuit
The Tofu Chitlin' Circuit is a theater conservatory located on the South side of Chicago. Our mission is to strengthen the connection between the artist and audience through monthly dialogues, actor training, interviews with theater practitioners and innovative performances.
About Victory Gardens Theater
Under the leadership of Artistic Director Chay Yew and Managing Director Christopher Mannelli, Victory Gardens is dedicated to artistic excellence while creating a vital, contemporary American Theater that is accessible and relevant to all people through productions of challenging new plays and musicals. With Victory Gardens’ first new Artistic Director in 34 years, the company remains committed to the development, production and support of new plays that has been the mission of the theater since its founding, continuing the vision set forth by Dennis Zacek, Marcelle McVay, and the original founders of Victory Gardens Theater.
Victory Gardens Theater is a leader in developing and producing new theatre work and cultivating an inclusive Chicago theater community. Victory Gardens’ core strengths are nurturing and producing dynamic and inspiring new plays, reflecting the diversity of our city’s and nation’s culture through engaging diverse communities, and in partnership with Chicago Public Schools, bringing art and culture to our city’s active student population.
Since its founding in 1974, the company has produced more world premieres than any other Chicago theater, a commitment recognized nationally when Victory Gardens received the 2001 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, Victory Gardens Biograph Theater includes the Zacek-McVay Theater, a state-of-the-art 259-seat mainstage and the 109-seat studio theater on the second floor, named the Richard Christiansen Theater.
In 2012, Victory Gardens appointed new Ensemble Playwrights Philip Dawkins, Marcus Gardley, Samuel D. Hunter and Tanya Saracho, for seven-year residencies. The Playwrights Ensemble Alumni includes Claudia Allen, Lonnie Carter, Steve Carter, Gloria Bond Clunie, Dean Corrin, Nilo Cruz, Joel Drake Johnson, John Logan, Nicholas Patricca, Douglas Post, James Sherman, Charles Smith, Jeffrey Sweet and Kristine Thatcher.
For more information about Victory Gardens, www.victorygardens.org. Follow Victory Gardens on Facebook at Facebook.com/victorygardens and Twitter @VictoryGardens.
