Congo Square Theatre Company, one of the nation’s premier African American theatres, is thrilled to announce Charlique C. Rolle as its new managing director, effective immediately. Rolle steps into the leadership role on the heels of the company’s successful production of Douglas Turner Ward’s satirical fantasy Day of Absence, which closed performances early due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This month, Congo Square also launches its new Industry Training Institute, designed for working and aspiring theatre artists. Congo Square’s Ensemble Members and Artistic Associates will lead one- and two-day online Zoom workshops on topics including acting, auditioning, directing, design and writing. To register and for more information, visit www.congosquaretheatre.org.
Congo Square’s full 2020-2021 Season of programming will be announced in the coming weeks.
"I am so excited to be a part of the Congo Square Theatre family, an organization of pure Black excellence and a needed voice in such a time as this,” said Managing Director Charlique C. Rolle. “We are deeply committed to ensuring that Black stories are clearly and unapologetically heard through authentic Black lenses, that Black art continues to be created with excellence and embedded into the cultural landscape, and that Black communities are given space to heal and find freedom and unity through our work. To work with such a profound group of artists, staff and board members is truly a privilege, and I'm very excited to serve Congo Square and the entire Chicago arts community through our work."
Charlique C. Rolle is an arts administrator, performing artist and choreographer. Over the years she has filled a variety of management roles including Business Manager at Inaside Chicago Dance, Performing Arts Director at Chicago Tabernacle, and Program Director at Chicago School of Leadership. A Bahamas native, Rolle moved to Chicago in 2012 to continue her pursuit of supporting arts-based organizations administratively, teaching, and creating performance-based work professionally. Her work has been featured nationally and internationally. Rolle graduated Summa Cum Laude from Missouri Valley College with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance, with minors in Business and Theatre. She has a Master of Arts in Ministry Leadership from Moody Theological Seminary and is currently completing a Master of Business Administration at Concordia University Chicago. Rolle is passionate about seeing the arts thrive and about developing artists. Her personal mission is to build, equip, and develop artists to walk in the fullness of their crafts, to create works that catalyze healing, freedom, and transformation, and to provide resources and structure for artists and organizations that will breed creative freedom, sustainability and longevity.
Congo Square’s new Industry Training Institute kicks off later this month, presenting one- and two-day online Zoom workshops led by the theatre’s Ensemble Members and Artistic Associates. The monthly workshops will run through June 2021, covering topics including acting, auditioning, directing, design and writing. Upcoming courses include:
· August: Master the Art of Self-Tape with Tracey N. Bonner
Date: Monday, Aug. 24 & Wednesday, Aug. 26 from 1-3:30 p.m. CST
Class Description: This workshop will equip the actor to prepare to audition from anywhere. The actor will learn the proper framing, eye-line, and delivery for a Film/TV audition. This workshop is a quick way to make your self-tapes more engaging.
Registration: $100 for the two-day course; visit www.congosquaretheatre.org
· September: The Business of Acting with Javon Johnson
Date: Monday, Sept. 21 from 5-9 p.m. CST
Class Description: This class will equip the actor on how to be their own business. You will learn the things they just don’t tell you once you get into the professional world like how to secure representation, how to establish a strong relationship with your agent/manager, how to maintain strong relationships with casting directors, and how to make yourself more marketable by utilizing social media.
Registration: $100; visit www.congosquaretheatre.org
· October: Audition for the Stage and General Audition Technique/Shakespeare Monologues with Ann Joseph-Douglas
Date: Monday, Oct. 26 & Wednesday, Oct. 28 from 6-8 p.m. CST
Class Description: This Acting class is dedicated to artists looking to strengthen their theatre audition techniques. The actor will learn how to deepen their audition process in order to capture the eyes of Casting Directors. The general audition technique / Shakespeare monologue portion of the course is designed to help actors who are preparing to audition for an individual BFA or MFA Conservatory Program, URTA Auditions, or General theatre auditions. Using Shakespeare monologues, the actor will get coaching and preparation techniques to help them for that next-level audition.
Registration: $100 for the two-day course; visit www.congosquaretheatre.org
About Congo Square Theatre Company
Congo Square Theatre Company (Congo Square) is an ensemble dedicated to artistic excellence. By producing definitive and transformative theatre spawned from the African Diaspora, as well as other world cultures, Congo Square seeks to establish itself as an institution of multicultural theatre. Congo Square is one of only two African American Actors’ Equity theatre companies in Chicago. Founded in 1999, Congo Square aimed to provide a platform for black artists to perform and present classic and new work that exemplified the majesty, diversity and intersectionality of stories from the African Diaspora.
Congo Square has risen to become one of the most well-respected African American theatres in the nation. Previously mentored by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson, Congo Square would go on to cultivate talents such as playwright Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), who penned the 2006 Jeff nominated play Deep Azure, and playwright Lydia Diamond, who penned the massively successful Stick Fly, a critically acclaimed play that explores race, class, and familial friction. Stick Fly ultimately ran on Broadway and is currently being developed into a full-length series for HBO with Alicia Keys serving as a producer. Congo Square also produced the widely praised Seven Guitars, which would eventually go on to win top honors for best ensemble, best direction, and best production at the 2005 Joseph Jefferson Awards. This would earn the theatre company the distinction of being the first African American theatre company to receive such an honor.
Congo Square’s Educational Programs bring the impact of theater to young audiences. Its two outreach programs, CORE (Curriculum Objectives Residency Enrichment), and CAST (Congo After School Theatre), present and teach theater arts by providing classroom and after-school residencies that provide Teaching Artists to build upon already established Chicago Public Schools literature and art curriculums. CORE and CAST impact students and schools located in the Bronzeville, Auburn, Gresham, Douglas, and Woodlawn neighborhoods.
For more information about Congo Square Theatre Company, please call 773-296-1108 or visit www.congosquaretheatre.org.