Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre Artistic Director Tim Rhoze has announced his cast for the company’s upcoming production of THE LIGHT, by Chicago-based playwright Loy A. Webb. Rhoze will direct the 70-minute two-hander, which concerns a young Black couple who must contend with the revelation of a secret from the past. It will play August 5-20, 2023, at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes Street, Evanston. The press opening is Sunday, August 6 at 3:00 pm.
Jazzma Pryor (she/her), who in 2021 performed the one-woman play TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES 1992 for Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre, will play the wife, Genesis. Since then, she has appeared in STEW and RASHEEDA SPEAKING with Shattered Globe Theatre. Her Chicago credits also include roles with Irish Theatre of Chicago, Redd Opera, Promethean Theatre Ensemble, Stage Left, and The Comrades; as well as many other roles with Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre and Shattered Globe. The husband, Rashad, will be played by Rich Oliver (he/him), a recent graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University, where he played Lincoln in TOPDOG/UNDERDOG. In addition to his many credits at DePaul, he has performed with New York City’s Classical Theatre of Harlem in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (Friar Francis) and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (Snug).
Pictured above: Jazzma Pryor, Rich Oliver.
The production team for THE LIGHT, in addition to Rhoze as director, includes Evan Sposato (Set Designer, Technical Director), Lynn Baber (Costumer, Casting Director), Hannah Wein (Lighting Design), Kara Roseborough (Sound Designer, Stage Manager), Jess Patterson (Muralist), and Alexis Harris-Dyer (Assistant Stage Manager, Box Office Manager). Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre’s artistic staff includes Tim Rhoze (Producing Artistic Director), Bria Walker (Artistic Associate), and JoAnn Cromer, Rodney Greene, and Eldridge Shannon III (Honorary Artistic Associates).
THE LIGHT premiered in Chicago in 2018 in a production by The New Colony. It was subsequently produced by the MCC Theatre in New York, where it earned an Outer Critics Circle nomination for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play.
Performances will be Saturdays at 7:00 pm and Sundays at 3:00 pm, at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes St., Evanston. Tickets for all productions are $30.00 and are on sale now at www.fjtheatre.com.
LISTING INFORMATION
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 St., 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 www.fjtheatre.com
Phone 847-866-5914
LOY A. WEBB (Playwright) is a Chicago-born playwright, attorney, and theatre journalist. Her plays include THE LIGHT (MCC Theater 2018/2019, Outer Critics Circle nomination for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play; The New Colony, 2017/2018, Joseph Jefferson Award), and HIS SHADOW (16th Street Theater 2019/2020). She was an inaugural Tutterow Fellow at Chicago Dramatists, and as a theatre journalist she is a member of the Association of Women of Journalists-Chicago, a past mentor with the AWJ-Chicago/Goodman Theatre’s Cindy Bandle Young Critics Program, and a contributing theater critic for Newcity. Loy holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a J.D. from The John Marshall Law School. She is currently a writer on the AMC television series NOS4A2.
TIM RHOZE (Producing Artistic Director, Director) Tim Rhoze has been the Producing Artistic Director of Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre since 2010.His regional and FJT directing credits include: AMERICAN SON, HOME, TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES 1992, THE MEETING, FIRES IN THE MIRROR, BLACK BALLERINA (co-writer), NUTCRACKER(ISH), CROWNS, HAVING OUR SAY, FROM THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA, FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF, WOZA ALBERT!, GOING TO ST. IVES, SINGLE BLACK FEMALE, A SONG FOR CORETTA, YELLOWMAN, SWEET, LADY DAY AT EMERSON BAR & GRILL, BEAR COUNTRY, NOBODY, FENCES, PIANO LESSON, AIN'T MISBEHAVIN, K2, THE GLASS MENAGERIE, et. al. Most recently, Tim directed PASSING STRANGE for Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre. He is also the writer/director of WHY NOT ME? A SAMMY DAVIS JR. STORY, and MAYA’S LAST POEM, both produced at FJT; and BLACK BALLERINA, produced at FJT and Pittsburgh Public Theatre. He was co-writer and director of A HOME ON THE LAKE, co-produced with the Piven Theatre Workshop.
JAZZMA PRYOR (Genesis, she/her) is an ensemble member with Shattered Globe Theatre. Her Chicago credits include STEW, HANNAH AND MARTIN, and CRIME AND PUNISHMENT (Shattered Globe Theatre); TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, 1992, SUNSET BABY, and FROM THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA (Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre); DOUBT: A PARABLE (Irish Theatre of Chicago); PHILLIS: THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY (Redd Opera); INSURRECTION: HOLDING HISTORY (Stage Left Theatre); MARISOL (Promethean Theatre Ensemble); and PRELUDE TO A KISS (The Comrades). Jazzma holds a B.A. in Production Studies with a theatre concentration from Clemson University and is currently enrolled in the Master of Science in Leadership for Creative Enterprises program at Northwestern University. She is represented by Grossman & Jack Talent. Live, Laugh, Love.
RICH OLIVER (Rashad, he/him) is a recent graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul with his MFA in acting. He is an actor and writer, currently working on his first full-length play. He is originally from Miami and a graduate of Florida A&M University with an undergraduate degree in theatre performance. His Theatre School credits include TOPDOG/UNDERDOG (Lincoln), GOOD GRIEF (Papa/Zeus), HENRY IV (Westmoreland/Aaron), SWEAT (Brucie), and THE NINA VARIATIONS (Treplev). He recently understudied as Ace in Congo Square’s world premiere of HOW BLOOD GO. New York theatre credits include MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (Friar Francis) and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (Snug) with the Classical Theatre of Harlem. Rich would like to thank his family, his wife Jazmin and their growing family.
COMING UP LATER IN FLEETWOOD-JOURDAIN THEATRE'S SEASON
The third production of Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre’s 2023 season will be a special limited run of THE BALDWIN | GIOVANNI EXPERIENCE, a devised theatrical piece by Tim Rhoze and Bria Walker that reinterprets the iconic 1971 conversation between authors James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni in London, with an original musical score, choreography, and mural artwork. It will be performed twice-only, on September 2 and 3, 2023.
Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre will complete their 2023 season with THIS BITTER EARTH, by Harrison David Rivers, a St. Paul, Minnesota-based playwright whose plays have been produced by such leading companies as New York’s Roundabout Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Center, Seattle Public, TheatreWorks Hartford, and Penumbra. THIS BITTER EARTH is a drama about a gay male couple who clash over their differing attitudes toward activism. It will play October 28- November 12, 2023.
ABOUT FLEETWOOD-JOURDAIN THEATRE
Founded in 1979, Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre is a professional, award-winning theatre company that has been thrilling audiences with over three decades of unique, inspirational, and invigorating African American and African Diaspora-centered storytelling. The company has been honored with the Black Theatre Alliance/Ira Aldridge Awards. From original plays to the best of Broadway, Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre has remained committed to supplying the very best in theatre. "Umoja!! ….Working Together in Unity" is the foundation from which FJT began and continues to thrive!
It is our mission to present powerful, thought-provoking, Theatre Arts programming focused on sharing Black and African American experiences and paying homage to the African Diaspora. FJT remains committed to diversity and creative excellence. We are dedicated to providing a nurturing and creative environment for directors, playwrights, actors, set, light, and costume designers. In this positive environment, they can further develop their creative skills and share their artistic expressions. The Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre is funded by the City of Evanston and in part by the Illinois Arts Council, A State Agency.