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Director's Notes:

Never forget. There are emotionally dark alleys that we must all travel down and over time. We, unfortunately, think we have learned how to traverse this scary, relentless corridor of the uncertain and forget that it is a dangerous landscape. Behind each sunken doorway lies a now familiar story. No longer a strange obscure nightmare or tale but a factual event. The sparsely lit alley glistens with the tears of mothers and fathers of brothers and sisters of friends who have unwittingly found themselves in this real-life alley of nightmares. Shhhhhhh...don't say a word. Listen to your American Son and remember. Never forget. 

Tim Rhoze

Creative Team

Meet the Company

Martin Andrews

Scott Connor

Martin is an actor, director, and educator. In 2009, he co-founded Working Group Theatre, creating plays produced across the US. His work has received support from the New England Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, among others. As an actor, he originated roles in 14 world premiere plays and performed established plays at The Kennedy Center, Moscow Art Theatre, New Mexico Shakespeare Festival, Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, and many more. He is one of the founding team members at inquirED, an education startup that is transforming K-12 education through inquiry-based learning.

Darren Jones

Lt. John Stokes

is celebrating his 31st year as a stage, television and film actor by returning to where it all began: Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre. His recent stage credits include RICHARD III (Promethean Theatre): WELLESLEY GIRL (Compass Theatre); HAMLET (Invictus Theatre); AMERICAN SON (Beverley Arts Center); LABYRINTH (Broken Nose Theatre); KING LEAR (Redtwist Theatre); ONE 4 THE ROAD, NEVER THE MILK AND HONEY (MPAACT); CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, THE HEAVENS ARE HUNG IN BLACK (Shattered Globe Theatre Company), where he is an Artistic Associate. Television credits include THE TRIAL IN THE DELTA:: THE MURDER OF EMMETT TILL (NBC/Collaboraction): CHICAGO PD (NBC), CHICAGO FIRE (NBC). Movie credits include HYDE PARK, RUNNER, CHI-RAQ, HOOD, ROAD TO FREEDOM, MO' MONEY. He's done commercials for BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD, ANHEUSER BUSCH, STATE FARM, NORTHWESTERN MEDICINE, RIVERS CASINO, BROOKFIELD ZOO and METLIFE along with training and industrial films for CAREERBUILDER, ACCENTURE, WALGREEN'S AND SEARS AUTO CENTER. Darren is represented by Lily's Talent Agency.

Michael Manocchio

Officer Paul Larkin

Michael (he/they) has come home to Chicago after eight years on the road, performing with companies such as the Utah Shakespeare Festival, SITI Company, the American Shakespeare Center, Virginia Repertory Theatre, and the Hilberry Theatre, where they first collaborated with Tim Rhoze. In Chicago, Michael has been seen at Goodman Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Northlight Theatre, 20% Theatre Company, and the side project, where his performance in Mike and Seth earned him a Jeff Award Nomination. Michael is a graduate of Elmhurst College, holds an MFA in acting from Wayne State University, and has trained extensively with SITI Company and the Moscow Art Theatre.

Alexandria Moorman

Kendra Ellis-Connor

Alexandria makes her FTJ debut! She’s an award-winning multi-disciplinary artist and educator. Selected Chicago credits: What to Send Up When It Goes Down (Lookingglass), cullud wattah (Victory Gardens), WTSUWIGD (Congo Square, Jeff Winner: Best Ensemble Short Run), Mother of the Dark Water (MPAACT). Short films: How to Re-caulk your Tub dir. Sean Pierce (Best INTL Short, Calgary Underground), Mid 30s Martyr dir. Eliaz Rodriguez (Best Actress Short, Austin Revolution). See her DEIA work @chicagoartistguide.org. Emerson College BFA Acting graduate (Isabel Sanford award). Season three of Congo Square’s webseries Hit Em’ On The Blackside (writer/actor) begins 10/28.

Tim Rhoze

Director/Producing Artistic Director/co-Set Designer

has been the Producing Artistic Director of Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre since 2010. His directing credits include: 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, Home, 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. Tim is also the writer/director of Why Not Me? A Sammy Davis Jr. Story, and Maya’s Last Poem (both produced at FJT.) He was co-writer and director of A Home On The Lake (co-produced with the Piven Theatre Workshop.)

Evan Sposato

Technical Director/co-Set Designer

has spent the last two decades in and around the theatre as an actor, director, stage manager, technical director, and production manager. He spent eight years at the Waterville Opera House in Waterville, Maine, working both onstage and behind the scenes. During the Opera House's centennial renovation, he was the technical advisor to the building team and wrote grants totaling more than $2 million. While in Maine, Evan also served as the longtime president of the board of directors of Aqua City Actor's Theatre and worked with Bossov Ballet Theatre and Everyman Repertory Theatre. Since moving to the Chicago area, Evan has worked as the Technical Director and Production Manager at Drury Lane and has built shows for Steep, Jackalope, Rivendell, Interrobang, City Lit, New Colony (company member), and others.  When Evan isn't in a theater, he works with political campaigns on voter contact and digital outreach.

Barbara Reeder

Stage Manager

is overjoyed to be working on American Son with Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre. Barbara has worked in Chicago professional theatre for over 4 decades, most of those as a lighting designer. For seven years, Barbara traveled the world as the lighting designer for Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme and did the Diamond Jubilee tour for Frank Sinatra. Barbara currently resides in Skokie and serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts.

Cassidy Wray

Assistant Stage Manager/House Manager

is a versatile theatre artist who hails from Lancaster, PA. With experience in stage management, directing, and acting, Cassidy recently moved to the Chicago area to pursue theatre full time. Her first project in the area was working backstage on wardrobe crew for Northlight Theatre’s production of The Garbologists. Back in PA she filled many positions with professional and educational theatre companies including The Fulton Theatre, Prima Theatre, and Creative Pursuits Academy. When not working on a show, Cassidy can be found cross stitching, trying to keep her plants alive, or enjoying a new recipe.

David Goodman-Edberg

Lighting Designer

(he/him) is delighted to be working with Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre again after lighting Home. Working in the worlds of dance, theatrical, and architectural lighting design, some recent projects include Re-wire (installation by Anke Loh at FACILITY); Lights on Broadway (Grant Park Music Festival); Beowulf (Third Eye Ensemble); Two Remain (Chicago Fringe Opera); Gift:ED, Legacy Island, and Hyper (Eisenhower Dance Detroit); Imagery Portrayed (Water Street Dance Milwaukee); Legacy: Phoenix^5 (Joel Hall Dancers); The Pillowman (The Gift Theater); and American Catracho (Cerqua Rivera Dance Theater). dglxdesign.com. | Black lives matter.

Peter Clare

Sound Designer

is a multi-disciplinary theatre artist and musician newly arrived in Chicago from Milwaukee. They are delighted to be back at Fleetwood-Jourdain after designing for THE MAMALOGUES earlier this year. Select sound design and music credits include: STARLINGS by Ben Daniel Parman, Soulstice Theatre; THE DUMB WAITER, The Alchemist Theatre; THE NAUTICAL TRAGEDY OF DICK III, Quasimondo Physical Theatre; QUALITY STREET, Acacia Theatre; MEDEA, Voices Found Repertory; NATURAL SHOCKS, Third Avenue Playhouse/Next Act Theatre; THE ISLAND, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre; and ROUTES, Remy Bumppo. Love and thanks to Kelsey, Sky, Erin, Jennifer, Ben, and their family at Zao MKE.

Lynn Baber

Casting Director/Costumer

has been Casting Director for Raven Theatre and others, but currently casts exclusively for Fleetwood-Jourdain, having worked with Tim Rhoze previously on 2 or 3 seasons pre-pandemic. She was the Casting Director for the Broadway-produced, Chicago production of Be More Chill (which sadly never opened at the Apollo Theatre due to the pandemic). Currently, she is a consultant/acting coach, and works on-camera every now and then. www.lynn-baber.com She is a member of the Casting Society of America, Actors Equity and SAG/AFTRA. She also has a thriving business selling collectibles on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/str/sugarbaber

Sholo Beverly

Muralist

is a mixed media intuitive artist living on the northside of Chicago. She is a 53 year-old single mother of two that has always only prioritized her children and her art for the last twenty years. She has learned embracing her mistakes make for a better understanding of what the universe wants for her art. Her activism to right the injustices against people of color has caused her art to evolve. She is also taking her art to the streets to advocate for social changes on racism, and women's rights with the murals, painted in bright colors with hidden messages to observe and process. The mediums and techniques used are homemade inks, collage, watercolor, and the new medium of encaustic wax painting with acrylic inks. With our current situation in the world, her art has become a necessity for herself and others. There is a need for expression and discussion from POC. She is not concerned with her art work being liked by society, but she does want her work to spark an emotion to the viewer to ask the question of why when they see her art. "I Am Aware I Am Rare" is her motto, embracing being a female black artist without boundaries for expression in her creations.

Bria Walker-Rhoze

Associate Artistic Director/Dramaturg/Vocal Coach

is a multidisciplinary artist and educator based out of Pittsburgh, PA. She is currently Assistant Professor and Head of Performance and MFA Performance Pedagogy at the Univ. of Pittsburgh (Pitt). Dialect coaching credits: HOME, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (FJT); Fires in the Mirror (Pgh Public Theatre & FJT); The 39 Steps & Hair Waiting (Pitt); Selected acting credits: The Royale (St. Louis Rep & City Theatre); Fires in the Mirror, Romeo & Juliet (Pgh Public Theatre Playtime Series); The Garbologists, Pop!, Marcus or the Secret of Sweet (City Theatre); From the Mississippi Delta (Triad Stage); By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (The Rep at Point Park); Saints Tour (Bricolage Production Company). Selected directing credits: co-director Crowns (FJT); for colored girls... (SUNY New Paltz), Avenue Q (SUNY New Paltz & Pitt); Emilia (Pitt). MFA - Denver Center for the Performing Arts/National Theatre Conservatory; BFA - Wright State University. www.briawalker-rhoze.com

Scott Westerman

Fight Choreographer

directs, makes, teaches and does theatre and film in Chicago. He is an ensemble member with The Artistic Home, is represented by Gray Talent Group, and teaches for Writers Theatre and The Theatre School at DePaul University. He has twenty years of experience coordinating stage violence, he has served as Fight Captain for The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, and Lyric Opera, among others; and can be seen getting beat up by Gerard Butler in Machine Gun Preacher. Scott has an MFA in Classical Acting from The Shakespeare Theatre Company's Academy for Classical Acting.

John Olson

Press Representative

John Olson provides marketing and public relations services to a variety of theaters and arts organizations in the Chicago area. He followed a career as an account manager and media planner in Chicago and Milwaukee advertising agencies by moving into arts marketing and publicity in 2010. He worked at ComedySportz Chicago as Marketing Director and Raven Theatre as Director of Marketing and Press before founding John Olson Communications in 2017. Additionally. John has served as Associate Editor for The Sondheim Review and Chicago reviewer for TalkinBroadway.com.

Multimedia

Chicago Premiere of AMERICAN SON to be Presented at Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in October

Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre will present the Chicago premiere of AMERICAN SON, by Christopher Demos-Brown from October 29 - November 13, 2022. Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre Artistic Director Tim Rhoze will direct the drama, which had a successful run on Broadway in the 2018-19 season and was in 2019 adapted as an Emmy Award-nominated Netflix film. AMERICAN SON concerns a Florida bi-racial couple whose teenage son has disappeared and may have been arrested. The estranged parents meet up at the local police station trying to find answers, and in the process confront issues in their troubled marriage and their experiences raising a biracial son in a privileged community. Press opening is Sunday, October 30 at 3 pm at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes St., Evanston.

Leading Rhoze's cast as the mother, Kendra, will be Alexandria Moorman. Moorman will be appearing soon in the remount of Congo Square Theatre's In-Residence Jeff-nominated production OF WHAT TO SEND UP WHEN IT GOES DOWN at Lookingglass Theatre, playing September 24th through October 16. Playing Kendra's estranged husband Scott will be Martin Andrews, who has recently played Claudius in HAMLET with Nebraska Shakespeare Festival and Leontes in A WINTER'S TALE with Riverside Shakespeare Festival in Iowa City. Darren Jones, who in the past year has played Polonius in Invictus Theatre Company's HAMLET and returns to Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre, where he began his acting career and has performed in over 10 productions, has been cast as Detective Stokes. Jeff Award nominated Michael Manocchio (for 2015's MIKE AND SETH by the side project) returns to Chicago from an illustrious career in the Washington D.C. area to play Officer Larkin.

The production team for AMERICAN SON, in addition to Rhoze, who is co-set designer as well as stage director; includes Evan Sposato (Technical Director, Co-Set Designer), David Goodman-Edburg (Lighting Designer), David Goode (Sound Designer), Lynn Baber (Costume Designer), Erin-Nicole Eggers (Production Stage Manager), and Bria Walker (Dramaturg).

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 AMERICAN SON are $30.00. For a limited time use the code: FJT when purchasing tickets online for a $10.00 discount per ticket. Tickets are on sale now at www.fjtheatre.com.

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