The Blue Shadow opened on March 14th. Playwright Nambi Kelley, assisted by her nephew Xavier, created the play using folk tales from five different cultures and set the story in a Rogers Park classroom. (Nambi went to Field Elementary School just down the street!). The show also features extremely catchy music by composer Joe Plummer.
And there’s a book! In addition to writing the play, Nambi wrote The Blue Shadow in book form. It is illustrated by Chicago artist Kirk Anderson and is ADORABLE. Our opening day festivities included a book signing by Nambi and a folk dance class held upstairs by show choreographer Camille Kuthrell. A good time was had by all.
New faces! We have some very exciting artists who are brand new to Lifeline involved on this project. In addition to Nambi, Joe and Camille, director Ilesa Duncan is a first-timer at Lifeline. We also welcome cast members Ben Chang, Susaan Jamshidi, Miguel Nunez and Dawn Pryor, all in their first Lifeline show.
Cast member Mallory Nees was seen just a couple months ago as the Queen in Lifeline’s winter kids’ show, The Last of the Dragons, and costume designer Christine Pascual designed costumes for Praying for Sheetrock way back in 1997.
Welcome to Dana Horst, Lifeline’s new grantwriter…
Dana Horst recently received an M.B.A. in Arts Administration at the University of Cincinnati and joins us after spending part of 2009 working for the Donor’s Forum in Chicago. We are delighted to have her on our team.
Dorothy Milne
Artistic Director