MAY 23 – JUNE 29, 2025

GOLDEN LEAF RAGTIME BLUES

CHICAGO PREMIERE

by Artistic Affiliate Charles Smith
directed by Ensemble member Chuck Smith

The team of the critically-acclaimed The Reclamation of Madison Hemings now brings an “Abbott & Costello” meets “Modern Family” Chicago premiere.

Pompey is an aging white vaudevillian; Jet is a Black teenager. Thrown together by circumstances beyond their control, they show us how basic needs and emotions transcend barriers of race, religion, and age. Don’t miss Ensemble member and veteran TV star Dennis Cockrum’s (“Shameless”) return to American Blues Theater.

Read Backstage Guide, Playwright Charles Smith’s note, or welcome (coming soon) from the Exec. Artistic Director.

Read our digital program (coming soon).

PERFORMANCE INFO

5627 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago 60659

Box Office: (773) 654-3103

Runs 90 minutes with no intermission
Tickets range $25-$45
Recommended for ages 14+

Read Frequently Asked Questions

Schedule:
Wednesdays: 2:00 PM (June 4 &18) & 7:30 PM (May 28 only)
Thursdays: 7:30 PM
Fridays: 7:30 PM
Saturdays: 3:00 PM (June 7, 21, 28) & 7:30 PM (except June 7 & 21)
Sundays: 2:30 PM

Photography by Michael Brosilow; Video by Stage Channel (coming soon)

BUY TICKETS

ARTISTS

CAST: Dennis Cockrum* (Pompey), James Sherman (Ollie), Dawn Bach* (Marsha), Justin Banks (J’Taurius, aka Jet)Understudies – Gary Houston* (Ollie) & Dimitri Mareno (J’Taurius, aka Jet).

PRODUCTION TEAM: Charles Smith* (playwright), Chuck Smith* (director), Shayna Patel* (scenic), Jared Gooding* (lights), Lily Walls* (costumes & wardrobe supervisor), Rick Sims* (co-sound), Warren Levon* (co-sound), Tyson Carter (properties), Wilson Cain (dramaturg), Richard Lundy* (stage manager), Michael Trudeau* (facilities manager & ME), Nate Walczyk* (production manager) Tom Daniel* (technical director), and Chris Walls (audio supervisor).

*Ensemble member or Artistic Affiliate of American Blues Theater.

CAST BIOGRAPHIES

DENNIS COCKRUM (Pompey) has been a proud Ensemble member of American Blues Theater since 1988. Shows at Blues include: Bad Moon, written by founding member Rick Cleveland; Desire Under the Elms by Eugene O’Neill; On the Waterfront by Budd Schulberg with Stan Silverman; Tobacco Road by Jack Kirkland; readings for The Commons series. BROADWAY: Frost/Nixon by Peter Morgan. REGIONAL: Dead End by Sidney Kingsley (Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles); Lincoln Park Zoo by Richard Strand (Geva Theatre, Rochester, NY); God of Isaac and Mr. 80% both by James Sherman (Victory Gardens, Chicago); Jefferson Citation recipient for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard (Court Theatre, Chicago); FILM: Uncle Buck, Code of Silence, The Package, Murder by Numbers, Desperate Measures, Extreme Movie, Glimmer Man, Downeast, Gangster Squad, Inherit the Wind, Hail Caesar! TELEVISION: Chicago Med, Malcolm in the Middle, American Dreams, Cheers, Pretty Freekin’ Scary, NCIS, Uncle Buck, Star Trek (Next Generation, Voyager, Enterprise), Firefly, King of Queens, Bookie, and seven seasons as Terry Milkovich on Shameless.

 

 

 

JAMES SHERMAN (Ollie) originally from Chicago, was a theatre student at Illinois State University in the 1970s.  He began his professional career with The Second City in Chicago and received an M.F.A. degree from Brandeis University.  Living in New York in the 1980s, James studied acting with Uta Hagen for five years and had his first professional production as a playwright. He was a founding member of the Playwrights Ensemble of the Tony Award-winning Victory Gardens Theater and had thirteen plays premiered there. He is the author of many plays including Magic Time, The God of Isaac, Beau Jest, Jest a Second!, Romance in D, From Door to Door,  Jacob and Jack, The Ben Hecht Show, and Chagall In School. James’ plays have been published and are regularly produced by theaters throughout the United States and have also been seen in Canada, Mexico, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, England, Germany, Austria, Turkey, Poland, South Africa, China, and Korea. In the summer of 2008, James wrote and directed the movie of his play, BEAU JEST, starring Lainie Kazan, Seymour Cassel, and Robyn Cohen. James currently teaches classes in Improvisation and American Comedy at DePaul University and Columbia College of Chicago He is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America. jamessherman.com

 

 

DAWN BACH (Marsha) – has been a proud Ensemble member of American Blues Theater since 1993. Dawn has appeared in numerous Blues productions over the years, including Catch-22A Stone CarverOn the Waterfront, A Lie of the Mind and Dark at the Top of the Stairs. She served as musical director/composer for Medea and wrote original music for Toys in the Attic, for which she received the After Dark Award for outstanding original music. She has hosted and narrated numerous industrial films and has appeared on the stages of Lifeline, Shakespeare Project of Chicago, Bailiwick, Next, Buffalo Theatre Ensemble, Northlight (Cowgirls, Smoke on the Mountain) and Goodman Theatre (A Christmas Carol). A long-time student of the late Mary Ann Thebus, Dawn is also a trained singer and violinist.

 

 

 

 

JUSTIN BANKS (J’Taurius, aka Jet) – is thrilled to make his premiere at the American Blues Theater. Recently, he wrote and performed in The Second City’s Bob Curry Fellowship production, The Minority Report: What Had Happened Was…, and understudied for The Second City’s Black By Popular Demand. Justin is also a former contributing writer for “The Onion.” He studied Meisner and Viewpoints at Black Box Acting Studio’s “The Academy” and is a recent graduate of Vanderbilt University. He is represented by Gray Talent Group.

 

 

 

 

Understudies – Gary Houston (Ollie) & Dimitri Mareno (J’Taurius, aka Jet)

PRODUCTION TEAM BIOGRAPHIES

CHARLES SMITH (playwright) is a proud Artistic Affiliate of American Blues Theater.  Plays include The Reclamation of Madison Hemings, Objects in the Mirror, Free Man of Color, Knock Me a Kiss, The Golden Leaf Ragtime Blues, Freefall, The Gospel According to James, Jelly Belly, Pudd’nhead Wilson, Les Trois Dumas, Denmark, Sister Carrie, The Sutherland, Black Star Line, Takunda, Cane, and City of Gold. His plays have been produced by Indiana Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, The Acting Company, People’s Light, The New Federal Theatre, Penumbra, Crossroads Theatre Company, Shakespeare & Company, Penguin Repertory Theatre, Ujima Theatre Company, The Colony Theatre, St. Louis Black Rep, Weissberger Theater Group, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Jubilee Theatre, Ensemble Theatre in Houston, Pegasus Theatre Chicago, Westcoast Black Rep., Robey Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Ensemble Theatre in Cleveland, IndependentTheatre in Adelaide, South Australia, the HBO New Writers Project, the International Children’s Theater Festival in Seattle, and The National Black Theatre Festival.

He has been commissioned by Cleveland Play House and The Acting Company, and has received multiple commissions from Victory Gardens, Indiana Rep, and Goodman. He received the 2024 Kesselring Prize for Playwriting for his play, The Price of the Ticket. Other awards include a Joseph Jefferson Award, a John W. Schmid Award, two Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards, the Illinois Arts Council Governors Award, the Joyce Award, the Cornerstone National Playwriting Award, The National Black Theatre Festival’s August Wilson Playwriting Award, Princess Grace Fellowship, the Theodore Ward National Playwriting Award, two Black Theatre Alliance Awards for New Work, the NBC New Voices Award, and numerous other AUDELCO, Jeff, NAACP, and Black Theatre Alliance award nominations.

He is an alumnus of New Dramatists, a graduate of the University of Iowa Playwrights Workshop, one of the founding members of the Playwrights Ensemble at the Tony Award-winning Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago, Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Presidential Research Scholar in the Arts and Humanities at Ohio University and has taught playwriting at Northwestern University, for the Prague Summer Program in Creative Writing in the Czech Republic, and for the Center for Dramatic Art in Groznjan, Croatia.

His plays may be obtained through Dramatic Publishing, Samuel French, Northwestern Press, Smith and Kraus, Swallow Press, and Alexander Street Press.

CHUCK SMITH (director) is a proud Ensemble member of American Blues Theater where he directed Leroi Jones’ Dutchman, Flyin’ West, & The Reclamation of Madison Hemings. He is a member of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees and is a Goodman Theatre Resident Director. He is also a resident director at the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe in Sarasota, Florida. Goodman credits include the Chicago premieres of Pullman Porter Blues; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark; Race; The Good Negro; Proof and The Story; the world premieres of By the Music of the Spheres and The Gift Horse; James Baldwin’s The Amen Corner, which transferred to Boston’s Huntington Theatre Company, where it won the Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Award for Best Direction; A Raisin in the Sun; Blues for an Alabama Sky; August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, Two Trains Running and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Objects in the Mirror, Having Our Say, Ain’t Misbehavin’ the 1993 to 1995 productions of A Christmas Carol; Crumbs From the Table of Joy; Vivisections from a Blown Mind and The Meeting.

He served as dramaturg for the Goodman’s world-premiere production of August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean. He directed the New York premiere of Knock Me a Kiss and The Hooch for the New Federal Theatre and the world premiere of Knock Me a Kiss at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater, where his other directing credits include Master Harold… and the Boys, Home, Dame Lorraine and Eden, for which he received a Jeff Award nomination.

Regionally, Mr. Smith directed Death and the King’s Horseman (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Birdie Blue (Seattle Repertory Theatre), Jitney and Gem of the Ocean (Nashville Shakespeare Festival), The Story (Milwaukee Repertory Theater), Blues for an Alabama Sky (Alabama Shakespeare Festival) and The Last Season (Robey Theatre Company). At Columbia College he was facilitator of the Theodore Ward Prize playwriting contest for 20 years and editor of the contest anthologies Seven Black Plays and Best Black Plays. He won a Chicago Emmy Award as associate producer/theatrical director for the NBC teleplay “Crime of Innocence” and was theatrical director for the Emmy-winning “Fast Break to Glory” and the Emmy-nominated “The Martin Luther King Suite”.

He was a founding member of the Chicago Theatre Company, where he served as artistic director for four seasons and directed the Jeff-nominated Suspenders and the Jeff-winning musical Po’. His directing credits include productions at Fisk University, Vanderbilt University, Roosevelt University, Eclipse Theatre, ETA, Black Ensemble Theater, Northlight Theatre, MPAACT, Congo Square Theatre Company, The New Regal Theater, Kuumba Theatre Company, Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre, Pegasus Players, the Timber Lake Playhouse in Mt. Carroll, Illinois, the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, and the University of Wisconsin in Madison. In 2019 he received an Honorary Ph.D. from his alma mater Governors State University and has received lifetime achievement awards from The African-American Arts Alliance of Chicago, the League of Chicago Theaters and the Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee. He is a 2003 inductee into the Chicago State University Gwendolyn Brooks Center’s Literary Hall of Fame and a 2001 Chicago Tribune Chicagoan of the Year. He is the proud recipient of the 1982 Paul Robeson Award and the 1997 Award of Merit presented by the Black Theater Alliance of Chicago.

SHAYNA PATEL (scenic design) is a proud Artistic Affiliate of American Blues Theater. She recently designed Misery for American Blues. Her credits include Oh The Places You’ll Glow and The Best Kept Secret: Tell Everyone! (The Second City), The Kid at The Edge of Everything (COCA) , A View From The Bridge (Shattered Globe), Last Stop on Market Street, Junie B. Jones and Dory Fantasmagory (Young People’s Theatre Chicago), Jocey Y Las Mariachis, That Must Be The Entrance To Heaven, and Sancocho (Vision Latino Theatre Company), and National Merit (Boho Theatre Company). Born in England, she later moved to Chicago for college and fell in love with the city. She holds a BA, Summa Cum Laude- Theatre Design. shaynadesigns.com

JARED GOODING (lighting design) is a proud Ensemble member of American Blues Theater. His design credits include designs for Writers Theatre, Court Theatre, Florentine Opera Company, Indiana Repertory Theatre, First Stage Theater, Depaul University, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Victory Gardens Theater, TimeLine Theatre, Bristol Riverside Theater, Madison Children’s Theater, University of Illinois Chicago Theatre, University of Indiana Northwest, Remy Bumpo Theatre, Strawdog Theatre, The Hypocrites, Definition Theatre, Windy City Playhouse, Sideshow Theatre, Jackalope Theatre, First Floor Theater, About Face Theatre, MPAACT, Pegasus Theatre, and serving as the Lighting Assistant for The Wiz Live on NBC along with Associate Designing for Lookingglass Theatre’s touring of Lookingglass Alice in Miami and Denver. He spends weekends as a professional DJ and his design work is work is featured at goodingdesigns.com.

LILY WALLS (costume design & wardrobe supervisor) is a proud Artistic Affiliate of American Blues Theater. Other Chicago companies she has worked with have included Haven (Science Fiction/Double Feature, Titus Andronicus), Midsummer Flight (Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Akvavit (Bad Girls, Rising Temperatures, Family Drama) and City Lit (Hound of the Baskervilles). She would like to thank her friends, family and community for the support and renewal they give, her husband Michael for everything, and August for being the best.

RICK SIMS (co-sound design) is a proud Artistic Affiliate of American Blues Theater. He has composed and designed sound for numerous Chicago-area theaters, including Steppenwolf Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company, American Blues Theater, Congo Square Theatre, Writers Theatre, Lifeline Theatre, Griffin Theatre, Chicago Children’s Theatre, The Hypocrites, House Theatre of Chicago, Court Theatre, American Theater Company, Victory Gardens Theater, Raven Theatre, Steep Theatre, Northlight Theatre, and About Face Theatre. His additional credits include The Getty, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Arden Theatre Company, Playwrights Horizons, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Portland Playhouse. Rick won Jeff Awards for Sound Design for Moby Dick and Hepheastus (Lookingglass Theatre Company), a Black Theatre Alliance Award for Brothers in the Dust (Congo Square Theatre), and has received several nominations for both awards. Rick also wrote the book, music, and lyrics for Hillbilly Antigone at Lookingglass Theatre Company, where he is an Artistic Associate.

WARREN LEVON (co-sound design) is a proud Ensemble member of American Blues Theater. His previous Blues credits (as an actor) include Dutchman/Transit, Waiting for Lefty, and Ripped. Warren is a sound designer and engineer years who works with various theatre companies throughout the city, including recent credits at Invictus Theatre, Pulse Theatre Company, and Oakton College.

TYSON CARTER (properties design) – coming soon!

RICHARD LUNDY (stage manager) is a proud Artistic Affiliate of American Blues Theater. Chicago credits include: American Blues Theater: It’s a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago!, The Reclamation of Madison Hemings, The Last Wide Open, Misery. Raven Theatre: Night Watch. Theater Wit: The Whistleblower. Mercury Theater: Clue. Venus Cabaret: Lady Day at Emerson’s…, Company. Timeline Theater: Paradise Blue, The Last Wife, Sunset Baby. Levin Productions: Assassination Theater. Next Theatre:16 productions including The Adding Machine: A Chamber Musical (World Premiere). Writers’ Theatre: Oh Coward!, The Maids. Famous Door: Suburban Motel, Porchlight: Meet John Doe. Also: Hypocrites, Northlight, Remains, Victory Gardens, Organic, Halstead Theatre, Wisdom Bridge. National tours: Miss Saigon (First National Company: Cameron Mackintosh). I Love Lucy Live! (David George). Regional: Olney Theatre Center: Miss You Like Hell, Oil. Also: Trinity Rep, Cleveland Playhouse, Shakespeare & Company, Folger Shakespeare. 37-year member of Actors Equity. 31-year husband of the remarkable Carmel Carroll.

MICHAEL TRUDEAU (facilities manager & ME) is a proud Ensemble member of American Blues Theater and is thrilled to be working with Blues again.  Past Blues credits include Lighting Design for Misery, Scenic/Lighting design for Stand Up If You’re Here Tonight and Technical Director for It’s a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago! (2015-2017, 2021-2024), Yankee Tavern, Little Shop of Horrors, and Side Man, among others. Outside of American Blues, he works full time at Northwestern University as the Associate Lighting and Sound Supervisor for the Wirtz Center.

NATE WALCZYK (Production Manager) is a proud Artistic Affiliate of American Blues Theater. Past shows include Misery, It’s a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago!, & The Last Wide Open (American Blues Theater), Photograph 51 (Webster University), Angels in America Pt. I & II (Repertory Theater of St. Louis), and The Steadfast Tin Soldier (Lookingglass Theatre Company). Nate is also the Lighting & Sound Technician for Northwestern University’s Wirtz Center. He is a graduate of The Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts in St. Louis, Missouri and is extremely proud of his two perfect cats, Calvin and Ponyo.

TOM DANIEL (Technical Director) is a proud Artistic Affiliate of American Blues Theater. He recently served as technical director for Misery at American Blues Theater. For Tom, there is no greater joy than to transform a two dimensional set design into a three dimension world for artists to create on. Most recent projects include Zac Efron (Token Theatre), The Cave and Road Signs at A Red Orchid. Other set builds include Attempts on Her Life (TUTA Theatre) Turret, In Quietness, Revolution, Is God Is (A Red Orchid) and Right Now (Facility Theatre) which were all Jeff Recommended/Nominated.

WILSON CAIN (Dramaturg) returns to American Blues Theater after having previously worked as the Dramaturg on Beauty’s Daughter. He’s received an ED.D and MS in written communications from National Louis University, an MFA from The Alabama Shakespeare Festival at The University of Alabama and a BFA from the Goodman School. He has worked as adjunct faculty at Columbia College Chicago, Auburn University, and Auburn University at Montgomery. As a professional actor, he has performed extensively in the Chicago, regional, and off Broadway Theatre. Wilson is a recipient of the Joseph Jefferson Award for “Outstanding Ensemble” for the production The Good Times are Killing Me. “An Awakening,” is his first published work.

GWENDOLYN WHITESIDE (Executive Artistic Director/Director) is a proud Ensemble member of American Blues Theater and has served as Executive Artistic Director since 2010. In her tenure, she created the nationally-recognized Blue Ink Playwriting Award and new work development program, implemented community service into the company’s mission in 2010, and adapted the arts education programs. She led American Blues through its reorganization in 2009 and built the operational budget from zero to $1 million. She secured the company’s first-ever operating reserve, endowment, and permanent home. Whiteside served on the National Endowment for the Arts panels and a Board member for Network of Ensemble Theaters and League of Chicago Theatres. She’s a graduate of Northwestern University (BS), The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA), and a Kellogg Executive Scholar in Nonprofit management (Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University). As a producer and director, she’s received 16 Joseph Jefferson nominations or awards. As an actress, she’s received 5 Joseph Jefferson Awards, Citations, and nominations; 2 After Dark Awards; and 1 Broadway World Chicago Award. Directing credits at American Blues: It’s a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago!; The Last Wide Open; the upcoming Always...Patsy Cline

COMING SOON!

 

 

 

COMMUNITY SERVICE

We raise awareness of other non-profit organizations’ great causes through creative collaborations. We’re proud to partner and amplify NAMI Chicago and Northwestern University’s The Family Institute. We offer complimentary tickets to Chicago Public Schools students.

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