A Small Oak Tree Runs Red

Executive Director
TaRon Patton
Artistic Director
Samuel Roberson Jr.
PRESENTS
A Small Oak
Tree Runs Red
By: Lekethia Dalcoe
WORLD PREMIERE
Director
*Harry Lennix
Costume Designer
Samantha Jones
Assistant Director
*Shanesia Davis
Lighting Design
Richard Norwood
Stage Manager
*Jessica Forella
Sound Design
Brandon Reed
Production Manager
Almedia Exum
Props Design
Christopher Neville
Scenic & Props Design
Andrei Onegin
Assistant Stage Manager/Dramaturg
Brennan Jones
*Actor’s Equity Association
Congo Square Ensemble Member
Congo Square Theatre Company (Administrative Offices)
4434 South Lake Park Avenue, Suite 105, Chicago, IL 60653
Office: 773 296-1108
www.congosquaretheatre.org
This World Premiere production is brought to you in part by:
The 2015-16 Season is graciously sponsored in part by: Target, the Joyce Foundation, Exelon, Bloomberg
Philanthropies, The Polk Bros Foundation, the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation and The MacArthur Fund for the Arts and
Culture at Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.
All shows are held at Athenaeum Theatre
2936 N. Southport, Chicago IL 60657
A Small Oak Tree Runs Red
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S U P P O R T S TA F F
Associate Artistic Director
Ericka Ratcliff
Media Associate
Stanton Long
Education Associate
Roxanna Bevel Conner
PR/Social/Marketing
Consultant
Tanya Ward
Development Associate
Tom Camacho
Graphic Designer
James Webb
Burrell Communications
Chicago Dramatists
Goodman Theatre
Actor’s Equity Association
League of Chicago Theaters
Timeline Theatre
Bean Soup Times
Urban League Metro Board
Sylvia Ewing
Vanessa Lanier
Harry Lennix
Dr. Jesse Wardlow
SPECIAL THANKS
Harry Lennix
LaRoyce Hawkins
Ken Smikle
American Theatre Wing
McGhee Williams
FRIENDS OF CONGO
Robin Beaman
Lydia Diamond
CAST LIST
Tiffany Addison.................................................................................................................................................Mary Turner
*Ronald L. Conner...................................................................................................................................... Hayes Turner
Gregory Fenner......................................................................................................................................... Sidney Johnson
Malcolm Banks ..................................................................................................................... Understudy Hayes/Sidney
Tiffany Oglesby...................................................................................................................................... Understudy Mary
*Member of Actor’s Equity Association
 Congo Square Ensemble
C O N G O S Q UA R E B OA R D O F D I R E C TO R S
Christopher Audain
Constance Brewer
Joe Carter
Brenda Casanave
Chanel Coney
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Congo Square Theatre
LaRoyce Hawkins
Sarah Dickerson-Locke
Rachael Halstuk-Mangoubi
Quincy Means
Michael Pitts
Charles Smith
Kirk Townsend
Darion Wheeler
Hugh Williams
James Wooten
C O N G O S Q UA R E E N S E M B L E M E M B E R S
*Will Sims II
* Ann Joseph
*Monifa Sims
* Aaron Todd Douglas
* TaRon Patton
*Aimee K. Bryant
* Javon Johnson
Derrick Sanders
*Anthony Irons
*Bakesta King
*Daniel Bryant
*Ericka Ratcliff
*Ronald L. Conner
*Alexis J. Rogers
*Tracey Bonner
*Allan Gilmore
*Samuel Roberson
ARTISTIC
ASSOCIATES
*Velma Austin
*Chad Boseman
*Shanesia Davis
Jaret Landon
Andrei Onegin
*Kelvin Roston, Jr.
*Edgar Sanchez
*Malkia Stampley
*Member of Actor’s Equity Association
Congo Square Theatre Company proudly salutes our 2015-2016 members, donors and patrons.
Thank you for your donations and continued support of culturally-specific theatre.
ABOUT THE PL AYRIGHT
Lakethia Dalcoe is a Houston native, residing in New York City. She holds a MA
in Theatre from Texas A&M University’s Commerce campus and a MFA in Acting
from the New school for Drama in NYC. Her recent playwriting history includes,
A Small Oak Tree Runs Red (Full-length) which has been commissioned by the
Congo Square Theatre in Chicago for its 2015-2016 Power of Her season;
directed by Tony nominated actor/director Harry Lennix, produced at the
Venus/Adonis festival (2015) in New York, and as a staged reading for The Keep
Soul Alive playwriting series at The National Black (NBT) in New York. Other
plays include: Black Bars (2014) (Full-length), Charmed Love (2013) (One-Act), Prophecy of the Sands
(2007) (Full-length) that has been produced and staged at Prairie View A&M University’s Black Box
Theatre and produced at the 2007 TETA Playfest Festival in Houston, TX and Gardenias which is
currently in the works. Some of Ms. Dalcoe’s acting credits include, RSC Julius Caesar (Company), In
the Blood (Hester), Woyzeck (Marie), Shakespeare’s Henry’s (Warwick), Tempest (Ariel), The Blacks
(Bobo) and No Exit (Estelle). All credit to God and family. Check her website out at
www.lekethiadalcoe.com
D I R E C TO R ’ S S TAT E M E N T
At its most effective level, drama works best as allegory. For those who are keenly sensitive to
the almost seismic potential of our collective disquiet in this new millennium, there has been a
noticeable and compulsive need to return to the past. In a way, the fascination that contemporary
Black American playwrights and filmmakers have demonstrated with the past is a way of balancing
a spiritual account. Theater and art in general are far more tangible ways to administer fairness than
politics or law. There has yet to be an official response to slavery and its ugly descendants. Indeed,
not so much as an apology has ever been tendered by the United States or any African government
for the immeasurable damages of slavery. The toll of this shocking and irrational callousness leaves
the mind and soul of Black America in jagged shards.
A Small Oak Tree Runs Red
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D I R E C TO R ’ S S TAT E M E N T
c o n t.
Our play tonight offers an allegorical balm for the psychic scars of the past. In a SMALL OAK TREE
RUNS RED, Ms. Dalcoe turns the balm into flesh—and newsprint. Yet it is the presence of the voice
that delivers the greatest relief. However, while both the written word and the invisible voice inform
us here, it is flesh that can uniquely remind us that even in the crushing grip of inhumanity, there is
still the possibility for laughter and tenderness, for beauty and balance.
We hope our effort is a firm nudge towards equilibrium.
— Harry Lennix
D I R E C TO R
Harry Lennix is an
accomplished film,
television, and stage actor
who currently stars as
Harold Cooper, Assistant
Director of
Counterterrorism for the
FBI on the hit NBC series
The Blacklist. Moviegoers worldwide saw him in
the Warner Brothers’ blockbuster Man of Steel as
General Swanwick, a role he recently reprised in
the hit sequel, Batman vs Superman: Dawn of
Justice. Harry also starred as Commissioner
Blades in Spike Lee’s feature, Chi-raq. Additional
upcoming films include 72 Hours, Timeless, Back
To School Mom, Stand Down Soldier, and two
films in which he both stars and Executive
Produces: Romeo & Juliet in Harlem, and The
Algerian. Past film credits include State of Play
(2009), Across the Universe (2007), the Oscar®winning Ray, (2004), Barbershop 2 (2004,) The
Matrix: Reloaded (2003), The Matrix: Revolutions
(2003) and Love and Basketball (2000). Lennix
received widespread critical acclaim and a
Golden Satellite Award as Aaron in Julie Taymor’s
Titus (1999) with Anthony Hopkins and Jessica
Lange. In 2006, Lennix starred in the Golden
Globe® nominated ABC series Commander in
Chief as Jim Gardner, the Chief of Staff to POTUS.
He also starred as political activist Adam Clayton
Powell, Jr. in Showtime’s Keep The Faith Baby
(2002) for which he won a Black Reel Award, a
Golden Satellite Award and a NAACP Image
Award® nomination. Other television credits
include recurring roles on Fox’s Dollhouse HBO’s
Little Britain, NBC’s ER, CW’s Emily Owens, M.D.,
Diagnosis Murder and the critically acclaimed 24
as Walid Al-Rezani. Lennix made his Broadway
debut in Pulitzer Prize winning playwright
August Wilson’s Tony nominated Radio Golf. He
has directed and appeared in stage productions
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Congo Square Theatre
across the country including the Northlight
Theater Company’s Permanent Collection staged
at the Greenway Arts Alliance in Los Angeles.
Under his directing consultation the play was
remounted at Los Angeles’ Kirk Douglas Theater.
He has directed the stage version of Robert
Townsend’s The Five Heartbeats, which received
three NAACP Theater Award nominations and
The Glass Menagerie for Chicago’s Steppenwolf
Theater Company. As a stage actor Lennix was
the first distinguished recipient of an Ollie Award
for his portrayal of Malcolm X at the Goodman
Theater in Chicago and two Joseph Jefferson
Citations for roles in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
and Caught in the Act. He also starred in August
Wilson’s King Hedley II at the Mark Taper Forum.
In 2001, he was part of the first American
company to be invited to the Royal Shakespeare
Company in the production of Cymbeline. Lennix
has also been extremely active in his native
Chicago community where he was an English
and music teacher before becoming an actor. In
1989, along with renowned director Chuck
Smith, he founded Legacy Productions, a
company dedicated to promoting significant
works about the African American experience.
He is also on the staff of the Goodman Theater
Co. and is an internationally recognized
Shakespeare practitioner, writing for various
theatrical and literary journals dedicated to the
Bard. Lennix is active in various civic groups, and
serves as spokesman for NOBLE, the National
Organization of Black Law Enforcement
Executives as well as being an ambassador to
the National Association of Drug Court
Professionals. He is also on the Advisory Council
for Northwestern University, his alma mater. A
Chicago native, Harry is married to Djena Graves
Lennix, a businesswoman. They reside in Los
Angeles and New York.
PROFILES
TIFFANY ADDISON
(MARY TURNER) During
this journey, Tiffany has
discovered a deep passion
for the artistic industry, as
well as a solid
commitment to educating
through the opportunities
of bringing creative concepts to life. Tiffany is
best known for the hit play Cut Flowers, Nobel
Fool Theatre directed by the late Douglas Alan
Mann; American Menu, Chicago Theatre
Company; Reality Check, MPAACT Theatre; The
Wiz, Theatre47 at the Arie Crown Theater; King
Hedley II, Congo Square Theatre; Genesis,
Definition Theatre. Movie & T.V. Credits includes:
Barbershop 2, The Break Up, Batman vs. Superman,
Chicago PD & Empire as well as a host of national
T.V. commercials and voiceovers. Tiffany is
honored and so overjoyed to once again grace
Congo Square’s stage in the premiere of “A Red
Oak Tree Runs Red” as Mary Turner. One of her
favorite quotes she lives by reads: You can’t do it,
but you are the conduit through which it will be
done.
RONALD L. CONNER
(HAYES TURNER)
Ensemble member Ronald
L. Conner is pleased to
return to his artistic home
for this production of
Small Oak Tree Runs Red.
Conner was last seen in
Congo Square’s Jeff Nominated production of
King Hedley II. Other C2 credits include: The
Colored Museum, The African Company Presents
Richard the Third, Deep Azure, and The Talented
Tenth. (2008 Black Theatre Alliance Award “Best
Actor in an Ensemble “) . Chicago credits: The
First Breeze Of Summer, Seven Guitars, and The
Piano Lesson (2009 Black Theatre Alliance Award
Best Lead Actor) at the Court Theatre. The
abridged versions of Taming of the Shrew, Romeo
and Juliet, Shakespeare’s Greatest hits, and Twelfth
Night at Chicago Shakespeare. Regional theatres
include: The St. Louis Black Rep, Geva Theatre of
Rochester, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, Olney
Theatre, Olney, Maryland and New Harmony
Theatre, New Harmony, Indiana. Television/Film:
a recurring role as Chief Chet Harper on NBC’s
Chicago PD, USA’s Sirens, ABC’s Mind Games,
The Secret Santa Santa on TLC, and The Layover.
Ron Conner is represented by Paonessa Talent.
GREGORY FENNER
(SIDNEY JOHNSON) Greg
is thrilled to make his
Congo Square debut with
this talented group of
artists. Previous credits
include Richard III (The Gift
Theatre), Love and
Information (Remy Bumppo Theatre), Native Son
(Court Theatre, u/s), The Trial of Moses Fleetwood
Walker (Black Ensemble Theatre), The Whipping
Man (New Jewish Theatre-St. Louis), Angels in
America: Parts 1&2, Six Degrees of Separation
(Stray Dog Theatre- St. Louis), and the one-man,
40 character comedy Fully Committed (Stray Dog
Theatre-St. Louis) for which he received a St.
Louis Theatre Circle Award for Best Leading
Actor in a Comedy. TV credits include Empire,
and Chicago Fire. He is currently a student in the
Second City Conservatory, and is proudly
represented by Paonessa Talent.
www.gregoryfenner.com
PRODUCTION TEA M
JESSICA FORELLA (Stage Manager) is
delighted to join the team at Congo Square
Theatre for A Small Oak Tree Runs Red. Recent
credits include: New Country (Fair Trade
Productions); Ain’t Misbehavin’, Side Show,
Sondheim on Sondheim (Porchlight Music
Theatre); Melancholy Play: a chamber musical,
Tusk Tusk,The Language Archive (Piven Theatre
Workshop); Under a Rainbow Flag, At the Flash
(Pride Films and Plays); Our City, Ourselves (A Red
Orchid Theatre); Loving Repeating, Sweet Smell of
Success (Kokandy Productions).
ALMEDIA EXUM (Production Manager) The
stories we share today will teach the children
of tomorrow about our yesterdays.” Almedia
is known for her roles in the touring children’s
show The Birmingham Children’s March and
ETA’s production of It Shoulda Been Me. In 2013
Almedia received her B.A. in Theatre and moved
back to Chicago. It didn’t take long before she
became apart of the Congo Square production
family.” Working behind the scenes is just as
fun as working on stage!”She was production
manager for Congo Square’s remount of Twisted
A Small Oak Tree Runs Red
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PRODUCTION TEA M
c o n t.
Melodies as well as props Master for What I
Learned In Paris. Whether it is on the stage or
behind the scenes Almedia enjoys bringing
stories to life.” Thanks Congo Square for letting
me be apart of bringing this story to life!”
ANDREI ONEGIN (Scenic & Props Design)
Andrei is an award winning set designer with
almost 35 years in theater, covering more than
120 productions, and has worked for such
legendary companies as Moscow Art Theater,
Kabuki and Comédie-Française. He received
his MFA in 1992 from The Moscow Art Theater
School with a concentration on set design,
engineering and production. Andrei has
been successfully designing and fabricating
as a general contractor, developer, scene
shop foreman and project manager in the
Chicagoland since 1998. With Congo Square
Theatre Company, where he is resident set
designer and Artistic Associate, Andrei has
created design for The Colored Museum, The
Nativity, Brothers of the Dust, Bulrusher, The Fall
of Heaven, King Hedley II, Twisted Melodies and
the current production of What I Learned in
Paris. Andrei has been nominated and has won
multiple awards for his set design with Congo
Square, including: 2011 BTA Award nominee for
Best Set Design for Brothers of the Dust; 2013
& 2014 Equity Wing Jeff Award nominee for
Best Midsize Set Design for Bulrusher and King
Hedley II ; 2013 & 2014 Black Excellence Award
winner for Outstanding Technical Support (set) ,
2013, 2014 and 2015 BTA Award winner for Best
Set Design; 2014 Non-Equity Wing Jeff Award
RECIPIENT for best set design.
SAMANTHA C. JONES (Costume Designer) is
excited to be returning to Congo Square Theatre
for this powerful production. Primarily a Chicago
based designer, her work has been seen at
American Theatre Company, Victory Gardens
Theatre, Baliwick Chicago,TimeLine Theatre
Company, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Next
Theatre, American Blues Theatre, Jackalope
Theatre and others. Regionally her she has
worked with Triad Stage, Arkansas Shakespeare
Festival, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Peninsula
Players Theatre, plus some more. Her work
can currently be seen in Jackalope Theatre’s
world premiere Prowess, Lookingglass Theatre
Company’s world premiereThaddeus & Slocum
and American Theatre Company’s Xanadu.
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Congo Square Theatre
RICHARD NORWOOD (Light Designer) Past
designs for Congo Square are Twisted Melodies,
and King Hedley II. Other recent designs include
In the Time of Butterflies for Teatro Vista, Hershey
Felder as Irving Berlin, Jamaica Farewell andLouis
and Keely ‘Live’ at the Sahara for Hershey Felder
Presents at the Royal George Theatre. Richard is
the resident light designer for Trap Door Theatre,
recent designs there include How to Explain the
History of Communism to Mental Patients, and
The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls. Richard is
the production manager for the theatre at the
Museum of Contemporary Art.
BRANDON REED (Sound Designer) is a Chicago
based designer. Recent designs include include
In The Time Of The Butterflies (Teatro Vista),
Adding Machine: A Musical (The Hypocrites),
Jerusalem and Vices & Virtues (Profiles), and
Alaska (The Burrorwers). Regionally he has
designed Our Town, Afterlove (workshop),
and The Engine Of Our Ruin (workshop) with
Chautauqua Theater Company (NY) where he
served as the sound design fellow for their
2015 season. He also recently completed the
Steppenwolf apprenticeship for their 2014-2015
season. He received his undergraduate degree
from Ball State University and will be attending
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
in the fall to begin his pursuit for an MFA in
Sound Design. You can keep up with his work at
brandonreedsounddesign.com.
CHRISTOPHER NEVILLE (Props Designer) is
excited to be working with Congo Square on
this production. Christopher is a proud Artistic
Affiliate at American Blues Theater Company
where he has previously designed properties
on Little Shop of Horrors, Side Man, Yankee
Tavern, and his Blues costume design credits
include Looking Over the President’s Shoulder,
It’s A Wonderful Life, and The Rainmaker. He has
designed properties for Northlight Theater,
Side Show Theatre Company, Haven Theater
Company, Congo Square, and Griffin Theater
Company. His assistant design work includes
The Who’s Tommy (The Paramount in Aurora, IL),
Moby Dick (Lookingglass Theater), and he has
served as an artisan at both theaters for the past
several years. He also pursues costume design
and is a freelance yoga instructor. He trained
at Peninsula Players Theatre as a production
intern and received his BFA in Theatre Design
PRODUCTION TEA M
c o n t.
& Technology from Oakland University in
Rochester, MI. www.cjnevilledesigns.com
SHANESIA DAVIS (Assistant Director) Her most
recent regional theatre includes Queen Margret
in Richard III at the Gift Theatre (Co-production
with Steppenwolf ) and reviving her role as “Evy”
in Immediate Family at the Mark Taper Forum in
Los Angeles. Other theatre credits include the
groundbreaking, Jeff-nominated production
of Native Son at the Court Theatre with the
American Blues Theatre. Regional credits
include: Steppenwolf, The Goodman, About
Face, Northlight, San Diego Rep, CenterStage
Baltimore, Kansas City Rep, Penumbra and South
Coast Rep. where she garnered an NAACP image
award nod for Intimate Apparel. She has received
several Jeff nominations including Best Actress.
Recently, she appeared on the Congo Square
stage as Evie in Pearl Cleage’s What I Learned
in Paris. Ms. Davis may be best known for her
co-starring role on the CBS drama Early Edition
as Marissa. Other television includes Cleveland
Abduction (2015) Lifetime, and the FOX series
Empire (2015), Crisis, Chicago Fire and Detroit 187,
Chicago Hope, Missing Persons, Making a Case for
Murder: The Howard Beach Story, among others.
Some feature and indy film credits: Consumed
(2015), Damaged Goods, The Weatherman,
Uncle Nino, Chicago Cab, and others including
the Cannes Film Festival celebrated short film,
Morning Due. Voiceover credits include: political
campaigns, Kmart, Sears, McDonalds, All State,
Charmin, Illinois Lottery, and Pampers among
others. Commercial credits include: USPS,
Kmart, Chevy, McDonalds among others. She is
writer and producer of “WiSh I had A BOx” about
HIV in the black women community, currently in
pre-production, and owner of Walk In Faith (WiF)
floor mats. Ms. Davis is a private acting/public
speaking coach and adjunct Faculty at School
of Theatre& Music: UIC and The Theatre School:
DePaul University.
2 015 - 2 016 D O N O R S
The Parti ($2,500
and above)
Christopher Audain
Constance Brewer
Joseph Carter
Chanel Coney
Les Coney
Rachael Halstuk
Mangoubi
LaRoyce Hawkins
The Krewe ($1,000
to $2,499)
Jeanette Adams
Barbara Bowles
Cheryl Lynn Bruce
Sylvia Ewing
Denise Gardner
Brenda Robinson
Perika Sampson
Charles Smith
Kirkland Townsend
Walter Family
Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. James
Wooten
Norman Kapland
Michael Pitts
Sara Dickerson
Locke
Martin Nesbitt
Hugh Williams
Harry Lennix
Nicholas Scodo
The Partisans (up to
$999)
Jacqueline Anderson
Angela Ashley
Robert Barclay
Robin Beaman
Debbie R. Beauchamp
Kathleen Bethel
Yannick Boccovi
Kamal Bolden
Gerry Berad
Les Bond
Aimee Bryant
Gloria Clunie
Shirley Bomar-Cole
Alice Collins
Chris Conley
Ron and Roxanna
Conner
Gabe and Laura Cook
Amina Dickerson
Ann and Todd
Douglas
Cecil and Lana
Coleman
Ghian Foreman
Lisa Green
Gerald Gilmore
Cedric Gordon
Richard Gray
Michael Halberstam
Calvin Holmes
Lisa Haley Huff
Sarah Hoagland
Andrew and Lizzie
Hendren
Ruth Johnston
John Knox
Rachel Kraft
Jaret Landon
Elaine Leavenworth
Trudi Meltzer
Tom O’Neill
Rose Packer
Kathy Perkins
Ericka Ratcliff
Sam Roberson
DeRotha Rogers
Dr. David Satcher
Jackie Taylor
Vernell Taylor
Nancy Timmer
Demetria Thomas
Sydney Thomas
Toni Thomas
Becky Tousey
Steven Tousey Phyllis
Trammell
Pierce Foundation
Doug Brown
Gerad Berat
Rose Marie Packer
Ericka Ratcliff
Quincy Means
Adam Stanley
Oliver Moore
Shirley Coney
Memoriam
James and Mary H.
Bell
Patricia Cox
Linda Johnson Rice
A Small Oak Tree Runs Red
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Congo Square Theatre