WRITTEN BY PHILLIS
A WORLD PREMIERE READING
We are so excited to present part 2 of our first Get Lit Gathering! Join us for the first public reading of Written by Phillis on Friday, August 26 at 5pm. You will be the first to experience the play and engage in the conversation surrounding the workshop. Friday will mark the first fully fleshed out iteration led by an all star ensemble of actors & with our amazing dramaturg Aly Gonzalez, all leading up to our World Premiere this Spring!
ABOUT THE PLAY
Written by Phillis is a world-premiere, original play that brings to life the remarkable history of Phillis Wheatley, enslaved American and beloved poet. After Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, was published in London in 1773, she became “the most famous woman of African descent in the World,” admired by Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and King George III, among countless others. Conceived and created as part of our collaboration with Chicago’s New Classics Collective—Paul Oakley Stovall (Artistic Director/Playwright), Marilyn Campbell-Lowe (Playwright), and Cheryl Lynn Bruce (Director)—this new biographical dramatization puts Wheatley's poetry front and center, reconsiders her important role in America's founding and ideals, and celebrates her life and legacy, one that inspired an African-American literary tradition that has lasted over two and a half centuries.
CHERYL LYNN BRUCE
Cheryl is a Chicago-based director, actor and playwright. Her career has been focused on developing and directing works that highlight underrepresented stories. Ms. Bruce was the Inaugural Fellow of the Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media-Columbia College Chicago, for which she received funding and research support for the development of a performance project based on the life of Black colonial slave poet Phillis Wheatley. She also developed a performance project based on the life of Edward Alexander Bouchet, Yale’s first Black doctoral graduate in Physics. Ms. Bruce directed Kerry James Marshall’s Rythm Mastr for the Wexner Center for the Arts in Ohio. She received both a Jane Addams Hull House Association Woman of Valor Award and a coveted 3Arts Artist Award with unrestricted grant in support of her work in theatre arts. Ms. Bruce has appeared on stages across the country as well as in Europe and Mexico.
ENSEMBLE
CAST
Rachel Grace Holmes
Phillis Wheatley
Kenajuan Bentley
Ignatius Sancho, and others
Kevin Bergen
Judge / Huchinson / Gilbert Imlay
Lanora Terrae Hayden
Anne, and others
Hillary Parker
Susanna Wheatley, and others
John Preston
John Wheatley / George Washington, and others
Michael Zlabinger
Nathaniel Wheatley
CREATIVE
Cheryl Lynn Bruce
Director
Paul Oakley Stovall
Playwright
Marilyn Campbell Lowe
Assistant Playwright
Aly Gonzales
Dramaturg
Lucy Whipp
Stage Manager
