Hyde Park Resident Directs Interrupted 2020 Production, Middle Passage

Lifeline Theatre resumes its interrupted 2020 production of Middle Passage with Hyde Park resident and Lifeline Artistic Director Ilesa Duncan, leading the way. Making a triumphant return from the pandemic, Ilesa Duncan alongside David Barr III will revisit Dr. Charles Johnson’s epic tale, originally mounted at Pegasus Theatre in 2016 under the title Rutherford’s Travels, to share a tale of personal growth within a dark phase of American history. Of Middle Passage, the Chicago Tribune said, “Long after we’d stopped believing in the great American novel, along comes a spellbinding adventure story that may be just that.”

Middle Passage shares a tale of personal growth within a dark phase of American history. In the play, Rutherford Calhoun, a newly freed Illinois slave eking out a living in 1830 New Orleans, stows away aboard The Republic, an outbound rigger, but the clipper turns out to be a slave ship bound for Africa. Building on a tradition of African American storytelling, this tale challenges perceptions of American identity using a Black aesthetic.

Performances begin with a public opening on Sunday, April 24 at Lifeline Theatre in Rogers Park and last through June 5, Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.Am., Saturdays at 4 and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 4 p.m, including accessible opportunities for those who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Tickets may be purchased at the Lifeline Theatre Box Office, 773.761.4477, or by visiting www.lifelinetheatre.com. The production runs approximately 2 hours with an intermission.