Moraine Valley Alum Presents Original Play 'American Griot'

PALOS HILLS, IL -- Former Moraine Valley student and professional playwright Ronnie Malley, and Reginald Edmund, a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists, will present their play “American Griot.” This original work explores the Muslim influence on the American music genre known as the blues. Performances for the Academic Theater production runs Feb. 21 through March 3, in the John and Angeline Oremus Theater, inside the Moraine Valley Community College’s Fine and Performing Arts Center, 9000 W. College Parkway, Palos Hills.

Showtimes 7:30 p.m. are Thursday through Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $15, $12 for seniors, and $10 for students with ID and children ages 12 and under,which can be purchased online. Most of the roles will be played by Moraine Valley students.

Told through the lens of Mamadou, an 18th century griot (African storyteller musician), the play takes audiences on a musical journey to the crossroads of Africa and America, revealing the shared history of Islam and the blues on both continents.

A grant to help fund the creation of this original theatrical performance was awarded to the college through the National Endowment for the Arts. Art Works is the NEA’s largest funding category and supports projects that focus on the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and strengthening of communities through the art. The college worked in collaboration with the award-winning Silk Road Rising, a Chicago-based theater company to create the performance as part of Moraine Valley’s Academic Theater Program.

Creating the original theater work is a continuation of the Mosaics: Muslim Voices in America program at Moraine Valley, made possible in part by a grant from the Association of Professional Arts Professions’ Building Bridges: Arts Culture and Identity, a component of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.

~ Image via Moraine Valley Community College