Chicago audiences who have followed the trajectory of African-American theater in this city will recall that two decades ago a company called the Onyx Theatre Ensemble became the talk of the town, spotlighting fine new plays and many talented but frequently overlooked directors and actors.
Now, one of Onyx’s founders, Ron OJ Parson, is overseeing the rebirth of the company. A Jeff Award-winning director, producer and stage, television and voice-over actor, Parson is resident artist at Court Theatre (where he has directed several August Wilson plays and Katori Hall’s “The Mountaintop”), and the force behind outstanding productions at Writers Theatre (“The Caretaker”) and TimeLine Theatre (“A Raisin in the Sun”). He will relaunch the New Onyx with a “tweaked and modernized version” of the play that first put Onyx on the map: Eugene Lee’s “East Texas Hot Links,” the story of a group of black men who gather at a roadside cafe in Klan country in 1950s Texas.
Parson’s production will be presented in April in partnership with the newly stabilized Beverly Arts Center. It will be part of the BAC’s Spring 2015 Professional Theatre Series.
To herald this rebirth, the Beverly Arts Center will present “An Evening with Chicago Director Ron OJ Parson,” 7:30 p.m. Nov. 17 at the BAC, 2407 W. 111th St. Parson will be interviewed by actor and comedian David Alan Grier (“In Living Color,” the Broadway revival of “Porgy and Bess”), with Felicia Fields, the Tony Award-nominated Chicago actress (“The Color Purple”) and blues vocalist, set to perform.
According to Parson: “The heart and soul of New Onyx is to celebrate the African Diaspora on stage; to present a new cultural flavor to classic theater; to generate new play development; to bring a new face to traditional theatrical performance; and most important and relevant today, to educate a new generation of actors and technicians.”
The evening will include a staged reading of a scene from “East Texas Hot Links,” directed by Parson and featuring several actors from his productions at the Court and Goodman, including Tyla Abercrumbie, A.C. Smith, Jerod Haynes, Alfred Wilson, Brian Weddington, Antoine Whitfield, Willie B. Goodson and Tyrone Phillips. Fields will punctuate the scene with songs in the flavor of the era and setting of the play.
Also on the program will be a scene from Mercedes White’s “Genesis,” presented by Definition Theatre Company, a young, innovative, multicultural ensemble of artists founded by six 2012 BFA acting majors from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.
For tickets to “An Evening with Ron OJ Parson” ($25; $22 for BAC members), call (773) 445-3838 or visit www.beverlyartcenter.org.
