| September 11, 2024/Hartford, CT…Austin Arts Center at Trinity College announced today a six-performance encore engagement of HartBeat Ensemble’s acclaimed production of Jimmy and Lorraine: A Musing. Talvin Wilk’s poetic and political play focuses on the friendship between two groundbreaking Black American writers and activists, Lorraine Hansberry and James Baldwin.The production, under the direction of Brian Jennings, will run in the Goodwin Theater located in Trinity College’s Austin Arts Center (300 Summit Street, Hartford) from October 10 through October 19. Putting the community first, tickets for HartBeat Ensemble’s Jimmy and Lorraine: A Musing are free, but advance reservations are required. Tickets can be reserved by visiting trincoll.edu/austin-arts-center or HartBeatEnsemble.org. The production kicks off HartBeat Ensemble’s James Baldwin Centennial Season that will continue with Kyle Bass’ Citizen James in early 2025.
Jimmy and Lorraine: A Musing is a meditation on the American political climate of the late 50’s and early 60’s through the lens of two significant artists of the time, James Baldwin and Lorraine Hansberry. Following their impactful careers as artists, their call to social activism and the challenges of wrestling with the balance of an artistic career and politics, their lives give us an opportunity to look at this rich period of political and social upheaval.
Inspired by text from biographies, journals, personal correspondences, plays, novels, interviews, essays, and media clips, Wilks’ play paints a revealing picture of this significant period in American history with Baldwin and Hansberry front and center. Significant speeches, television interviews, and political debates all serve as fodder for this meditation. Hansberry and Baldwin were at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement, but both had arrived through their art, efforts to depict and grapple with the complex lives of African Americans in American society. Together, the lives of these two artists and social activists give a profound perspective on the quandary of the artist in the political struggle and the challenges of a radical life.
HartBeat Ensemble Artistic Director Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr. states, “We are looking forward to reintroducing Jimmy and Lorraine, a production that has become a signature achievement in the history of HartBeat Ensemble. This smart, challenging and lyrical play is a powerful window into two of the greatest Black artists of the 20th century. We are thrilled that Austin Arts Center and Trinity College are hosting us and opening their doors the community to attend the production at no charge. Everyone should be able to access the genius of these two legends, Talvin Wilks’ brilliant play, and the incredibly talented cast we have assembled.”
Performances of Jimmy and Lorraine will follow a two-week guest artist residency at Austin Arts Center where HartBeat Ensemble’s creative team will rehearse on campus and share its process with students and the wider community.
The three-actor play will feature Vanessa R. Butler recreating her performance as A Raisin in the Sun playwright Lorraine Hansberry. Joining Butler will be Jon-Michael Reese as novelist, playwright and poet James Baldwin, a role he played in The Pillsbury House + Theatre production. Nick Roesler rounds out the cast playing various roles including Robert F. Kennedy, Norman Mailer, and Robert Nemiroff. Director Brian Jennings returns as director having staged HartBeat’s original 2016 production at its Carriage House Theatre in Hartford and its subsequent remounting at the University of Saint Joseph. The production team includes Lynne Porter (scenic design), Margo Caddell (lighting design), Vilinda McGregor (Costume Design), Andrew Reardon (Projection Design) and Kristen L. Kingley (Production Stage Manager). HartBeat Ensemble is led by Artistic Director Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr. and Managing Director Rhoda Cerritelli.
The production is 90 minutes with no intermission. The performance schedule is as follows: Thursday, October 10 at 7:30pm; Saturday, October 12 at 7:30pm; Thursday, October 17 at 2pm; Friday, October 18 at 7:30pm; and Saturday, October 19 at 2pm and 7:30pm. Free tickets must be reserved at trincoll.edu/austin-arts-center.
Jimmy and Lorraine: A Musing is supported in part by Austin Arts Center and Trinity College, J. Walton Bissell Foundation, Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Arts, Greater Hartford Council for the Arts, The Roberts Foundation and Travelers. Jimmy and Lorraine: A Musing was originally produced by HartBeat Ensemble in 2016 at the Carriage House Theater in Hartford, CT with support by the National Endowment for the Arts, CT Humanities, the Greater Hartford Arts Council and the Amistad Center for Arts & Culture. It was subsequently revived at the University of Saint Joseph, the Ko Festival at Amherst, and The Pillsbury House + Theatre in Minneapolis.
About the Cast
Jon-Michael Reese* (James Baldwin) Favorite roles include The Fires (Soho Rep), A Strange Loop (Broadway), White Girl in Danger (Second Stage), Jimmy and Lorraine (Pillsbury), This Bitter Earth (Penumbra), Theo (Two River), Marry Me a Little (New Ohio), Nikola Tesla Drops The Beat ( ATF), Man of la Mancha, To Let Go and Fall (Theatre Latté Da), Lear (Exit Pursued By Bear); My Heart is the Drum (Village Theatre), Gregory Award for Outstanding Actor). @theJMRavatar jon-michael.com
Vanessa R Butler* (Lorraine Hansberry) New York credits include The Comedy of Errors, Lear:That Old Man I Used to Know (Smith Street Stage); 48 Hours in Harlem (Harlem 9); Scissoring (INTAR Theatre); Terminus (NYTW: Next Door); The Colony (Columbia Univ/Signature Theater). Regional credits include The Odyssey (Alley Theatre); Queens for a Year, A Christmas Carol (Hartford Stage); Gross Domestic Product, Jimmy and Lorraine, Possessing Harriet (HartBeat Ensemble); Romeo & Juliet (Capital Classics Theatre Company); Freedom in 3 Acts (Bated Breath Theater Company); Khalas (Collective Consciousness Theater). TV/Film credits include Billions, Law & Order, FBI:Most Wanted, Law & Order SVU(NBC), Holiday for Heroes (Hallmark). Vanessa is the the Connecticut Critics Circle Award 2017 recipient for Outstanding Actress in a Play, Education: California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) MFA in Acting. www.vanessarbutler.com
Nick Roesler* (Lucien Happersberger, Norman Mailer, Robert Nemiroff, Robert F. Kennedy…and others) recent roles include Adam in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged (Valley Shakespeare Festival); Karl Lindner/Steve in Clybourne Park (Music Theatre of Connecticut, nominated for Featured Actor CT Critics Circle); Joe in Heaven Can Wait (Saybrook Stage); Jacques in As You Like It and Sir John Fallstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor (Capital Classics Theatre); and Gary in Our Few and Evil Days (Inis Nua Theatre). Nick is also an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Central Connecticut State University. nickroesler.net
*Appears courtesy of Actors Equity Association.
Creative and Production Team
Talvin Wilks (Playwright) is a playwright, director, and dramaturg based in Minneapolis and New York City. He has served as a co-writer/co-director/dramaturg for Ping Chong and Company’s ongoing Undesirable Elements series and four productions of Collidescope: Adventures in Pre- and Post-Racial America. Recent directorial projects include the world premiere productions of Parks by Harrison David Rivers at the History Theatre in Minneapolis, MN, Cannabis: A Viper Vaudeville by Baba Israel, Grace Galu and Soul Inscribed at LaMama/Here Arts, and the three-play saga The Till Trilogy by Ifa Bayeza at Mosaic Theatre in Washington, DC. Some of his most significant directorial work has been centered at Penumbra Theatre Company in St. Paul, MN, including The Ballad of Emmett Till and Benevolence by Bayeza, This Bitter Earth by Rivers, The Owl Answers by Adrienne Kennedy and The White Card by Claudia Rankine. His critically acclaimed direction of The Peculiar Patriot by Liza Jessie Peterson is featured in the documentary Angola Do You Hear Us?: Voices from a Plantation Prison by Cinque Northern, which was short-listed for an Academy Award in 2022. He was the dramaturg for Camille A. Brown’s Broadway Revival of for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf and for the world premiere of Dreaming Zenzile by Somi Kakoma at New York Theatre Workshop/National Black Theatre. Other dramaturgy credits and collaborations include Between the World and Me (The Apollo), Scat!/Walkin’ with ‘Trane/Hep Hep Sweet Sweet (Urban Bush Women), ink/Black Girl: Linguistic Play/ Mr. TOL E. RAncE (Camille A. Brown and Dancers), and In a Rhythm/A History/Necessary Beauty/ Landing-Place/Verge (Bebe Miller Company). Wilks is an Associate Professor in the Theatre Arts and Dance Department, University of Minnesota/Twin Cities, and is a 2020 McKnight Theater Artist Fellow and a 2022 McKnight Presidential Fellow.
Brian Jennings (Director) is a longtime member of HartBeat Ensemble, directing multiple productions of Jimmy and Lorraine and Ebeneeza: A Hartford Holiday Carol. He has played Oberon, Malvolio, Macbeth, and others for ArtFarm’s Shakespeare in the Grove. He currently serves as Assistant Professor in the Hartt School’s Theatre Division. He was a member of the National Theater of the Deaf, and has performed on national and international tours, at major regional theaters, and on television.
Margo Caddell (Lighting Designer) is a Connecticut-based lighting designer for theater and dance. Her work has appeared at numerous theaters including ART (Cambridge, MA), Lyric Stage (Boston), Knoebel Dance Theater (Long Beach, CA) and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. As an educator, Margo has been on faculty at Tufts University where she taught lighting design and stage management and University of Massachusetts, Amherst where she lectured in both the BA and MFA theatre programs. She’s also taught stage management at Connecticut College and conducted workshops at Boston College. Currently she is the program coordinator for the performing arts at Trinity College.
Lynne Porter (Scenic Designer) is Chair of the Theatre Program at Fairfield University. She is also an Affiliated Artist with the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, where her designs include Witch, Dracula, Doubt, and Emma. She also designs in NYC with Guerrilla Shakespeare Project, where her designs for The Tragedy of King Arthur by W. Shakespeare and Pericles earned New York Innovative Theatre Award nominations. She has designed numerous productions with Gamut Theatre/Harrisburg Shakespeare, where she recently collaborated on the design of their new theatre facility. Lynne is the author of Unmasking Theatre Design, which examines the creative process that underpins the design process.
Vilinda McGregor (Costume Designer) is a fashion/costume designer and actor who studied fashion design at FIT in NY and the International Fine Arts College in Miami, Florida. Vilinda is currently a freelance fashion designer, makeup artist and facilitates costume design for Hartford area theater groups and individuals. Most recently, Vilinda served as costume designer for the stage play Toni Stone at Playhouse On Park. She is a 2021 graduate of the University of Hartford Hartt School’s BFA Actor Training Curriculum and is actively pursuing an alternate career in acting.
Kristen L. Kingsley (Production Stage Manager) is a Connecticut-basedprofessional who has been involved in many aspects of theatre for the last 25 years. She has been trained by several mentors including Kelly Burr, Tom Simonetti, and Theresa S. Carroll. Recent credits include, Possessing Harriet for HartBeat Ensemble, The Importance of Being Earnest, a staged reading of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, The Winter’s Tale, The Adventures of Pericles, Henry VIII, The Merchant of Venice with Valley Shakespeare Festival, Bushwhacked and 7 Easy Pieces with Greenwich Theatre Company, Play with Your Food and their 2023 and 2024 seasons of staged readings out of Westport, Southport, and Greenwich. Kristen has been a member of Actor’s Equity Association since 2019. Instagram: @kingsleyusa22
About HartBeat Ensemble:
HartBeat Ensemble creates provocative theater that connects the people and communities of Greater Hartford across traditional barriers of race, gender, class and geography. HartBeat Ensemble is one of the few arts institutions in Greater Hartford using theater and storytelling to build the Beloved Community. As an ensemble of Citizen Artists, we create and present innovative theatrical experiences based on critical civic issues that directly affect our constituents in their neighborhoods, their jobs, their schools and their institutions. HartBeat not only offers audiences the opportunity to witness world-class theater, but through storytelling and facilitation we engage them in telling their own stories in a variety of settings. At the same time, HartBeat is preparing the next generation of Citizen Artists and Civic Leaders through our Youth Play Institute. To learn more, please visit HartBeatEnsemble.org.
About Austin Arts Center at Trinity College:
Since the building’s dedication in 1965, AAC has hosted many of the most significant local, regional, and national artists and continues to foster dynamic engagement with arts and ideas across and beyond Trinity’s campus communities and the Greater Hartford area. Named for Arthur Everett “Chick” Austin, Jr. (founder of the Trinity Department of Fine Arts and the nationally recognized former director of Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum from 1927-1945), AAC serves as an artistic home to Trinity’s Theater and Dance, Music, and Studio Arts Departments and houses key campus venues: Goodwin Theater, Garmany Hall, Widener Gallery, and Gruss Music Center. AAC also supports and programs arts events in the Trinity Chapel, Performance Lab (Trinity Commons), the Media and Performance Lab (Crescent Center for Arts and Neuroscience), and other sites across the campus. |
