DEFAMATION Plays Three Evanston Houses of Worship, Begins 10/29

Canamac Productions presents the world premiere courtroom drama Defamation, in a limited run at three Evanston houses of worship. Race, class, and religion collide when a Southside Chicago African American businesswoman sues a Jewish North shore real estate developer. At the production's end, the audience becomes the jury. The show will run about 90 minutes without intermission, and is for ages 14 and up.

WHEN: Runs October 29 - November 7, 2010
Six shows only in three locations; receptions following each performance

WHERE: Sherman United Methodist Church, 2214 Ridge Ave., Evanston, IL
7:30 p.m. on 10/29 and 10/31
CTA Purple El Noyes stop, 206 bus, handicapped accessible

Unitarian Church of Evanston, 1330 Ridge Ave., Evanston, IL
7:30 p.m. on 10/30 and 11/5
Free parking lot in church lot (one block north of Dempster, at Greenwood), street
parking, CTA Purple El Davis or Dempster stop, 201 or 206 bus, handicapped accessible

Beth Emet, The Free Synagogue, 1224 Dempster St., Evanston, IL
7:30 p.m. on 11/6; 3 p.m. on 11/7
CTA Purple El Dempster stop, 201 or 206 bus, handicapped accessible

TICKETS: 800-838-3006, www.brownpapertickets.com
Also www.defamationtheplay.com
$20 for single tickets

STAFF: Todd Logan (Playwright), Richard Shavzin (Director), and Ken Bley (Legal
Consultant).

CAST: Bernie Beck, AEA (as Arthur Golden), and Rob Riley, AEA (as Judge Barnes).
Jacquie Coleman (as Ms. Wade), Steven Pringle (as Mr. Lawton), Shariba Rivers (as Ms. Allen), and Demetria Thomas (as Lorraine Jordan).

BIO: Evanston resident Todd Logan is a playwright, filmmaker, and humorist. His plays Botanic Garden (directed by Olympia Dukakis), Tops or Bottoms, Persistence of Vision, Fallout, and The Playwright and All That Crap have appeared in Chicago over the last several years. He also wrote the independent film With a Family Like Mine... His humor pieces have appeared in many publications, including The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Writer's Digest.

HISTORY: Logan said, "In a speech in February, Attorney General Eric Holder made 'controversial' comments that in spite of Obama's election there continues to be serious racial divide in America. As I was working on Defamation, one of Holder's comments struck at the heart of the play. He said 'As a nation we have done a pretty good job in melding the races in the workplace. We work with one another, lunch together and, when the event is at the workplace during work hours...we socialize with one another fairly well, irrespective of race. And, yet, even this interaction operates with certain limitations. We know by 'American instinct,' and by learned
behavior, that certain subjects are off limits and that to explore them risks, at best, embarrassment, and, at worst, the questioning of one's character. And outside the workplace The Situation is even more bleak in that there is almost no significant interaction between us. On Saturdays and Sundays, America in the year 2009 does not, in some ways, differ significantly from the country that existed 50 years ago.'"

"I believe Holder is right. I also find it's generally true, regardless of race, class and politics, when most people go to bed at night, it's in a segregated town, community, neighborhood, block, or building. For several years I've been trying to write a play that deals with the question, 'what does it really say about ourselves about where we go to bed at night?' After many aborted attempts, I finally found a dramatic way into the subject through a story about a professional African American woman, a successful Jewish businessman and a watch."

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