Lookingglass Theatre Presents Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting, 1/4-2/19

Lookingglass Theatre Company presents Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting, written by Ed Schmidt and directed by Ensemble Member J. Nicole Brooks. The production runs January 4 - February 19, 2012 at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago's historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson. The Press Opening is Saturday, January 14, 2012 at 7:30 pm.

The cast includes Artistic Associates Anthony Fleming (Joe Louis) and Kevin Douglas (Clancy Hope), Javon Johnson (Jackie Robinson), James Vincent Meredith (Paul Robeson), Larry Newman Jr. (Branch Ricky) and Ernest Perry (Bill "Bojangles" Robinson).

April 9, 1947
Baseball's Opening Day is one week away, and Branch Rickey, General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, will call up Jackie Robinson to break the color-barrier and play as the Major League's first black ballplayer. If he does, Robinson will face loud and heated opposition from virtually every owner, manager, and player in baseball - and it won't be a cakewalk with the fans, either. Who will be his allies if he makes the most daring and important play of his life?

Award-winning Ensemble Member J. Nicole Brooks (Black Diamond, Fedra: Queen of Haiti) directs this dazzling fast-ball script by Ed Schmidt. When 1947's biggest African American personalities - baseball great-to-be Jackie Robinson, boxer Joe Louis, entertainer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, actor and activist Paul Robeson - meet, ideas and ideals clash and sparks fly, and America's national pastime will never be the same.

Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.

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