Victory Gardens Theater Has Announced a Chicago Tour of PIPELINE

Victory Gardens Theater has announced a Chicago tour of its production of Pipeline, written by 2018 MacArthur Fellow Dominique Morisseau and directed by Cheryl Lynn Bruce. As a leader in developing and producing new theater work and cultivating an inclusive Chicago theater community, Victory Gardens will tour the production this spring with free performances at six locations on the South and West sides of Chicago, bringing this highly praised work into local communities, March 16 - 21, 2020.

Pipeline played to critical acclaim at Victory Gardens in the spring of 2019. The tour to Chicago neighborhoods is free and open to the public, and sponsored by the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, the Poetry Foundation, the William M. Weiss Foundation, and Illinois Humanities.

Nya, an inner-city public high school teacher, is committed to her students but desperate to give her only son, Omari, opportunities her students will never have. When a controversial incident at his private school threatens to get him expelled, Nya must confront his rage and her own choices as a parent. But will she be able to reach him before a world beyond her control pulls him away? With profound compassion and poetry, Dominique Morisseau's (Skeleton Crew, Detroit '67, and the Broadway-bound Ain't Too Proud) Pipeline brings to light a powerful and important conversation about parenthood, the state of our public school system, and the prison pipeline that claims so many of our inner city youth.

"In the United States, the school-to-prison pipeline is the disproportionate tendency of minors and young adults from disadvantaged backgrounds to become incarcerated, because of harsh school and municipal policies," says Chay Yew, Artistic Director of Victory Gardens Theater. "In Dominique Morisseau's timely and powerful Pipeline, she explores an important conversation about the state of our public school system, parenthood, and the pipeline that claims so many of our youths of color. Speaking truth to power and using theater to create meaningful civic dialogue, Dominique tells stories of communities grappling with the ever-evolving social, political, and economic shifts that define them."

Pipeline received an overwhelming response from both youth and adult audiences. Many requested the show be extended to give them the opportunity to attend with friends, family, and student groups. The tour is a direct response to those requests, and furthers the theater's commitment to its Education and Community Engagement initiatives. Pipeline Director Cheryl Lynn Bruce, speaking on the importance of this public tour, says "Pipeline is a complicated and compelling tale of real lives facing real life. A story that kick-starts passionate discussion in every direction, Pipeline raises hard questions that demand answers."

The Pipeline tour schedule is as follows:

The Poetry Foundation, 61 W Superior St., Monday, March 16 at 7pm

OPEN Center for the Arts, 2214 S. Sacramento Ave., Tuesday, March 17 at 8pm

eta Creative Arts Foundation, 7558 S. South Chicago Ave., Wednesday, March 18 at 7pm

Douglass Park, 1401 S. Sacramento Dr., Thursday, March 19 at 6pm

Austin Town Hall Cultural Center, 5610 W. Lake St, Friday, March 20th at 6:30pm

Hamilton Park Cultural Center/Fieldhouse, 513 W. 72nd St, Saturday, March 21 at 3pm

The cast of Pipeline includes Ginneh Thomas (Nya), Patrick Ogada (Omari), Joseph Primes (Dun), Aurora Real de Asua (Jasmine), Kelvin Roston, Jr. (Xavier), and Barbara Figgins (Laurie).

The team for the Pipeline tour includes Tyra Bullock (line producer), Roxanna Conner (director of education), Garrett Steinke (production manager), Kanomé Jones (casting director), Angela E. Adams (stage manager), and Erica L. Sandvig (director of production).