Kelvin Roston Jr. News

American Idol favorites Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young lead the incredible cast of the new musical, Skates, featuring Adia Bell, Adam Fane, Kelly Felthous, Cory Goodrich, Emma Lord, Jason Richards, Kelvin Roston, Jr., Zach Sorrow, and Trey Deluna. Check out all new photos and video

Out of the 330 total Chicagoland high school students who entered the 13th annual August Wilson Monologue and Design Competitions, Demi Davis from Senn High School prevailed, taking the first-place prize at the Chicago finals earlier this month for her 2-3-minute monologue performance.

Rehearsals are underway for the world premiere musical Skates! American Idol favorites Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young lead the incredible cast of the new musical featuring Adam Fane, Kelly Felthous, Cory Goodrich, Emma Lord, Jason Richards, Kelvin Roston, Jr., Michelle Lauto, Zach Sorrow, Trey Deluna and Adia Bell. 

Resident Director Chuck Smith, who served as the original production's dramaturg, directs a cast of seven—featuring Sharif Atkins (Citizen Barlow), Sydney Charles (Black Mary), Lisa Gaye Dixon (Aunt Ester), Gary Houston (Rutherford Selig), Kelvin Roston, Jr. (Caesar), A.C. Smith (Eli) and James A. Williams (Solly Two Kings).

Disco diva Deloris Cartier and the Sisters of Our Mother of Perpetual Faith are getting into the Christmas habit at Mercury Theater Chicago with the final weeks of performances of the hit musical Sister Act. The critically acclaimed production, perfect for the whole family, must close on January 2, 2022, at Mercury Theater Chicago, 3745 N. Southport Avenue. 

Congo Square Theatre Company will present the second season of its popular Hit 'Em on the Blackside sketch comedy series. The cast and crew up the ante in season two by bringing back memorable characters from season one for an exciting crossover story that spans 12 new episodes.

Due to popular demand, Court Theatre, under the continuing leadership of Charles Newell, Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director, and Executive Director Angel Ysaguirre, extends the first show of its 2021/2022 Season, The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, by William Shakespeare. Specifically conceived for a smaller audience and co-directed by Artistic Director Charles Newell and Gabrielle Randle-Bent, Othello features Kelvin Roston Jr., in the titular role. 

Congo Square Theatre Company (Congo Square), one of the nation’s premier African American theater companies, has announced its 2021-22 season, a robust and dynamic mix of online and in-person programming, running the gamut from laugh-out-loud sketch comedy to an interactive, thought-provoking ‘community ritual’ touring Chicago neighborhoods.  

Porchlight Music Theatre announces its next virtual offering, the latest edition of its New Faces Sing Broadway series, New Faces Sing Broadway 1961 hosted by Kelvin Roston, Jr., directed by Brianna Borger and with music direction and arrangements by Tom Vendafreddo.

Congo Square Theatre Company (Congo Square), one of the nation's premier African American theatres, is proud to present the first full show of its Hit 'Em on the Blackside sketch comedy series, available for free online viewing starting Saturday, Dec. 19 at www.congosquaretheatre.org.

The acclaimed Black Ensemble Theater, led by Founder and CEO Jackie Taylor, is celebrating the 2020 Holiday season with The Black Ensemble Virtual Holiday Extravaganza, written and directed by Producing Managing Director Daryl D. Brooks.

Congo Square Theatre Company one of the nation's premier African American theatres, has announced its full 21st Season of programming for 2020-2021.

Court Theatre, under the continuing leadership of Charles Newell, Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director, and Executive Director Angel Ysaguirre, has announced that Kelvin Roston, Jr. is the recipient of the 2019/20 Nicholas Rudall Classic Artist Award.

Join WGN-TV's a?oeAround Towna?? correspondent Ana Belaval and a star-studded line-up of more than 20 top Chicago stage performers for Chicago Offstage! Live at Home, a virtual streaming event debuting live on Season of Concern's new YouTube channel (https://tinyurl.com/soctube) on Sunday, April 19, at 6 p.m. CST.

Twenty-one Chicago high school students will compete in the finals of the 11th Annual August Wilson Monologue Competition for a chance to represent Chicago in the National Competition at the August Wilson Theatre in New York City. Hundreds of students competed across the city in preliminary rounds. The finals will be held at the Goodman Theatre, 170 N Dearborn on Monday, March 9, 2020 at 6:00 pm. The August Wilson Monologue Competition is free and open to the public.

Court Theatre, under the continuing leadership of Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director Charles Newell and Executive Director Angel Ysaguirre, announces its 66th season. The company's 2020/21 season will feature the sixth play in August Wilson's American Century Cycle, Two Trains Running, directed by Resident Artist Ron OJ Parson; the Americana musical Violet, with book and lyrics by Brian Crawley and music by Jeanine Tesori, directed by Charles Newell; the culmination of Court's Oedipus Trilogy with the Sophocles classic Antigone, directed by Seret Scott; Caryl Churchill's Fen, directed by Vanessa Stalling; and a new production of Shakespeare's Othello, starring Kelvin Roston, Jr. and Timothy Edward Kane, adapted and directed by Charles Newell.

Court Theatre presents for August Wilson's King Hedley II, directed by Resident Artist Ron OJ Parson. King Hedley II runs through October 13, 2019 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave. 

Porchlight Music Theatre's 25th anniversary season began with the 14th Annual Chicago Sings concert: Chicago Sings 25 Years of Porchlight, Monday, Aug. 5 at 7 p.m., at The Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave, directed by Christopher Pazdernik and Artistic Director Michael Weber with music direction by David Fiorello and a band featuring Kelsey Boltz, Cara Hartz, John McCreary, Greg Strauss, Celeste Park and Jake Saleh.

Mosaic Theater Company of DC launches its 5th season this month with the DC premiere of Lynn Nottage's Fabulation, Or The Re-Education of Undine, previewing August 21 (see our August 1 Fabulation press release for opening night information, and our March 29 a?oe#Wokeseason5a?? release for full season line-up), exactly one month after the close of the most successful show in Mosaic's history, the co-production of Kelvin Roston Jr.'s Twisted Melodies, which sold out its last week of performances, playing to record crowds and box office, providing the capstone to a season of transformative artistic and fundraising achievements. 

There's a transcendent moment in 'Twisted Melodies,' the one-man Donny Hathaway show by Kelvin Roston Jr. at Mosaic Theater Company, in which the audience and performer are one, singing and clapping to 'The Ghetto,' under his direction, and getting a groove on.