A Wonder in My Soul

November 29–December 23

By Marcus Gardley
Directed by Daniel Bryant

A STORY OF FRIENDSHIP, FAMILY, AND THE HEART OF A BALTIMORE NEIGHBORHOOD

In a Baltimore beauty shop, two longtime co-owners and best friends grapple with a major decision: remain as the anchor of their beloved neighborhood, or relocate under the pressures of gentrification and crime? In dialogue that resonates with everyday poetry, and underscored with music both profound and stirring, A Wonder in My Soul looks at the evolution of one family, the history of Baltimore, and a whole community.

Content Advisory: This story of friendship and Baltimore neighborhoods is fitting for audiences in middle school and beyond.

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Cast

Kalilah Black*
Pen Lucy / Young Gwynn

Harriett D. Foy*
Swann Park Sinclair

Stanley Andrew Jackson III*
Andrew Hill

Anastacia McCleskey*
Cherry Hill / Young Swann

Alexis J. Roston*
First Lady Cedonia Mosher

Wandachristine*
Gwynn Oak Falls

Baltimore Center Stage: HMS Pinafore, Seven Guitars, Thunder Knocking on The Door, Spunk, Day of Absence. Broadway—Amelie, Amazing Grace, The American Plan, Mamma Mia, Once on This Island. Off-Broadway—The House That Will Not Stand (AUDELCO nom.), X or Betty Shabazz…, On the Levee (AUDELCO nom.); Crowns (AUDELCO Award). Original Cast recordings—Amelie, Amazing Grace, Inside Out, Lone Star Love, Reunion. Regional—Arena Stage: Nina Simone: Four Women (Nina Simone), Piano Lesson, The Women of Brewster (Helen Hayes nom.), Polk County (Helen Hayes nom.); DTC: Ella: First Lady of Song; NYMF: MotherFreakingHood! (Outstanding Individual Performance Award); The House That Will Not Stand (Yale Rep, Connecticut Critics Award nom.; Berkeley Rep, Theatre Bay Award); Yale Rep: dance of the holy ghosts; Ford’s Theater: Reunion (Helen Hayes nom.). International—Dubai: Ambassador Satch. Film—Winter’s Tale, Collateral Beauty. Television—Welcome to the Wayne, Orange is the New Black, Law & Order SVU, Law & Order. Education—Howard University. harriettdfoy.com @divafoyh “WGATAP!”

Baltimore Center Stage: debut. International—Pop-up Globe Theatre Company: Romeo & Juliet (Mercutio), Twelfth Night (Malvolio), Henry V (Dauphin), As You Like It (Celia); London—Embassy Theatre: The Suicide (Artistarkh), Webber Douglas Theatre: Revengers’ Tragedy (Lussurioso). Regional—Stages Repertory Theatre: Swimming While Drowning (Mila); Source Theatre Company: Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea (Dontrell); National Gallery of Art: Forward 54th! (Alex), GALA Hispanic Theatre: Thoughts of a Colored Man (Passion). TV/Film—Power Rangers Ninja Steel. Education—MA: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama; BFA: Howard University.

Baltimore Center Stage: SOUL The Stax Musical. Broadway—Waitress (Nurse Norma), Violet (Mabel/obc), The Book of Mormon, PQD (Diva/OBC), HAIR (Abraham Lincoln), Tarzan (obc). Off Broadway/NYC—Mighty Real, a Fabulous Sylvester Musical (Izora Rhodes/Off Broadway Alliance Award nom.), Radio City (Tracy), York Theater: Last Dance (Gaynor). Tour/International—Hairspray (1st national), Menier Chocolate Factory: What’s It All About (London), West End: Close To You. Regional—credits include Studio Theater: Murder Ballad (Narrator/Helen Hayes nom. Best Supporting Actress), Barrington Stage: Broadway Bounty Hunter (Janessa/Claudine), 5th Ave: Catch Me if You Can, among others. Film/TV—fka Turning Point (Becker), Madam Secretary, Marvel’s Daredevil, Public Morals, I Take Thee Zoe, SNL, Sex and the City 2. Choreography—Mighty Real, a Fabulous Sylvester Musical (Audelco Award nom). Other—Sang with Burt Bacharach and Patti LaBelle; back-up for Phil Collins, Martha Wash, Bette Midler, and Mariah Carey. Education—NSA/AMDA. anastaciamccleskey.com

Baltimore Center Stage: debut. Regional—Congo Square: Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, What I Learned In Paris, Black Nativity, Seven Guitars; Black Ensemble: Women of Soul (Assistant Costume Designer), Last Dancer Standing, Don’t Make Me Over: A Tribute to Dionne Warwick; Flying Elephants Productions: Defacing Michael Jackson (Director); New Theatre: Sister Act (Deloris); Second City Chicago: She The People; Skylight: Hot Mikado (Pitti-Sing); Paramount: Jesus Christ Superstar, Hair; Goodman: Ain’t Misbehavin’, Crowns; Court: Porgy and Bess (Bess), Spunk, Piano Lesson; Writers’: Company, The Old Settler; Chicago Shakes: Shrek; Drurylane Oakbrook: Hairspray; Marriott Lincolnshire: Dreamgirls, Seussical, Nutcracker; Porchlight: Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill (Jeff, Black Excellence, Black Theatre Alliance Awards) ; Milwaukee Rep: Color Purple, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. Film/TV—Chicago Code, Chicago PD, The Chi, Land O’Frost (national spot). Education—BFA: Howard. Professional—Congo Square: Ensemble. Agent: Paonessa.

Baltimore Center Stage: debut. Tours—Familiar (Guthrie Theater; Seattle Repertory Theater), Fences (Hartford Stage Company; Dallas Theater Center; Portland Center Stage). Regional—American Blues Theater Company: Beauty’s Daughter (solo performance, Black Theater Alliance Award/The Ruby Dee Award for Leading Actress); Greenhouse Theater: I Love You More…Than Shoes! (solo performance); Writers’ Theatre: The Old Settler (Jeff nom. for Best Supporting Actress, Black Theater Alliance Nomination for Best Actress); Cleveland Playhouse: Gee’s Bend; Court Theater: Thyestes; Apollo Theater/Chicago: The Vagina Monologues; Theater Works: Oo-Bla-Dee. Film/TV—Me and Mrs. Jones, Chicago PD, Judging Amy, The PJ’s. Playwright—I’m a Woman and I’m Bad, I Love You More…Than Shoes!, Welcome Home, One Day?, Sammy, Harry, Oscar and Me…Morris. Author—I Love You More…Than Shoes! (Fiction Novel). Other—Voiceover Producer/Writer; Ensemble Company Member, American Blues Theater. wandachristine.com

Creative Team

Marcus Gardley
Playwright

Daniel Bryant
Director

Jaret Landon
Music Director / Original Music / Arrangements

Wilson Chin
Scenic Designer

David Burdick
Costume Designer

Kathy A. Perkins
Lighting Designer

Mikhail Fiksel
Sound Designer

Alex Basco Koch
Projection Designer

Cherelle D. Guyton
Wig and Hair Designer

Sabine Decatur
Production Dramaturg

Danielle Teague-Daniels*
Stage Manager

Erin Edelstein*
Assistant Stage Manager

Pat McCorkle
Casting

Marcus Gardley is an Oakland-born playwright-poet whom the New Yorker calls “the heir to Garcia Lorca, Pirandello, and Tennessee Williams.” His most recent play, X or The Nation V. Betty Shabazz was a New York Times Critic Pic and was remounted Off-Broadway in the spring of 2018. His play The House That Will Stand opened Off-Broadway in the summer of 2018 to rave reviews and a sold-out extension with eight AUDELCO nominations. He is a 2019 Library Laureate of San Francisco, the recipient of the 2018 Guiding Light Award presented by Cal Shakes and won the 2017 Special Citation Theater Award for his play black odyssey, which swept the Theater Bay Area Awards garnering six other prizes including Best Production and a special playwrighting award. Gardley is also the recipient of the 2015 Glickman Award for The House That Will Not Stand. He is the 2013 USA James Baldwin Fellow and the 2011 PEN Laura Pels award winner for Mid-Career Playwright. His work has been produced in many cities across the country with several productions in England and France. Upcoming productions include: a musical called Paradise Square at Berkeley Rep with choreography by Bill T. Jones and directed by Moises Kaufman. Currently, Gardley is writing a film adaptation of Twelve Angry Men for HBO and developing a TV show for the OWN network as well as a TV series based on Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man for Hulu.

Baltimore Center Stage: Artistic Producer/Community Programs; A Wonder in My Soul; SOUL The Stax Musical (assistant director); Mobile Unit Twelfth Night (director); Mobile Unit Endgame (director). Regional—Ensemble member of Congo Square Theatre Company for nine years and serving multiple roles including Associate Artistic Director and Artistic Director. Producing—credits include The Nativity at the Goodman Theatre, The Colored Museum, and Bulrusher, staged readings for Congo Square’s Summer Reading Series, Legacy Festival, and Festival on the Square. Additional directing credits include What I Learned in Paris, Brothers of the Dust (BTAA for Best Play), which he helped develop at Congo Square, The Fall of Heaven, King Headly II (BTAA for Best Ensemble, Best Director) and a one-act of Nambi Kelly’s For My Brothers, Where Ever I May Find Them at Step Up Productions. Professional/Other—Associate artist at Chicago Dramatists, director for the Young Playwrights Festival at Pegasus Players and American Theatre Company. He is also an established performer with extensive acting experience as well.

Jaret Landon is a composer/arranger, music director, and educator. He’s composed and arranged music for film, musicals, and recorded albums. Favorite theater credits include Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (Porchlight Music Theatre), 15th-anniversary new production of Crowns (Co-Production – McCarter Theatre and Long Warf Theatre), Black Odyssey (Denver Theatre Center, Denver CO.), and The Black Clown (American Repertory Theatre). Landon is excited to return to Baltimore Center Stage after previously music directing The Christians in 2017. Special thanks to Daniel and Hana and the entire Center Stage Family. Landon dedicates his work on Wonder to his mother, who passed away last year after a valiant battle with cancer. Love and Light to all! Social Media @jaretlandon

Baltimore Center Stage: debut. Broadway—Next Fall. Off-Broadway: Playwrights Horizons: The Thanksgiving Play; Manhattan Theatre Club: Cost of Living; Lincoln Center: Pass Over; Ma-Yi/The Public: Teenage Dick; Audible Theatre: Sakina’s Restaurant; The Public: Wild Goose Dreams, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Pericles; Atlantic Theater: The Jammer; Playwrights Realm: My Mañana Comes; Primary Stages: Informed Consent; Second Stage: Engagements; Ars Nova: Boom. Tour—The Public’s Mobile Unit National: Sweat. Regional—Alliance Theatre, Arena Stage, Berkeley Rep, Denver Center, Geffen Playhouse, Goodspeed Musicals, Guthrie Theatre, Huntington Theatre, La Jolla, Long Wharf, The Old Globe, Seattle Rep, Steppenwolf, Williamstown Theatre Festival. Opera—Chicago Lyric Opera: Lucia di Lammermoor; Canadian Opera: A Florentine Tragedy, Gianni Schicchi (Dora Award winner); Avery Fisher Hall: I Am Harvey Milk; Wolf Trap Opera: The Ghosts of Versailles. Film—Pass Over (dir. Spike Lee). wilsonchin.com

Baltimore Center Stage: Lookingglass Alice, Next to Normal; Amadeus; Twelfth Night; dance of the holy ghosts; Animal Crackers; …Edgar Allan Poe; The Mountaintop; An Enemy of the People; The Whipping Man; A Skull in Connemara; The Rivals; Snow Falling on Cedars; Working it Out; Cyrano; Caroline, or Change; Hearts; Things of Dry Hours; Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Elmina’s Kitchen; Picnic; a.m. Sunday; The Rainmaker; Blithe Spirit; and many others. Regional—Everyman Theatre: Sweat, Dancing at Lughnasa, Intimate Apparel, Long Day’s Journey into Night, The Revolutionists, The Book of Joseph, Dot, Los Ostros, An Inspector Calls, Death of a Salesman, A Streetcar Named Desire, Ruined, Ghosts, Blithe Spirit; Walnut Street/Totem Pole: The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Moon Over Buffalo. Opera—Cincinnati: Don Giovanni; Boston Lyric: I Puritani; Tulsa: Tosca, The Barber of Seville, Carmen, Fidelio. Dance—BAM: FLY: Five First Ladies of Dance; Dayton Contemporary Dance: Lyric Fire (world premiere, dir/choreographer Dianne McIntyre). Other—Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Holiday Spectacular.

Baltimore Center Stage: debut. New York—credits include New Federal Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music. Regional—Goodman Theatre, Arena Stage, Steppenwolf, Alliance Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Berkeley Repertory, Actors Theatre of Louisville, St. Louis Black Repertory, American Conservatory Theater, Indiana Repertory, Seattle Repertory, Congo Square, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Writers Theatre, Two River, People’s Light, Playmakers Repertory Company. International—South Africa, Cuba, Switzerland. Professional/Other—Editor/co-editor of six anthologies focusing on African/African Diaspora women; Professor Emerita of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Education—Howard University, University of Michigan.

Baltimore Center Stage: debut. Mikhail Fiksel is a New York and Chicago-based designer, composer, musician, and DJ. Off-Broadway and Chicago—credits include projects with Playwrights Horizons, Victory Gardens, The Goodman Theatre, Writers Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare, The Civilians, PlayCo, Manhattan Theatre Club, The Steppenwolf, The Playwrights Realm, Albany Park Theatre Project. Regional—La Jolla Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Old Globe, South Coast Rep, Center Theatre Group, Studio Theatre, A.C.T., City Theatre. Film—credits include original scores for Glitch, The Wise Kids, In Memoriam. Awards—Recipient of two Lucille Lortel Awards, multiple Joseph Jefferson Awards, two Drama Desk Nominations, and The Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award. Other—Resident Artist with Albany Park Theater Project, Ensemble Member with 2nd Story, an Artistic Associate with Timeline Theatre Company and Teatro Vista and a member of TSDCA and USA. mikhailfiksel.com

Baltimore Center Stage: SOUL The Stax Musical, Detroit ’67, Pride and Prejudice, Marley, One Night in Miami…, The Mountaintop, An Enemy of the People, ReEntry. Concert Design—The Magnetic Fields: 50 Song Memoir. Broadway—Be More Chill (opening 2019); Irena’s Vow. Off-Broadway—The Atlantic, Playwrights Horizons, Signature Theatre, Ars Nova, Primary Stages, Rattlestick, Ensemble Studio Theatre. Regional and Touring—The Kennedy Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Guthrie Theater, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Alliance Theater, Huntington Theatre Company, Court Theatre, Studio Theatre, Actors Theater of Louisville, Two River Theater. London—Menier Chocolate Factory. Film—Miles Ahead; Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You. alexbascokoch.com.

Cherelle D. Guyton – Baltimore Center Stage: debut. Regional—Shakespeare in Detroit: Twelfth Night; Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Romeo and Juliet, Destiny of Desire (Wig Master), Beauty and the Beast (Wig Master), Unison (Wig Master), The Wiz (ED&I Hair Texture Consultant), Head over Heels (ED&I Hair Texture Consultant), Into the Woods (ED&I Hair Texture Consultant). Ballet—Columbia Classical Ballet: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Special Effects Makeup Artist); The Columbia City Ballet: Dracula (Wig Designer). Film/TV—Crossing the River, Saint Dee Dee (Hair and Makeup Artist). Other Theater—Camelot: La Cage, Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Miserables; Workshop Theatre: Beehive, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Dixie Swim Club; and others. Professional—Salon Director/Wig and Hair Supervisor, Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Life Member, Carolina Alumni Association. Education—MBA: Webster University; MFA Certification (Period Styles for Wig and Hair Design); BA: University of South Carolina (Costume, Wig and Makeup Design). cstylezu.com

Baltimore Center Stage: How to Catch Creation, A Wonder in my Soul, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, SOUL The Stax Musical, The Christians. For the past 18 years, she has worked and reprised her role as SM with many companies including: Actors Theatre of Louisville, Clubbed Thumb, 3LD, Lee Strasberg Institute, LAByrinth Theater, Rising Circle Theater Collective, Big Apple Circus, NYU Steinhardt and New Dramatists. She’s also wrapped up Bello Mania at the New Victory Theater on 42nd St. She has also worked on two Broadway Bound workshops: The Donna Summer Project (La Jolla Playhouse) and Ain’t Too Proud (Berkeley Rep). Danielle also worked on Michael Kors’ fashion show in Shanghai, China.

Baltimore Center Stage: A Wonder in My Soul, King of the Yees, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, SOUL The Stax Musical, Mobile Unit Twelfth Night, Animal Farm, Skeleton Crew, Lookingglass Alice, The Christians, Jazz, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Detroit ’67, As You Like It, Pride and Prejudice, Marley, One Night in Miami…, Amadeus, Wild with Happy, Twelfth Night, A Civil War Christmas. Broadway—Amazing Grace, On the Town, End of the Rainbow, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Glass Menagerie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus, She Loves Me, Blood Brothers, A Few Good Men, etc. Off-Broadway—Clever Little Lies, Dr. Ruth, Stalking the Bogeyman, Freud’s Last Session, Tribes, Our Town, Almost Maine and Driving Miss Daisy. Over 50 regional theaters—Guthrie, George Street Theatre, Connecticut Rep, Pittsburgh Public, Barrington Stage. Over 60 films—Senior Moment, Year by the Sea, Child of Grace, Premium Rush, Ghost Town, Secret Window, Tony and Tina’s Wedding, The Thomas Crown Affair, The 13th Warrior, Madeline, Die Hard III, School Ties. TV/Web—Planned Parenthood series Talkin’ About, Twisted, Sesame Street, Californication (Emmy nom), Max Bickford, Hack, Strangers with Candy, Barbershop, Chappelle’s Show. mccorklecasting.com

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association

A STORY OF FRIENDSHIP, FAMILY, AND THE HEART OF A BALTIMORE NEIGHBORHOOD

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