CHICAGO, Illinois – The Honorable Michael C. Fountain, Bahamas Honorary Consul to Chicago, attended the final evening performance of “How Blood Go’, a Congo Square Theatre production exploring racial inequality in America’s health care system, presented at the Steppenwolf Theater, April 22, 2023. Consul Fountain attended at the invitation of Bahamian Artist, Charlique Rolle, Congo Square Theatre Executive Director.
A Bahamas native, Rolle moved to Chicago to continue her pursuit of supporting arts-based organizations administratively, teaching, and creating performance-based work professionally. Her work has been featured nationally and internationally. She is passionate about seeing the arts thrive, developing artists, ensuring that Black stories are unapologetically and authentically told through our lenses, and ensuring equity in the arts for Black artists.
This production of How Blood Go was presented as part of Steppenwolf Theatre’s LookOut Series–a performance series that presents the work of artists and companies across genre and form.
Congo Square Theatre Company is an ensemble dedicated to producing transformative work rooted in the African Diaspora. It is a haven for artists of color to challenge and redefine the theatrical canon by amplifying and creating stories that reflect the reach and complexities of Black Culture. Congo Square is one of only two African American Actors’ Equity theater companies in Chicago. Founded in 1999, Congo Square aimed to provide a platform for Black artists to present works that exemplified the majesty, diversity and intersectionality of stories from the African Diaspora.
Congo Square has risen to become one of the most well-respected African American theaters in the nation. Previously mentored by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson, Congo Square would go on to cultivate talents such as playwright Chadwick Boseman (Marvel Studio’s Black Panther), who penned the 2006 Jeff nominated play Deep Azure, and playwright Lydia Diamond, who penned the massively successful Stick Fly, a critically acclaimed play that explores race, class and familial friction. Stick Fly ultimately ran on Broadway and is currently being developed into a full length series for HBO with Alicia Keys serving as a producer. Congo Square also produced the widely praised Seven Guitars, which would eventually go on to win top honors for best ensemble, best direction and best production at the 2005 Joseph Jefferson Awards. This would earn the theater company the distinction of being the first African American theater company to receive such an honor.
For more information on Congo Square’s 2023 Season, visit www.congosquaretheatre.org.*
*Courtesy Congo Square Theatre
