Our Lan’
Staged Reading
Aug 15, 2025
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Join us for a staged reading of Our Lan‘ – a notable play at the time it was written in 1947, that successfully ran on Broadway – focusing on the Reconstruction South and the broken promises made to newly freed slaves at the conclusion of the Civil War. A post-show discussion with this year’s Spotlight director Charles Andrew Gardner will follow.
August 15, 2025 | Penthouse, The Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts (915 E 60th St, Chicago, IL 60637) | 6:30pm Doors | 7:00pm Reading
Header image: “A newly freed African American group of men and a few children posing by a canal against the ruins of Richmond, Virginia, 1865.”
Presented in partnership with ![]() | Supported in part by ![]() |
Artistic Team
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Playwright— Theodore Ward
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Director— Charles Andrew Gardner
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Casting— Celeste M. Cooper
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Stage Manager— Niki Dreistadt
Cast
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Delphine/Georgana/Ruth— Adia Alli
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Sergeant/John Burkhardt/Rebel Soldier II— Danny Breslin
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Ollie Webster/Oliver Webster— Joseph Anthony Byrd
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James— Jeremias Darville
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Ellen/Roxanna/Beulah— Demetra Dee
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Sarah/Lem— Martasia Jones
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Hank Saunders/Captain Bryant— Shane Kenyon
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Captain Stewart/Rebel Soldier I— Ryan Kitley
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Emanuel Price— Josh Mayo
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Joshuah Tain— Al'Jaleel McGhee
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Libeth Abarbanel/Cotton Broker— Tyler Meredith
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Edgar Price— Victor Musoni
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Gabe Peltier/Stage Directions— Sean James William Parris
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Tom Taggert— Cage Sebastian Pierre
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Joe Ross— Michael Aaron Pogue
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Charlie Setlow— A.C. Smith
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Patsy/Stage Directions— Penelope Walker
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Ant Dosia— Jacqueline Williams
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Daddy Sykes— Dexter Zollicoffer
Photos
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