Pegasus Players will present the Midwest Premiere of Pulitzer Prize nominee and Obie Award-winning playwright Dael Orlandersmith’s The Gimmick. The Gimmick will be performed at Pegasus Players, 1145 W. Wilson Avenue in the O’Rourke Center at Truman College, February 11 – March 28, 2010.
Starring LaNisa Frederick with direction by Ilesa Duncan, The Gimmick, set in 1968-1970′s Harlem, is a journey through the childhood of Alexis; an outsider from a broken family who forges a friendship with fellow outsider Jimmy after discovering their shared excitement for the arts. Alexis’ love of literature and Jimmy’s passion for painting provide them both with escapes from a life surrounded by abuse, neglect, drugs and prostitution. Their powerful bond elevates them from the ghetto that devastates much of Harlem in their youth and together they weave dreams of becoming artists in Paris. When one falls, the connection that has kept them whole threatens to destroy them both.
“Dael Orlandersmith’s use of language is compelling. Through a combination of poetic imagery, unique phrasing and specific pacing, she creates a world that is tangible and authentic,” noTed Duncan. “We want to bring the complex beauty of that world to life, allowing audiences a chance to take a journey that is as filled with passion as it is with heartache. No matter what someone’s background may be, they’ll be able to see a part of themselves in the characters and struggles that Orlandersmith has so meticulously crafted.”
Lead actress Frederick will be joined by supporting actors Caren Blackmore and Lecester Reed. The design team for The Gimmick includes Richard and Jacqueline Penrod (set), Diane Fairchild (lighting), Whitney McBride (costumes), Miles Polaski (sound) and Matthew Cummings (props).
The Gimmick was commissioned by McCarter Theatre and premiered on its Second Stage in 1998. In 2006, Orlandersmith won a Lucille Lortel Foundation Playwrights Fellowship. She won an Obie Award for Beauty’s Daughter, written and performed at The American Place Theatre. Orlandersmith was a Pulitzer Prize Award Finalist and Drama Desk Award Nominee for Outstanding Play and Outstanding Actress in a Play for Yellowman at Manhattan Theatre Club in 2002. She was a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Finalist with The Gimmick in 1999 and won for Yellowman. She first performed her one-woman show Stoop Stories at The Public Theater in 2008 and recently reprised it in Chicago at the Goodman Theatre in 2009 from which it went on to great acclaim at Long Wharf Theatre and New York Theatre Workshop.
