CONVERSATIONS with Ed Tracy

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Conversations featuring authors and influential leaders in the arts, media and business.

DE USURIS

This week, we are taking a short journey back to our first conversation with Ron Keaton, the producer, writer and star of the Jeff Award-winning one-man show, Churchill. We are also featuring an FTA conversation with funnyman Ed Kross for your listening pleasure, and we are showcasing much more to do in and around Chicago. 

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DOES LIFE IMITATE ART?

A centuries old debate leads us to wonder if we are a product of the art we create or is art, in this case performance art, a true reflection of the world around us. After a closer look at a handful of recent musical theater offerings this season, the answer is a resounding yes ... and yes. Some reflection on these fine, insightful works is necessary. There is no doubt that if you saw all these productions, you too will be thinking a bit more earnestly about the immigrant experience and race relations in 20th century America and how it might apply to our lives today. Each producing organization deserves a healthy dose of respect for taking the artistic – and potentially commercial – risks to tell these important stories.

It comes as no surprise that it is all happening in and around Chicago. Our arts community has a reputation for risk and innovation. So, the conversation turns this week to the contributions of five musical theatre productions that have confronted racial bias, anti-Semitism and social injustice as a reflection of our society.  

The Scottsboro Boys


Earlier this year, we spoke to James Earl Jones II who portrayed Hayward Patterson in Porchlight Music Theatre’s superb production of Kander and Ebb’s The Scottsboro Boys. This was the last production by director Samuel G. Roberson, Jr., a young and gifted theatre artist who passed on May 21, 2017 at 34 years old. Documented in extensive news reports of the day and many books, including an autobiography by Patterson, the story revolves around the fate of nine African American teenagers accused, tried and convicted of a crime they did not commit. The musical adaptation is framed in the style of a minstrel show by an all-black cast. The most poignant moments of this production were amplified because of the musical structure. The overall message of injustice is delivered by the silent and determined presence of Rosa Parks foreshadowing the social changes and civil rights movement that follow.

We have a deeper understanding of this story today because the central character, Haywood Patterson sentenced to life in prison and unwavering in his innocence, taught himself to read and then with the help of journalist Earl Conrad wrote Scottsboro Boy, published in 1950. As Jones tells us in our conversation, the minstrel show context is appropriate for the all-black cast for which the piece was written. With the ability to reflect months later, the Porchlight production of The Scottsboro Boys is one of the most powerful seen of late – a testament to the inspired talent and creativity of the cast and, especially, Roberson, whose bright and inspirational message casts a beacon of strength and perseverance.

Parade


The brilliantly conceived production of Parade currently playing through July 2nd at Writers Theatre in Glencoe is the story of Leo Max Frank, a factory superintendent who was convicted in 1913 of the murder of Mary Phagan, a 13-year-old employee. It is a rush-to-judgment story that ended in what is largely considered today a wrongful conviction. The love story/murder mystery, as seen through the political ambitions and deception of the principal characters, is told this time from the formal sitting and court rooms of Atlanta. After years of appeals and shifting public opinion, key witnesses recant their testimony, exposing the overwhelming prejudice of the day. This parade, however, then takes a very severe and tragic turn.

It is not hard to imagine all this happening because it did. Hal Prince produced the Broadway production that debuted in 1998 and received nine Tony Award nominations, winning Best Score (Jason Robert Brown) and Best Book (Alfred Urhy) and 13 Drama Desk nominations, winning six. A revival in 2009 also received seven Tony nominations. Urhy’s book, based on news reports and personal reflections, is the third part of his “Atlanta Trilogy” that includes Driving Miss Daisy and The Last Night of Ballyhoo. Parade is a particularly emotional heart-wrenching story of prejudice. And while the topic may not be at the top of your list for entertainment, the Writers Theater production should be. This is a musical that makes you think, feel and react to what is happening around us every day. It also highlights the importance of power, influence, factual reporting and the court of public opinion.           

Jesus Christ Superstar


The critically acclaimed Jesus Christ Superstar, which recently finished its run at Paramount Theater, was bold and inspiring. This dynamic production took on new meaning with an all-black cast providing a highly-charged version of the driving musical score, framed in the story of Jesus of Nazareth, portrayed by Evan Tyrone Martin. In our conversation, Martin talked about his own spiritual roots and how that foundation influenced his interpretation of the work. Regardless of your religious affiliation, this production had something significant to offer. A powerfully performed, moving and unsettling depiction of a very familiar story.

Jesus Christ Superstar was a turning point in 20th century musical theater, coming at a time in the early 70’s when Hair and Godspell had already spoken to a new generation of audiences. First appearing as a musical concert album, a 1971 Broadway debut and run followed. Audiences were apprehensive about the treatment of this story in a staged musical version. It was only after the phenomenal world-wide success of the film version in 1973 that the iconic nature of Superstar was achieved.

The themes of persecution, betrayal, redemption and unconditional love were at the center of the superb Paramount production, a bold reimaging of a timeless story performed by an extremely talented company.

My Brother’s Keeper- The Story of the Nicholas Brothers


Jackie Taylor’s Black Ensemble Theater, the mission of which is to stamp out racism, mounted an exceptional original work about the Nicholas Brothers entitled My Brother’s Keeper – The Story of the Nicholas Brothers. In our conversation with writer, choreographer and star Rueben D. Ecoles (Harald Nicholas) and co-star Rashawn Thompson (Fayard Nicholas), early in the rehearsal process, we explored the challenges of recreating one of the most celebrated dance teams of the 20th century. Along the way, we began to understand the personal obstacles they faced in a career that spanned over five decades.

In production, the Ecoles/Thompson teamwork proved to be formidable and this was an inspiring piece of musical theater that we hope will find a life elsewhere. The Nicholas story is a natural for a larger musical theatre treatment, a true-to-life historical story including prominent characters of the day like Cab Calloway, Dorothy Dandridge and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. Overcoming adversity and prejudice are key to the Nicholas Brothers story.  (Note: Black Pearl: A Tribute to Josephine Baker is currently playing at Black Ensemble Theater.) 

Ragtime


Griffin Theatre’s brilliant production of Ragtime, brings together all aspects of the American immigrant experience at the turn of the 20th century in a rich, diverse musical journey. Directed by Scott Weinstein, this larger-than-life production is raw, compelling, fresh, edgy and innovatively staged in the very intimate confines of the Den Theatre’s Heath Main Stage and is now playing through July 16th.

Based on a work of historical fiction by E. L. Doctorow published in 1975, Ragtime was adapted as a film in 1981 and debuted on Broadway in 1998 where it received 13 Tony nominations, winning four, but losing Best Musical to Disney’s The Lion King. A decade later, the revival on Broadway opened to critical acclaim in November 2009, but closed in early January 2010.

Perhaps it is a sign of the times, but this Ragtime seems more in step and has much more to say at this moment than perhaps at any other. This is the story of three families in the tapestry of our evolving cultural heritage. Mixed with real life characters like J. P. Morgan, Booker T. Washington, Evelyn Nesbit and Harry Houdini, the fictional characters of Coalhouse Walker, Jr., Sarah, their baby and a New Rochelle family remind us that our freedom was born from the resistance to racial prejudice and violence. The American dream is embodied in the poignant story of the Jewish immigrant Tetah and his young daughter whose vigilance and spirit is a central theme.

The challenges of these works speak directly to our ability to accept art that places us in uncomfortable territory, moves us, exposes our own bias and even threatens the essence of our perception of the American dream and spirit. In other words, in order to understand more about our interrelationships, we need look no further than our own musical theater community who is encouraging the conversation, and enlisting hundreds of talented, committed artists who view their responsibility to present meaningful and important work to expand our understanding of the world.

There are many more musical (and non-musical) works that could have been included in our conversation. Endorse the fine work of artists, actors and organizations who encourage us to explore issues outside of our comfort zone and, by doing so, help us to understand not only how far we have come, but also how far we have yet to go.  

MORE INFORMATION | TICKETS 

Parade -- Writers Theatre

Ragtime – Den Theatre

Pearl – Black Ensemble Theatre

Porchlight Music Theatre moving to Ruth Page Fall 2017 | Billy Elliot 

Paramount Theatre

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A MEMORIAL DAY MESSAGE

Each year, Memorial Day is an opportunity to remember those individuals who have fought and died for the freedoms we so often as a nation take for granted. It is also a time to honor their loved ones who know all too well the sadness that loss on such a great emotional scale brings.

Every day is a day of memorial for these families. To say that we will never forget their sacrifice is important. Over the course of the next several days, we will see and hear many tributes to our fallen and to the Gold Star Family members who carry the weight of their sacrifice and loss. It is important to show our respect and to honor them. 

That is why once again this year, on Saturday, May 27, 2017, the City of Chicago will host the Memorial Day Wreath Laying Ceremony and Parade along State Street. This event is one of the largest of its kind in the nation, a testament to the commitment of the City of Chicago to honor the generations of families and friends from all wars, who have lost a loved one in military actions in the name of freedom.

The ceremony and parade are coordinated by a City of Chicago committee with 20 staff and volunteers who work in the months leading up to the parade to plan the event. Here you will find representatives from all branches of the military, the CPS JROTC, the Chicago Loop Alliance, USO and many others joining with the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events to make it happen.

You will also find James Frazier here. Jim’s son Jake was killed in Afghanistan on March 29, 2003. Today, his family is among over 270 other Gold Star Families in Illinois who have lost loved ones in Iraq, Afghanistan and other combat actions. Jim has brought a strength of purpose to the table in his position as the Survivor Outreach Services Coordinator and continues to support the Gold Star Families of Illinois.

The Memorial Day Wreath Laying Ceremony begins at 11:00 a.m. at Daley Plaza. It is a moving and poignant program dedicated to the memory of those members of our armed forces who did not come home.

The Chicago Memorial Day Parade is like no other. In another time, newspapers would publish advance pull-out sections with the parade route, photographs and a tribute to the fallen. Until only a few years ago, the parade itself was broadcast, first live, and then a shorter version on a tape-delayed basis the next day. Budgets being what they are, this is no longer possible. You will still see early morning features about the event on local television and broadcast news pool reports covering the ceremony.

Public awareness, of course, is not the point. The fact is less than one-half of one percent of the population today has a family member in active military service. Based on a 2011 Pew poll, 4 out of 5 aged 50 to 70 have a relative – perhaps even a direct relative – who has served in uniform. The numbers drop to 2 out of 5 for those aged 20 to 30. Although current statistics are slim, the younger generation may actually know someone who has or is currently serving. By and large, however, it seems that if the concept of military service is not part of your culture, a meaningful understanding probably does not exist in your daily consciousness.

So what can we be doing to show our support. Events like the Chicago Memorial Day Wreath Laying Ceremony and Parade bring together over 10,000 participants from well over 100 organizations. Since there may be no other way that you could know, for example, there are over 6,000 Chicago JROTC cadets -- young men and women -- marching from programs throughout Chicagoland. Here are a few highlights:

Lincoln Park High School Army JROTC will be marching with a 76 member unit, a Color Guard and a 10 member Drum & Bugle Corps. Known as the “Lion’s Battalion” the unit is one of the original JROTC programs established in the city of Chicago in 1916 and today, is a premier International Baccalaureate School with Wall to Wall IB programs.

The Lane Tech College Prep JROTC was established in 1930. The school has over 250 alumni who sacrificed their lives in our nations wars, and they have dedicated a Memorial Garden at Lane Tech in honor of those graduates. Never forget.

The Carl Schurz JROTC “Bulldog Battalion” with 280 cadets is one of the original Chicago JROTC programs, established in 1919. The “Bulldogs” participated in more than 100 school and community events and competitions this year including multiple veterans support events. Service over self.

Edwin G. Foreman College and Career Academy Army JROTC will be marching with 175 of the 415 cadets in their program led by a Color Guard and a 10 Member Drum & Bugle Corps. In case you did not know, Edwin G. Foreman is an outstanding Chicago banker and civic leader. The school first opened in October 1928, as a Junior High School and became a senior high school, graduating the first senior class in 1937. JROTC has been a fixture at Foreman since 1934.

There are dozens of other JROTC units represented in this year’s parade. They are marching alongside veteran’s groups, service organizations, military-themed floats, bands, mounted color guards and one of the largest contingents of antique military vehicles you will ever see. The parade will stop mid-way through for a swearing-in ceremony for the next generation of servicemen and servicewomen.

A personal favorite is the Triple Nickle. The esteemed veterans of this storied battalion known as "The Smokejumpers" will not be marching, but riding in a trolley, a ride they earned a long time ago.

If you are an early riser, you will see a few televised morning features about the ceremony and parade on local television. Jim Frazier will be among those individuals who will be the spokesman telling you about it. He will also tell you when you ask what you can do when you meet a Gold Star Family member, and that all you really ever need to do is ask about who their son or daughter was, what they liked to do and what they wanted to be.

Jim will also tell you that it would be a great time to stop, take a moment and listen to their story. It just might change the way you look at everything.

I can assure you that, in that moment, you will feel their resolve and recognize their unlimited strength of will.

And, then, you will understand the true meaning of Memorial Day.

Ed Tracy
May 23, 2017

MEMORIAL DAY EVENTS 

STEVE HAMILTON

EXIT STRATEGY - A Nick Mason Novel

Not much shakes Nick Mason, author Steve Hamilton’s new antihero. He is relentless, calculating and for a time, appears to accept his release from the last 20 years of a 25-year federal sentence as an opportunity. In his new world, there is a Chicago town house in toney Lincoln Park, fast cars and a chance to reconnect with his ex-wife, daughter and the pals he protected by taking the rap for a poorly executed heist that landed him in prison. 

He owes this opportunity to one man, Darius Cole, one of the most powerful and ruthless criminal bosses ever, who happens to run his vast empire from the very same prison. Mason’s new job on the outside is to answer his cell phone when it rings and follow orders. As you would expect, while it sounds simple enough, he soon realizes that lives are at stake, and not just the target that has been chosen for him to kill next.

All this and a Chicago skyline formed the backdrop for Hamilton’s first book in the series, 2016’s The Second Life of Nick Mason, a highly-anticipated and critically-acclaimed new work that landed on the Best Book lists for Kirkus and NPR, was Top Thriller for the Library Journal and received stellar reviews from the New York Times, Esquire, The Wall Street Journal and AP to name a few.

Hamilton, in case you didn’t know by now, is the author of ten books in the Alex McKnight series which received an Edgar and a Shamus Award for Best First Novel for A Cold Day in Paradise. A standalone novel, The Lock Artist, was a New York Times Notable Crime Book and won an Alex Award and the Edgar Award for Best Novel.

EXIT STRATEGYby Steve HamiltonG.P. Putnam's SonsMay 16, 2017"Nick Mason returnsdeadlier than ever."

EXIT STRATEGY
by Steve Hamilton

G.P. Putnam's Sons
May 16, 2017
"Nick Mason returns
deadlier than ever."

Now comes Exit Strategy and Nick Mason returns deadlier than ever. We caught up with author Steve Hamilton for a conversation in Chicago on May 15th to talk about the new book, the Lionsgate film project that is underway, and what is it about the turbulent and violent world of Nick Mason that keeps us coming back for more.

On the first book in the series, The Second Life of Nick Mason
“Nick Mason is a career criminal. That is something you understand about him from the first book. There’s no getting around that. You meet him in federal prison. He’s there for a good reason. It is not a case of him being falsely accused, either … He is not a fugitive trying to break out and prove that he is innocent … Throughout his career, he has lived by a code and had very strict rules for himself, to keep himself out of prison and to keep himself alive … it was when he broke those rules, and made a big mistake, that got him in prison in the first place … He is offered this deal that will let him walk out the door, not just walk out, but walk into a whole new life in a town house on the north side of Chicago, a restored Mustang he gets to drive around, a beautiful roommate, $10,000 cash every month, that’s really what the first book in the series is about … how Nick has to take that deal and finding out what the cost of it is.”  

What drives Nick Mason …
“He knows what the terms of the deal are, but living through it is another story. Whenever that phone rings, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, he has to answer it and go do whatever he is told, no matter what it is. He realizes that anybody he is close to could be in danger if he does not go along with these orders … That is a real fear he has, being watched all the time … on call all the time. It’s really like he has traded one prison for a new one.”

THE CAST OF CHARACTERS ... 

Darius Cole …

“Darius Cole is the criminal mastermind, the head of an empire who is in prison with Nick Mason. He is a very smart person. He’s eight or nine moves ahead. He actually sees something in Nick that Nick does not even know is there, really … In fact, Nick even asks him, ‘You’ve got killers all around you, this whole cell block. You could take your pick. I’ve never killed anybody in my life and I don’t want to. Why would you pick me?’ That’s one of the mysteries of the first book, Nick finding out, as he goes out there, and as he does these things, he realizes that he does have certain talents that he didn’t know he had.”

Diana Rivelli …
“His roommate Diana is living in the same cage. She had a personal relationship with Darius Cole and was left in his town house to run some of the businesses."

Marcos Quintero …
“He is a former gang member … Darius Cole essentially bought him out of the gang … one more of his soldiers who have a special set of skills … He’s the man who watches over Nick, delivers the threats when they are necessary, gives him his assignments when it is time … He is essentially (Nick’s) handler in the outside world because Cole can not work with him directly.”

Nick Mason’s new adversary, Sean Burke …
“This guy is different. This guy is special. This guy actually had Nick’s job before Nick did. He was the old assassin who used to work for Darius Cole. He walked away from that job, the only guy who ever walked away from Darius Cole. That’s how tough this guy is … born to do this job. Nick Mason certainly was not ... So it is an interesting showdown between the new guy and the old guy who both have had the same job. Sean Burke is not the kind of guy who will sit around and wait, so he breaks out of this unbreakable place and he goes after Nick himself.”

On the new book, Exit Strategy …
“As we go into the second book, Exit Strategy, the missions for Nick Mason are becoming more and more dangerous and more brutal. He is finding it harder to hold on to the one thing, the one code, that he had left, which is that he didn’t want to kill anyone else other than the target. And, he is going to such great lengths in the first scene of Exit Strategy … He is going after his first target and he has to do so many things just to make sure he does not kill anybody else … He feels himself turning into this machine that Darius Cole was trying to create and he is losing himself, his humanity, so he has to get out.”  

On Nick Mason’s new tactical advantages …
“The weapons are more complicated because the missions are more complicated. He is infiltrating a building and not just going to find one person, track them down and kill them. Now, he has to deal with several different people at once … he needs a non-lethal weapon for one purpose. He has a pistol for another purpose.  When he infiltrates this underground bunker … He has this weird feeling. He feels like he is a special ops soldier almost, weighed down by all these grenades and things.”

The choice of Chicago as the backdrop for the series …
“Where you come from is a huge part of who you are. When I wrote about my former character, Alex McKnight, he is a Detroit cop. That’s just where he is from … When I was thinking about Nick Mason, I knew Chicago well enough, I thought, and it just seemed perfect that he would be a South Sider. That’s who Nick Mason is … he comes from a really rough neighborhood, in an amazing city. The other thing about Chicago is that you can come home to Chicago and not be home. He can go to the North Side and it is a different world from where he comes from and that’s the part of it that I wanted as well … of any city in the world that I have ever been to, none of them have quite the same sense of different worlds as Chicago does.”  

A new point of view in Exit Strategy …
“The first book is mostly from Nick’s point of view as he is discovering his way in this whole new life … It just felt like Exit Strategy needed to be a little bigger because there are other players who all have their own agendas.”

About the Lionsgate film …
"The first book was optioned by Lionsgate and that is very much in the works … They will come to Chicago and actually film it here, which will be just fantastic."

On the next five books in the Nick Mason series …
“I am working on the next one now … I’m right in the middle of it. I really have seven of them already in my mind which is a whole different approach for me. … With Nick Mason I really want to know the bigger story, each book feels like it is just part of that bigger story. There are a lot of surprises at the end of Exit Strategy and it does open up into a different world.”

Nick Mason’s favorite beer?
“Goose Island.”

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COMFORT FOOD - A RECIPE FOR MOTHER'S DAY

I started to make a list of all the wonderful women I know to wish them a Happy Mother’s Day. Almost immediately, the list became so long that I began to question if I would, by omission, leave out someone very important.

So, not to forget anyone on my long list, you know that if you are reading, that I wish you a sincere and wonderful Mother’s Day.

To honor them and to those in my family, my daughter Amanda and her mom, Mary, my mother-in-law Diane, my wonderful sister and the mothers of my nieces and nephews on both sides of the family and the many nieces, some of whom are celebrating their first Mother’s Day this year, here follows a 2010 essay. 

COMFORT FOOD
A Recipe for Mother’s Day

Ed Tracy | May 9, 2010

In Memory of Helen E. Tracy |  1923-1989

In Memory of Helen E. Tracy |  1923-1989

Only someone as resourceful as my mother could unite an old Pyrex casserole dish with a brown cow cookie jar and make them work together. Both had a special place in my mother’s kitchen and were the source of an almost endless stream of delectable edibles in my youth. As I reflect on this Mother’s Day, and all the comfort and support all mothers provide for their family, I dug out that old casserole dish and admired it for a time on our kitchen counter.

While it is easy to list all the guiding values our mothers gave to us like how to act in public, right from wrong, even clarifying and elaborating what your father might have forgotten to tell you about how to treat a lady or what good girls do, try as I may, it will take me more than the 20 years since her passing to sort out all the good advice given simply from her nurturing spirit and love of life. The vivid memories of kindness to everyone she knew, and didn’t know, her emotional strength of will in trying times, and her patience and understanding of teenage rebellion all stand out. Her love of nature, art and music are the most cherished gifts to me. And then there was the love for home cooking. I mean, really good comfort food!

What's in the kitchen? “Plenty of everything,” she would say. Donuts, hot from the old tin pan bubbling with scalding hot Crisco oil almost every other Sunday. Sheets of rolled donut batter popping out a pile of perfect holes, many of which would never make it to the cooker. Every kind of homemade pie bursting with all the fresh fruits you can imagine -- and some I didn’t even know existed -- ready to eat almost every day, sometimes appearing overnight. And everything you can make from chocolate: chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, even fresh chocolate milk. I remember hovering over the frosting pan before it made its way to the sink hopeful that in addition to the two small spoonful’s of pure chocolate purposely left for me, it would somehow turn into a fresh pan of fudge on my way home from school the next day.

It is still a mystery to me that she did this while raising four kids eleven years apart, working full-time, volunteering for various community and women’s organizations, serving as transportation coordinator for many of our extra-curricular activities, seamstress, accountant and room inspector. I do not recall my mother ever missing a recital, concert or any other important public event we participated in. I am sure she did, I just can’t recall any now. She was one of those people who wanted to support just about everyone and everything that happened in our small Vermont town. She was the original Energizer Bunny.

It is now clear to me that a big part of all that nurturing spirit of my Mom and Dad from early morning to dusk was centered on supplying food for the family. No matter what season it was in Vermont, the next meal today and the one after that were important. Growing up on a farm we had fresh beef, chicken, eggs, milk, corn on the cob, carrots, peas and beets from a bountiful summer garden. Mom and Dad toiled over a large patch of raspberry bushes, an enormous asparagus bed and competed in the neighborhood challenge for the first radish of the season.

My parents would spend midsummer night’s together weeding and then preserving the crop for the winter so that sometime in late January, we’d dine on potatoes, corn and a big roast pork to the delight of my father who would remind us how lucky we were despite the twenty below weather. He always thanked her for the good meal. They’d wash dishes together often.

No holiday went by without more food for everyone to take home. My mother wanted to be sure if you entered our house hungry you left waddling through the door.

On the day before Mother’s Day 2010, I arose thinking about all the comfort food my mother must have served out of that Pyrex casserole dish. Even more was stored in that brown cow cookie jar on the kitchen counter. And then there were the school lunches, bake sales, neighborhood gatherings, meals for the families of friends in need and the vibrant memory of four unruly kids huddled around the small table in the kitchen with salmon pea wiggle or a hearty beef stew. Things just seemed to naturally come together in my mother’s kitchen. It was a place where every smell could keep you eagerly waiting for the call that “Dinner’s Ready!”

Of all the comfort food I long for most, I had not seemed to conjure up on my own my mother’s macaroni and cheese casserole recipe. Macaroni and cheese is a rather simple dish. However, whenever I made it, it was substantially different than my Mom’s. Long ago, my sister and I agreed to disagree on the two most important items in mother’s kitchen. That is when I received the casserole dish; she got the brown cow.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I need to state that although I consider myself a competent cook, my sister has forgotten more about cooking, baking and feeding people than I will ever hope to know. She was the one paying attention all those years ago to our mother and grandmother, and she too is an accomplished professional businesswoman and mother of three. Unlike my sister, I have never successfully recreated my mother’s expert touch in pies, cakes, cookies or the famous macaroni and cheese, despite having all of the right ingredients at my disposal and the alpha Pyrex vessel she made it in. I was too busy eating.

I guess I always felt that there is magic in what mothers do for their children. Rarely do they even know what that magic is…or that it is happening.

Each year in the weeks leading up to Mother’s Day, I realize I could not possibly send cards or notes to all of those who have a special place in my life. I could not call them all personally or write everything I want to say on this very important day. The fact is I try to do that throughout the year. I miss the mark and get wrapped up into my own life some times, but like any good mother would do, they remind me often that they are there, thinking good thoughts and sending a prayer for me and my family. They have made me feel like a favorite son all of my adult life. They each know who they are and how much I love them.

And, on my special mother’s list this year are my daughter, who is the mother of my granddaughter, Allie Kate, the most wonderful miracle in our lives; my sweet and loving mother-in-law, who reminds me every day that I am her favorite – and only – son-in-law; and my sister, who made this Mother’s Day extra special for me.

You see, I went online and found a 1958 Pyrex Golden Hearts 2.5 Quart Cinderella casserole dish identical to my mother’s coveted workhorse. The description was “Just like new!” and it was surprisingly affordable. I made sure that it would be sent to my sister directly, perhaps in time for Mother’s Day, but that didn’t really matter, since she’s out of town. Once the sale was complete, I called her to tell her about my find and the rest of the story of how frustrated I was in not getting the recipe right all these years later.

Being the wonderful person that she is, my sister shared with me the secret of my mother’s recipe. With the “just like new” dish on its way to her home, I only wish I could see the look in her eye when the dish and cow are reunited -- a symbolic, yet significant gesture on her younger brother’s part to make a mother’s day complete. (I did not tell her that the brown cow cookie jar is a very available -- and a highly collectible and expensive item online, or that perhaps on a future Father’s Day, a cow cookie jar might find its’ way to me somehow.)

The rest of the story is really very predictable. I set off to buy the ingredients confident that I was on the verge of preparing the best macaroni and cheese in years. It was. And Mom would have been very proud. There’s plenty left for today.

What we call “comfort food” is really all about memory. My mother left this very casserole dish brimming with macaroni and cheese in the freezer a couple of days before she passed. On another Mother’s Day, 20 years ago today, our family enjoyed that meal together one last time. It is now a warm and heartfelt memory of other times when the most important thing we all wanted to hear was “Dinner’s Ready!”

Whether you are a mother, married to one, or have one you are celebrating with today, Happy Mother’s Day! To all the mothers who pass along their pride and love to their sons and daughters and never quite know if it really is making a difference, I can tell you that no matter what you may think, we’re watching, listening, learning and growing every time you say our name, look our way or do the magical things that mother’s do.

There is no greater gift than a mother’s love and no greater memory than the look in her eyes when you say to her: “I love you, Mom” or “I’ll do the dishes!”

Post Script - On or around Father’s Day in May 2013, a package arrived with a pristine brown cow cookie jar that has now been reunited with the alpha Pyrex casserole dish a gift from Denise. My sister, who I love very dearly, had taken one look at t…

Post Script - On or around Father’s Day in May 2013, a package arrived with a pristine brown cow cookie jar that has now been reunited with the alpha Pyrex casserole dish a gift from Denise. My sister, who I love very dearly, had taken one look at the online price for the item and decided instead to ship a month’s supply of cookies. ECT 5/11/2017

EVAN TYRONE MARTIN - JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR

Evan Tyrone Martin is truly blessed and thankful. Blessed, he says, to have been given the opportunity to perform the title role in director Ron Kellum’s brilliantly conceived production of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora. Thankful to be surrounded by an amazing cast of African-American actors who support each other in telling a universal story about a man who spread a message of peace, love and salvation. 

Martin grew up in a church family in Cleveland, inspired by his parents, grandmother and aunt who were singers. He went to Ashland University where he honed a commanding stage presence and vocal technique. In our conversation on May 4th, he reflects on the steady course he was on seven or eight years ago and of the structured plan he envisioned, then abandoned, in favor of a more free-spirited approach to his professional career. 

There is a string of solid Chicago and regional theater credits on his resume and he spent some time in New York early on. Martin then appeared in RENT at Paramount a few years ago, received his Equity card and was off to the Arkansas Shakespeare Theater. But things slowed down after that. Auditions were scarce and he was not getting cast. Self-doubt began to seep in after more than a year of "radio silence." Looking back, Martin realizes that there was no backup plan to a performing career, so he pressed forward. 

His vigilance paid off when a door opened for another theatrical home at Porchlight Music Theatre. He  was encouraged to connect with Artistic Director Michael Weber, read and was cast in Sideshow and soon after Martin had caught the eye of directors Rob Lindley (Far from Heaven) and Brenda Didier (Dreamgirls). Those three roles last season earned Martin two 2016 Best Supporting Actor Jeff Award nominations for Sideshow and Far From Heaven.  To cap off a very productive period, the Chicago Tribune included Martin as one of its Hot New Faces of Chicago Theater for 2016. Coming full circle, Martin returned late last year to Paramount in the role of King Triton in Little Mermaid

If this all sounds like a busy schedule, consider as well that last fall he joined producer Michael Ingersoll and Angela Ingersoll for the Artists Lounge Live concert series at the Metropolis Performing Arts Center. The new show, entitled Unforgettable: Falling In Love With Nat King Cole, had a return engagement earlier this spring and future performance dates are already on the books.

There are many more layers of Evan Tyrone Martin's talents to see and hear at the Paramount where the cast and creative team have redefined the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice score in the not-to be-missed production that seems uniquely connected to the faith-based family ministry in which he was raised.

Jesus Christ Superstar is now playing at the Paramount Theatre through May 28 - For tickets, visit: ParamountAurora.com, call: (630) 896-6666.

On his portrayal of Jesus Christ …
“It was really important to me, as an actor, for people to see him as this bright beacon that pushed forward despite the fact that he was being approached on all sides … to be quiet. He continued his message and it is kind of heartbreaking when you see that on stage … To see a man preaching such a simple seemingly harmless message met with such anger and aggression … That was really important for me to convey. I really wanted the audience to feel for this man.”

On the show’s message …
 “It can be so universal because it is about a group of people seeking truth and fighting against religious and political influence to really be able get to the bottom of their beliefs … who they are as a community and a race of people. I think having an all-black cast brings a phenomenal and interesting layer to the story because we are one of many races that have known oppression for a very, very long time … Taking this perspective on that very real element in this story makes sense, but I do believe in general that because this is an all-black cast does not make it a black production. There is still a universality that people can grab on to.”

Felicia Boswell plays Mary Magdalene and Evan Tyrone Martin is Jesus of Nazareth in Paramount Theatre's Jesus Christ Superstar through May 28, 2017. 

Following your passions …
“When I was younger and first moved to New York, I made very specific plans about how I wanted my career to go and in the last seven to eight years, I kind of let that go … I go where I am most passionate. I do the things I am most passionate about and let that tell me which direction to walk confidently in.”

His inspiration and support …
“Everybody in my family has been instrumental in my success as a performer … My grandmother, before she passed, one of her favorite things to do with me was sing and listen to music. Before my aunt passed, she was instrumental in telling me that I need to be educated. if it were not for her I would not have gone to college … Of course my mom and dad … sacrifice after sacrifice for 15 years to get me to rehearsals, pay for trips, get into college, stay in college even when they knew none of us could afford it … Having that amount of support behind you is invaluable … I could not and would not be where I am right now if it were not for my family.”

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Production photo credit: Liz Lauren

 

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