Cheryl L. West’s Pullman Porter Blues arrives in Chicago September 14, hits an historic note
 Behind-The Scenes events for Director Chuck Smith’s production include “The Dinner Party” (September 16), “Blues and Brews” (September 19th), “Monday Night Live” (September 30) and more
CHICAGO, IL – The Great Migration. The March on Washington. Change started with the Pullman porter. Goodman Theatre hosts the Chicago premiere production of Pullman Porter Blues, Cheryl L. West’s “refreshingly contemporary†(Washingtonian) play about three generations of African American Pullman porters on the cusp of unionization in the 1930s. Director Chuck Smith, one of the “best directors in the local theater scene in Chicago†(CBS Chicago), marks his 20th anniversary—and 20th production—at the Goodman with this show in the city of the Pullman Company’s origin. It was the porters aboard Pullman rail cars, like the three generations of Sykes men in the play, who tossed copies of the Chicago Defender from the trains and ushered in the Great Migration—the movement of six million African Americans from the rural Southern United States to the Northeast, Midwest and West that lasted up until the 1960s. (A. Philip Randolph, who founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters union, served as one of the key organizers of the 1963 March on Washington.) As previously announced, the cast aboard the “cargo of sorrows and struggles as authentic as the tangy music†(The Seattle Times) includes Tony Award winner Cleavant Derricks, Tony Award nominee Larry Marshall, and newcomer Tosin Morohunfola as Sylvester, Monroe and Cephas Sykes, respectively; Chicago stage favorites E. Faye Butler and Francis Guinan and newcomer Claire Kander; and musicians Jmichael, Anderson Edwards, Chic Street Man and Senuwell Smith. Pullman Porter Blues runs September 14 – October 20 in the Albert Theatre (opening night is Tuesday, September 24). Tickets ($25 – $75; subject to change) are available at GoodmanTheatre.org/Pullman, by phone at 312.443.3800 or at the box office (170 North Dearborn). Abbott Fund and Allstate are Corporate Sponsor Partners. ComEd is the Official Lighting Sponsor. Individual gifts—$200 (for 20 years) or $400 (for 20 years and 20 productions)—honor Chuck Smith’s 20th anniversary at Goodman Theatre, which includes a name listing on a special Pullman Porter Blues lobby display and on the Goodman website; donors at the $400 level receive a special Pullman Porter Blues gift. A full performance calendar and information on other special events appear below. It’s June of 1937, and the Panama Limited Pullman Train is speeding from Chicago to New Orleans on the night of the Joe Louis/James Braddock world heavyweight championship—a watershed moment for the young African American boxer and his fans. Three generations of African American train porters wrestle with ghosts of the past and dreams for the future as they eagerly await word of Louis, the “Brown Bomber’s,†victory. Set to 12 timeless Blues tunes performed by a live, onstage band, and hot on the heels of runs at Seattle Repertory Theatre and Washington, DC’s Arena Stage (2013 Helen Hayes/Charles MacArthur Award nominee for Outstanding New Play/Musical), Pullman Porter Blues is an unforgettably spirited, music-infused ride. “Pullman Porter Blues is a quintessentially Chicago play—the train on which the story takes place begins its journey in Chicago, the characters are native-born Chicagoans and the Pullman Company itself was one of the great manufacturing empires that was spawned by the ‘can-do’ spirit of the Windy City,†said Artistic Director Robert Falls. “There is no director better suited to bring Cheryl’s timely and memorable play to the Goodman stage than Chuck Smith, a native Chicagoan himself, whose 20 years of work at the Goodman pulses with the muscularity and energy of his home city.†EVENTS AROUND PULLMAN PORTER BLUES THE DINNER PARTY BLUES AND BREWS ARTIST ENCOUNTER PRE- AND POST-SHOW DISCUSSIONS MONDAY NIGHT LIVE CONTEXT
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