Taking theatre to the masses

Story: Nikhil Raghavan / Original manuscript of final edited version published in The Week


Martin Luther King Jr, Malcom X and President John F Kennedy belonged to an era when a war was ‘fought with prayer and song. And bodies put in the way of danger’. The play, My Soul Is A Witness is a vivid retelling of such dramatic and historic times dealing with the civil right’s movement set in Birmingham, Alabama. It resurrects these leaders but it also talks of quiet heroes and incredible courage, young people who stood up to the police during the march for freedom.

“It is relevant even today and more so in India where such freedom marches and resistance movements have happened prior to the country’s independence,” says Alex Levy, Director of the play and Artistic Director of Pegasus Players, a Chicago based theatre group, currently touring India. “This is a rousing look at people and events that still resound today. And its message will always be universal: If we don't know, if we ignore, if we forget our history - we'll be condemned to repeat it.”

Pegasus Players is a not-for-profit theatre company located in Chicago’s Uptown area, one of the city’s most ethnically diverse neighborhoods. For the past 30 years, Pegasus has nurtured many new artists for the stage. Pegasus strives to present audiences with a range of fresh perspectives.

Says Alex, “Pegasus Players Theatre has a two-fold mission: to produce the highest quality artistic work, and to expand access to exemplary theatre, entertainment and arts education for underserved audiences.”

When The Hindu MetroPlus Theatre Festival’s third edition was planned, the Pegasus Players, through the Cultural Affairs department of US Consulate, decided to do an India Tour and premiere this play in Chennai. The original production written by playwright David Barr III was staged by Jena Company of New York, for over sixty times in Chicago and neighbouring localities. The Pegasus Players have also focussed on providing entertainment primarily to Chicago residents. Their only foreign tour was in 2005 when they went to Egypt, Morocco and Turkey. The India tour covers Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkotta.

“In the thirty years of our existence we have staged over 200 performances. The biggest successes have been August Wilson’s Two Train Running and Steven Sondheim’s Frogs,” informs Alex, who has been with the group for the last nine years. Pegasus Players’ Founder Director Arlene Crewdson, Alex and four others manage the group on meagre financial assistance from the US Government and ticket sales of staged plays. “Most often our actors don’t take home any money. Many of them work elsewhere and devote as much time as possible for the performances. We do it for the love of theatre and to spread the medium to people who cannot afford any other form of entertainment. For instance, we have taken theatre to many homes for the aged – to folks who cannot go out due to age or disability,” says Alex.

Alex Levy has directed several productions including Still Life, The Upper Room (winner of the Joseph Jefferson Citation for “Best New Work”), Broadway Bound (Jeff nominated for four citations including “Best Production” and winner of the After Dark Award for “Best Ensemble”), The One-Eyed Man is King, Waking Up, Portrait of an Exile, Insert Title Here and Free Will. He has also directed several of the Young Playwrights Festival touring productions. Since joining Pegasus, the theatre has won ten Joseph Jefferson Citations, seven After Dark Awards, and Pegasus became the first arts organization to win The Chicago Community Trust’s “James Brown IV” award (which included a $50,000 grant) and the City of Chicago’s “Human Relations Award.”

Arlene Crewdson founded Pegasus in 1978 and has directed numerous productions for the theatre. She has taught classic theatre on PBS station Channel 11 in Chicago and has published A Study to Classic Theatre. She taught for many years as a professor in the Communications Department at Truman College. The Chicago Tribune has twice named Arlene one of the twenty Chicagoans who annually are singled out for having made memorable contributions to the arts.

The Pegasus Players are committed to nurturing artists for the American stage, and therefore hire guest directors, new technicians, and hold completely open auditions for each production. “Through our productions we strive to present a range of perspectives to the audiences. Our multifaceted outreach program provides the performing arts and theatre education for Chicago’s underserved and disadvantaged from the very young to the elderly, and Pegasus brings programs to patrons as well as providing free access for qualified groups to our mainstage productions,” says Alex.

The US Consulate, realising the intense mission of Pegasus Players of spreading the message of strong, socially relevant theatrical stories, have asked them to do fund-raisers in Kolkotta for the flood-affected people. The play, My Soul Is A Witness celebrates the power of theatre as a storytelling medium, and uses music - from soaring gospel to pulsating protest songs —to soothe the heart and raise the spirit.

Says Ragini Gupta, Consul, Cultural Affairs, US Consulate General’s office in Chennai, “




Pegasus Players began in June 1978, growing out of original student writings performed by both faculty and students at the City Colleges. Touring began in order to fill the need of the Uptown area and of groups, which had no access to live theatre. After becoming incorporated in 1979, the group found a home in a rented space in the Edgewater Presbyterian Church, allowing it to continue its commitment to residents of the community. In 1984, the theatre relocated to the O’Rourke Center for the Performing Arts on the Truman College campus, located in the heart of the Uptown community. In recognition of Pegasus’ commitment to the community, the City College system is making this modern well-equipped facility, which previously stood largely unused, available at no charge. Pegasus is, however, an independent, autonomous theatre company.


The move from a 90 seat house to a 250 seat, four million dollar, modern facility led to an amazing growth for Pegasus, permitting the theatre to serve larger groups than ever before. Since beginning its residency at the O’Rourke Center, over 310,000 people have seen Pegasus’ shows. This has created a unique partnership between a not-for-profit, community based theatre and a public institution, each using the other’s individual resources for the betterment of the community and contributing significantly to a positive image of the Uptown area.

Recognition for artistic excellence has prevailed throughout Pegasus’ thirty-year history. The company has received seventy-four Joseph Jefferson Citations, more than any other Chicago theatre in this category. The experience Pegasus provides for Chicago artists is invaluable. Last season the theatre employed over 200 actors, musicians, designers and technicians, much of this new talent.

The Joseph Jefferson Committee awarded the first-ever Jeff Citation to an outreach program to Pegasus for its “extraordinary success in serving Chicago’s disenfranchised bringing the arts to the young, the elderly, the disabled, and the disenfranchised. The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs recognized the Young Playwrights Festival by a special cash award for “outstanding contribution to the arts and outreach efforts to expand the accessibility of high quality arts experiences” .

My Soul Is A Witness brought to stage four black and one white American, who collectivley portrayed various characters during the Civil Rights Movement, displaying the sufferings, trauma and tensions of that era. Players at different stages of the play also portrayed Malcom X, Martin Luther King Jr and John F Kennedy. Through the use of powerful lyrics sung in gospel style and dialogues interwoven with the story narration of the traumatic times, the quintet brought to the audience an era quite alien to most Indians but very relevant to our own Independence – primarily that of non-violent protests and peaceful resistance.

Says Jason Wilson who played John F Kennedy, “For me this play is an eye-opener, being in a generation not much aware of the struggles of racism, of class oppression, of discrimination experienced by the blacks and whites of a bygone era.”

But, whether the play served to convey a message or not is debatable considering that racism, discrimination and opression still flourish in many countries, both developed and developing!