Three Dillard University alumni and four theater majors are the principals in “Zooman and the Sign,” the play opening the 78th season of the Dillard University Theater Program that will run through Sunday, Nov. 17, in Cook Theater.
Dillard theater alumnus Lawrence Weber (2009) is directing the Charles Fuller play about the impact of inner-city violence on the streets of New Orleans. The main character, Zooman, will be played by Dillard theater alumnus Derrick Deal (2005) reprising the role. Mass communication/theater alumnus Ian Lawrence (2012) plays the father.
Five performances will be offered, with the first held on Nov. 8 and 10. This weekend, shows are set for 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, along with a matinee at 3 p.m. Sunday. General admission is $15; $10 for senior citizens, Dillard faculty, staff and outside students and $5 for Dillard students.
“Zooman and the Sign” chronicles a young boy, Zooman, who grew up in a dysfunctional family and now lives a life of crime. Zooman mistakenly kills a young girl, Jinny Tate. When no one admits to seeing the crime, her father hangs a sign on his house to make his neighbors come forward with any information they have about Jinny’s murderer.
Other cast members include:
- Ariel Lucius, a junior theater major from New Orleans, as Jinny Tate, a 12-year-old girl killed on her porch.
- Chelsea Charles, a senior theater major from Lafayette, as Rachel Tate, her mother.
- Marcus Bond, a freshman theater major from Milwaukee, Wis., Victor Tate, Jinny’s brother.
- Jordan C. Johnson, a freshman political science and theater double major from New Orleans, the uncle of Reuben Tate.
Other main-stage productions for the season include “A Land Beyond the River” by Loften Mitchell, to be performed Feb. 14-23, 2014, and “Homegirls” by Karen Evans to be performed March 28-30, 2014.
(Arian Pierre contributed to this report.)
