Pictured: Andrea Conway-Diaz

The cast and design team has been announced for City Lit Theater’s second production of the 2019-2020 season, Kristine Thatcher’s VOICE OF GOOD HOPE, a bio-drama of Barbara Jordan, the first African American congresswoman from the Deep South.

Directed by Artistic Director and Producer Terry McCabe, the cast includes Andrea Conway-Diaz (Barbara Jordan), Susie Griffith (Nancy Earl), Sahara Glasener-Boles (Karen Woodruff), Jamie Black (John Ed Patten), Paul Chakrin (Robert Strauss), Noelle Klyce (Julie Dunn); and McKennzie Boyd and MiKayla Boyd, who will alternate as “Heart” – Barbara Jordan as a child.

The design team includes Ray Toler (set design), Katy Vest (costume design) and Daniel Salazar (lighting design).

The play follows Jordan from her childhood in Houston’s Fifth Ward through receiving the Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton, and includes her pivotal role on the House Judiciary Committee during its hearings concerning the possible impeachment of Richard Nixon, her complex political relationship with Texas power broker Robert Strauss, her struggle with muscular dystrophy, and her twenty-year relationship with Nancy Earl, her companion and occasional speechwriter, and ultimately her caregiver. 

VOICE OF GOOD HOPE runs January 10 – February 23 at City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. Chicago.