First Floor Theater has announced the cast and production team for the Chicago premiere of Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm’s HOODED, OR BEING BLACK FOR DUMMIES, directed by Mikael Burke.

The cast includes company member Andrew Cutler with Jalen Gilbert, Caroline Hendricks, Jayson Lee, Lauren Pizzi Montgomery, Casey Morris, Brian Nelson Jr., and Maggie Scrantom.

Pictured (top, l to r): Company Member Andrew Cutler with Jalen Gilbert, Caroline Hendricks, Jayson Lee (bottom, l to r) Lauren Pizzi Montgomery, Casey Morris, Brian Nelson Jr. and Maggie Scrantom.

The production team includes Sotirios Livaditis (scenic design), Olivia Engobor (costume design), Eric Watkins (lighting design), Grover Holloway (sound design), Jennifer Wenau (properties design), Sid Branca (video and projections design) and Kayla Menz (stage manager).

Marquis and Tru are both fourteen-year-old black boys, but they exist in two totally different worlds. Marquis is a book smart prep-schooler living in the affluent suburb of Achievement Heights; while Tru is a street savvy kid from deep within the inner city of Baltimore. Their worlds overlap one day in a holding cell. Tru decides that Marquis has lost his “blackness” and pens a how-to manual entitled “Being Black for Dummies.” He assumes the role of professor, but Marquis proves to be a reluctant pupil. They butt heads, debate, wrestle and ultimately prove that Nietzsche and 2pac were basically saying the same thing.

HOODED, OR BEING BLACK FOR DUMMIES will play October 20 – November 17 at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago. For more information visit firstfloortheater.com.