Chiaroscuro

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MAY 27–JUNE 22, 2025

Written by Aishah Rahman
Directed by abigail jean-baptiste

Join six Black singles aboard the S.S. Chiaroscuro for a chocolate singles cruise to…. nowhere! Guided by the wise and mischievous Paul Paul Legba, this “love boat” ultimately explodes into a dark comedy. Aboard, everyone wrestles with their own pursuit of love, desire, and need to be seen. Written by Black Arts Movement writer Aishah Rahman, the play is named after an Italian artistic term referring to a stark contrast between dark and light. A play crafted in a world struggling to battle isolation, we invite you to join us on the journey to finding love.

The New York Premiere of Chiaroscuro is produced by National Black Theater in association with The Flea.

CAST

NAYRON
Sidney DuPont
PAUL PAUL LEGBA
Paige Gilbert
GINA ROSE
Ebony Marshall-Oliver
LA HONDA DÉJÀ VU
Abenaa Quïïn
SIENNA
Gayle Samuels
RUSS
TL Thompson
TILMAN
Lance Coadie Williams

CREATIVE TEAM

PLAYWRIGHT
Aishah Rahman
DIRECTOR
abigail jean-baptiste
SET DESIGNER
Jungah Han
SOUND DESIGNER
Bailey Trierweiler
COSTUME DESIGNER
Azalea Fairley
PROPS DESIGNER
Juliana Suaide
HAIR & MAKE-UP DESIGNER
Alfreda "Fre" Howard
DRAMATURGE
Nissy Aya
MOVEMENT COORDINATOR
Ogemdi Ude
PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER
Victoria Whooper
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER
Genevieve Ortiz
PRODUCTION MANAGER
David Norwood
ARTWORK
Valerie Caesar

Aishah Rahman
PLAYWRIGHT

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Aishah Rahman

Aishah Rahman was a pioneering playwright, author, and professor. A graduate of Howard University and Goddard College, Rahman was active in the 1960’s Black Arts Movement. She described her writing as adhering to a “jazz aesthetic,” and was the author of numerous plays, including dramas such as Unfinished Women Cry In No Man’s Land While a Bird Dies in Gilded Cage, The Mojo And The Sayso, and musicals such as Lady Day A Musical Tragedy and The Tale of Madame Zora. Her plays were produced at theaters and universities across the United States including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Public Theater, and The Ensemble Studio Theater. Rahman was also a professor of Literary Arts at Brown University, where she mentored many students. She also served as director of playwriting at the New Federal Theater in New York. Among her numerous fellowships, grants and awards are a special citation from the Rockefeller Foundation of the Arts for dedication to playwriting in the American Theater. Rahman released her memoir, Chewed Water in 2001 about her coming of age in Harlem. In its review, The New York Times Book Review wrote that Rahman “elegantly captures mid-20th-century Harlem in all its dwindling glory” and writes as if she is telling “a familiar American coming-of-age story for the very first time.”

abigail jean-baptiste
DIRECTOR

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abigail jean-baptiste

abigail jean-baptiste (all pronouns) is a theater maker, director, and writer born & based in New York City with familial roots in Haiti and the American South. Recipient of 2023-24 BOLD Directing Residency at Northern Stage, 2023 NYSCA Grant, 2023 Audrey Residency at New Georges, abigail was also a 2021 Project Number One Artist at Soho Rep., 2021 Bushwick Starr Reading Series Playwright, member of Roundabout Directors Group Cohort 2, and 2018 Lilly Award Winner. Guided by questions around lineages of blackness, existential loneliness, feminization, and kinship, abigail’s work uses fragmented language and repeatable gestures in a search to build nonsensical ways of being. abigail builds creative processes grounded in laughter, collectivity, black police, critical race theory, and ethical rigor. abigail has developed and realized theater pieces with The National Black Theater, Breaking the Binary, Clubbed Thumb, JACK, Mercury Store, New Georges, Northern Stage in Vermont, Page73, Playwrights Horizons, Princeton University, and Soho Rep. In 2020, abigail was named a “Powerhouse Women+ Directors Theatre Fans and Industry Pros Alike Need to Know” by Playbill. Recent direction includes: The House That Will Not Stand by Marcus Gardley (Le Petit Theatre in New Orleans), ‘Bov Water by Celeste Jennings (Northern Stage), Angela Davis' School for Girls with Big Eyes by Thalia Sablon (Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers), Fefu and Her Friends by María Irene Fornés (Atlantic Acting School), King James (Northern Stage), Ti Jean and His Brothers (Princeton). Currently: I AM SOUL Directing Residency at National Black Theater. B.A. Princeton University. abigailjeanbaptiste.org @abigailrosejb

Sidney DuPont
NAYRON

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Sidney DuPont

Sidney DuPont is a 2022 Tony Award nominee and Chita Rivera Award nominee, originating the role of Washington Henry in Paradise Square at the Barrymore Theater. He made his Broadway debut in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and continued with the 1st National Tour and Australian Company. National Tours: Memphis: the Musical and A Chorus Line. Regional: Hippest Trip: Soul Train Musical (A.C.T), Paradise Square at Berkeley Repertory Theatre (TBA nomination), Man of La Mancha (The Shakespeare Theater), In the Heights (The Geva Theater), and Gypsy (NCT). Television/Commercial: "FBI: Most Wanted" (CBS) & Cartier.

Paige Gilbert
PAUL PAUL LEGBA

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Paige Gilbert

Paige Gilbert is an actor, spiritualist, and healer through many forms. Broadway: The Skin of Our Teeth (Lincoln Center), The Rose Tattoo (Roundabout). Off Broadway: The Welkin (Atlantic), A Raisin in the Sun (Public Theater), Demons (Bushwick Starr), BLKS and School Girls; or The African Mean Girls Play (MCC). TV/Film: Netflix series "Russian Doll," HBO’s "The Deuce." Mindy Kaling’s Late Night. Check out Sage The House Down podcast on Audible for some healing conversations. IG: glitteringgold

Ebony Marshall-Oliver
GINA ROSE

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Ebony Marshall-Oliver

NBT debut! Ebony is an actor, singer, storyteller. Her Broadway credits include Ain't No Mo' (Passenger 4), Chicken & Biscuits (Beverly); Off Broadway: Public Theater (Merry Wives, Ain't No Mo), Waterwell (7 Minutes), Clubbed Thumb (Bodies They Ritual); Select Regional: Huntington Theatre/Alliance Theater (Fat Ham), Dallas Theater Center (Dreamgirls), Theatre3Dallas (Memphis), Ever Blue Arts (Sister Act), Jubilee Theatre (The Color Purple); She can be seen as Mildred on "The Ms. Pat Show" on BET+. Other Film/TV credits: "Regarding Us" (AppleTV), "Evil" (Paramount+) AMDA-NY Alum. @ebonym_o

Abenaa Quïïn
LA HONDA DÉJÀ VU

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Abenaa Quïïn

Abenaa is a multifaceted actress, singer-songwriter, and producer hailing from New Jersey. On stage, Abenaa originated the role of Adenikeh in Nollywood Dreams at MCC Theater, earning a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Performer in a Play. She portrayed Anne Page in the Public Theater’s Merry Wives at the Delacorte for Shakespeare in the Park, filmed for PBS’ Great Performances. Her work as Nana in School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play has been seen Off-Broadway and regionally, contributing to a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. Regional credits include Goddess (Berkeley Rep), Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (ZACH Theatre), Ragtime on Ellis, Avenue Q, Ain’t Misbehavin, Hairspray, and Disney Cruise Line. TV: “Orange is the New Black;” “Daredevil” (Netflix); “The Other Two” (Comedy Central/Max); “FBI” (CBS); “Theater Close-Up”, “Great Performances” (PBS); “#Stressed” (BronxNet); “Reopening Night” (HBO/Max); “Poker Face” (Peacock). Thank you to NBT, The Flea, my Stewart Talent team, and Rob Kolker. TGBTG. Isaiah 40:31. IG/TT: @abenaadryl

Gayle Samuels
SIENNA

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Gayle Samuels

Gayle Samuels recently appeared on Broadway in Ohio State Murders. She received a Best Supporting Actress Award for the indie film American Wisper and a Best Actress nomination from the Connecticut Critics Circle for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. Other Broadway credits include Children of a Lesser God, Sunset Boulevard, Grind, and Dancin’. She just returned from Australia playing Lena Younger in A Raisin in the Sun at The Sydney Theatre Company. Her Off- Broadway credits include Demons, Sistas, MsTrial, Little Shop of Horrors and as Josephine Baker in The Dark Star from Harlem. Gayle has toured the world with Harry Belafonte as a featured vocalist and was thrilled to work alongside Peter Dinklage in Goodspeed’s Cyrano originating the role of the Chaperone. Regionally, she won rave reviews for her portrayal of Rose in Fences and Louise in Seven Guitars. Gayle’s television and film credits include "Bull," "The Equalizer," "Girls5Eva," "Queens," "The Flight Attendant," "Blue Bloods," "Madam Secretary," "The Americans," "Black Nativity," and "Bound."

TL Thompson
RUSS

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TL Thompson

TL was a series regular on the "4400" reboot and most recently co-starred in the short Long Pork by Iris Dukatt and Holding Back The Tide featured at NYC Doc Fest. TL is the narrator in the first and second season of "Unlicensed" by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cramer, Ponyboy by Eliot Duncan (Audible), and "Are You Listening" - an animated series aimed at helping teens navigate conflict. Broadway: Straight White Men. Off Broadway: Orlando (Signature); Is This A Room? (Vineyard and International Tour); Lessons in Survival (Vineyard); Nervous System (BAM). Webseries: "THESE/THEMS" (OutFest/Youtube); "Dinette Season 2" (NewFest). Short Films: Wolf Tone, Flu$h,Friday Afternoon (NYC Independent Film Festival), Miles Away (Chronic Insanity Edinburgh Fringe). Audiobooks: Thrust, Four Hundred Souls, Filthy Animals, This Book Is Not for You, Unpopular Vote. TLThompsonactor.com

Lance Coadie Williams
TILMAN

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Lance Coadie Williams

Lance made his New York theater debut and won an Obie Award for his performance in the critically acclaimed production of Robert O'Hara's Booty Candy at Playwrights Horizon. Following a roaringly hilarious appearance opposite Patti Lupone in Shows for Days and War at Lincoln Center, he appeared on Broadway in the Tony Nominated, Pulitzer Prize winning play, Sweat and in the Tony Nominated revival of Kiss Me, Kate at Roundabout Theatre. He starred as numerous characters in Black Odyssey at Classic Stage Company and as Stage manager in Our Town at Baltimore Center Stage, both directed by Stevie Walker Webb. His most recent performance was in Fat Hame at The Old Globe and as the Robust role "Dax" in the world premier of The Refuge Plays at The Roundabout Theatre. His regional theatre credits include The Studio Theatre, The Wilma Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Ford Theatre, Everyman Theatre, The Berkshire Theatre Festival, The Shakespeare Theatre and The Baltimore Shakespeare Festival. Lance had a recurring role in HBO’s "The Wire" and has guest starred in numerous episodics including "High Maintenance," "Elementary," "The Good Fight." He received his BFA at Purchase College Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film and he is a graduate of The Baltimore School for the Arts. He is a true powerhouse actor with incredible versatility to transform and breathe life into a range of different characters.