SDG Detail

TAPS 20755 Making "I'll Take You There: The Life of Mavis Staples" at Court Theatre

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Project description

Court Theatre has acquired the rights to Greg Kot�s 2014 biography of Chicago-born music legend Mavis Staples, "I'll Take You There: Mavis Staples, the Staple Singers, and the Music that Shaped the Civil Rights Era." Kot joins Court as consultant as the theater starts the work of adapting Mavis Staples�s life for the stage. He is the former music critic for the Chicago Tribune, editorial director of the multimedia music platform the Coda Collection, and co-host of Sound Opinions. This course invites students to take a lead role in Court�s creative development process for the Mavis Staples story. Using the methods of history, dramaturgy, biography and musicology, students will work with Kot and Court�s artistic team to map the story�s rich historical landscape, excavate the essential characters and identify the key events�social, political and musical�that a playwright might explore. Students will pursue individual research projects grounded in the epic journey of the Staples family and its powerful mobilizing role in the Civil Rights movement. Mavis Staples continues to blend gospel, blues, folk, rock and protest music in her work; her collaborators have included Bob Dylan, Prince, David Byrne, and Chuck D. Students will trace the Staples family�s story via multiple archives to build a portfolio of sound recordings, oral history interviews, photographs, newspapers, film and video recordings that will help the bring the production to life. Kot will be a regular guest in class.