Veteran and Award-winning Chicago-born and Los Angeles-based Theatre Artist and Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago and Excaliber Shakespeare Company Los Angeles Archival Project Founder, Artistic Director, and Principal Actor Darryl Maximilian Robinson shares information and insights regarding his more than five decades of involvement in The Performing Arts.
Darryl Maximilian Robinson Observes 40th Anniversary of Playing Chicago Founder Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable In "Chicago: A Tale of One City"
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NOTING THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF PLAYING ONE OF THE WINDY CITY'S MOST HISTORIC FIGURES!
For a time, in 1983 ( just two years after winning the 1981 Fort Wayne News-Sentinel Reviewer's Recognition Award for Outstanding Thespian of the Season for a gallery of his stage roles, particularly for the part of Fagin in a revival of Lionel Bart's classic musical "Oliver!" at Enchanted Hills Playhouse of Syracuse, Indiana ), for the highly-regarded Urban Gateways arts and educational organization, your humble servant in The Theatre, Chicago-born and stage-trained actor and play director Darryl Maximilian Robinson, toured to numerous public and private schools throughout the greater Chicagoland area playing the Caribbean Island-born, African-American, French and English speaking Frontiersman and Founder of The City of Chicago, Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable ( 1745-1818 ), in local playwright Alice Rubio's highly-effective, one-act historical drama "Chicago: A Tale of One City."
This 45-minute play ( well-directed by Steve Scott, a member of the Artistic Staff of Chicago's Goodman Theater )
would also prove to be the very last occasion this actor would have the joy and opportunity to act on stage with the late, much-missed and highly talented actor, educator and musician Dan LeMonnier ( known to tens of thousands of Chicago Bulls fans for his mascot portrayal of "Benny the Bull" ), who gave a wonderful and effective performance as the historic Chicago poet and author Carl Sandburg.
It was an honor for this actor to play the great Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable, a man of bravery, grit, integrity and intelligence, who married a strong Native American woman and proudly raised multiple, mixed race children while conducting all manner of business at his vital trading post, and who also played an important role in founding The City of Peoria, Illinois as well.
He was truly respected by many white fellow trappers, hunters and settlers and highly admired by many Native Americans. He was known as a man of great courage, fairness and humanity.
This 2018 photo of your humble servant in The Theatre, Darryl Maximilian Robinson, beside a handsome bust statue of the famed Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable on The Magnificent Mile in Chicago, is a happy reminder of the pleasure and pride he experienced as he played him for hundreds of school students some 40 years ago. It is happily shared during the 40th anniversary of that stage experience.
40 years ago, in 1983, when this then young African-American stage performer looked frequently for cultural inspiration and signs of recognition for the many contributions of this historic Chicago figure by walking in the Heart of Downtown Chicago where his thriving trading post once stood, there was no DuSable Park. There was no DuSable Bridge. There was no handsome bust of DuSable at the beginning of The Magnificent Mile. There was no Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable Lake Shore Drive. And there most surely was no commemorative Black Heritage USA Postage Stamp honoring the life and legacy of Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable.
40 years ago, in 1983, for many young school students of color, and indeed, students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds, the best way to learn The History and Contributions of Chicago Founder Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable was to hear it Orally, and to see it Enacted Live before them. A tradition of storytelling which goes back thousands of years.
And this theatre artist will always be grateful to Urban Gateways and playwright Alice Rubio's work "Chicago: A Tale of One City" for the opportunity to do just that. ONCE ON THIS LAKE SHORE!
Veteran Chicago, St. Louis and Los Angeles stage actor and play director Darryl Maximilian Robinson ( The Founder, Artistic Director and Producer of both the multiracial chamber theatres, The Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago and The Excaliber Shakespeare Company Los Angeles Archival Project ) has had the honor of playing multiple Black American historic figures on the stage during the course of his 50-year-long career in The Performing Arts. In the year 1983 alone, he played Windy City Founder and Frontiersman Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable in playwright Alice Rubio's "Chicago: A Tale Of One City" in a touring production to Chicago Public Schools and private schools for the Urban Gateways Arts Organization as well as the notorious African-American / Mexican-American cowboy, bank robber and confidence man Ben Hodges ( opposite talented young fellow performers Percy Littleton as Deadwood Dick and Darryl Manuel as Cherokee Bill ) in noted Producer Val Gray Ward's and skilled Director Eddie D. Richardson's Kuumba Theatre Company musical of "Deadwood Dick: The Legend Of The West" staged at The Old Pakula Building in The Loop of Downtown Chicago.
Winner of numerous local and regional theatre awards and honors including a 1997 Chicago Joseph Jefferson Citation Award for Outstanding Actor In A Principal Role In A Play for his critically-praised performance as Sam Semela in the 1997 Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago revival of Athol Fugard's powerful anti-apartheid drama "Master Harold And The Boys" staged at The Heartland Cafe Studio Theatre of Rogers Park and a 2019 Broadwayworld Chicago Award nomination for Best Performer In A Musical or Revue ( Resident Non-Equity ) for his noted portrayal of the dual roles of The Chairman Mr. William Cartwright and Mayor Thomas Sapsea in the 2018 Saint Sebastian Players of Chicago revival of Rupert Holmes' Tony Award-winning Best Musical Whodunit "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" presented at the more than a century old St. Bonaventure Church in the Lakeview neighborhood of The Windy City, Darryl Maximilian Robinson was truly pleased and proud to appear in both of these 1983 stage productions during his early professional career on The Chicago Stage.
Most recently, Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago and Excaliber Shakespeare Company Los Angeles Archival Project Founder Darryl Maximilian Robinson was named a winner of a 2022 Making The World Happening Award from Allevents.in for his numerous online theatre-related offerings during the early years of The Covid-19 pandemic.
Introduction To The Stage Career of Veteran and Award-winning Theatre Artist Darryl Maximilian Robinson Born in Chicago in 1960 and currently celebrating 50 years of involvement in The Performing Arts, Darryl Maximilian Robinson is a veteran and award-winning stage actor, play director, theatre producer and private acting instructor who has appeared onstage or been involved behind-the-scenes in more than 250 theatrical and literary arts productions around the country. He is best known for touring performances as His Most Revered Lordship, Sir Richard Drury Kemp-Kean, the hero of his original one-man show of Shakespeare and time-travel comedy "A Bit of the Bard" and for his 15 years of work as The Founder, Artistic Director and Producer of the multiracial, non-union professional, classical and contemporary chamber theatre, The Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago. Mr. Robinson during the course of his initial training in The Theatre as a teen and early professional
Veteran and award-winning stage actor and play director Darryl Maximilian Robinson, Founder, Artistic Director, Producer and Principal Performer of both the multiracial chamber theatres, The Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago and The Excaliber Shakespeare Company Los Angeles Archival Project, provides a new and interesting addition to his series of "street theatre"-style renditions of classic poems and dramatic speeches from great literary masters by presenting an edited version of Duke Prospero's "We Are Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On" Speech from Act IV of William Shakespeare's romantic fantasy "The Tempest" just outside of Gate 11 of the bustling construction site of the highly anticipated new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art at Exposition Park in Los Angeles. The video rendition is greatly assisted by talented and noted fellow actor Danny Belrose, who provides production editing, videography and still photography for Darryl Maxi
To My Fellow Thespians In The Windy City: On March 25, 2024, The 50th Annual Chicago Non-Equity Jeff Awards Ceremony Will Be Presented At The Park West Theatre In the Lincoln Park neighborhood of The Windy City. As a pleased and proud 1997 Chicago Joseph Jefferson Citation Award Winner for Outstanding Actor In A Principal Role In A Play for his performance as Sam Semela in the 1997 Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago revival production of Athol Fugard's powerful anti-apartheid drama "Master Harold And The Boys" presented at the much-missed Heartland Cafe Studio Theatre of Rogers Park, and a happy previous, two-time, Non-Equity Jeff Awards Ceremony Presenter at the 1998 and 2003 Citation Ceremonies ( in the Actor In A Principal Role Category ) at The Park West Theatre, Your Humble Servant In The Theatre, Darryl Maximilian Robinson, strongly encourages all who work in, perform, support, teach or create Live Theatre in Chicago to attend this celebration.
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