Gemma Whelan

Johnny-Boy

by M DeLorenzo Pelc

Theatre Rhinoceros

Jan – Feb, 1997

World Premiere

REVIEWS

  • “Performers trust Gemma, and she always brings out the very best they have to offer. As a director, she’s the best.”

    John Fisher, Executive Director, Theatre Rhinoceros

  • “Rehearsals were intense, as we created our own reality of lives teetering on the fringe. Given the kind of strong directorial choices that Gemma Whelan has a reputation for making, the ensemble never got stuck in the angst of the world of the play.”

    Sylvia Toy Lewis, actor cast as Val

ABOUT

A Butch…A Bar…A Babe…The Blues. Circa 1960, Chicago, a struggling blues musician boosters her career by passing as a man. Johnny-Boy is a love story with music, about finding the courage to be yourself. From the days when women and men could be jailed for wearing fewer than the requisite tow items of gender-specific clothing, M. DeLorenzo Pelc has created a humerous play infused with an original blues score, wise-cracking ghosts, Venetian canals, tacky Christmans lights, and a mean electric guitar.

PHOTOS

CAST

M. DeLorenzo Pelc / JOHNNY-BOY
Nena St Lewis / VAL
Dorothy Adams / MADELINE

CREATIVE TEAM

Gemma Whelan / DIRECTOR
Caty Salas / SET DESIGN
Leslie Thorpe / COSTUME DESIGN
Joni Wong / LIGHTING DESIGN
John Lumsdaine / MUSICAL DIRECTOR