Lisa B. Thompson’s satirical comedies, poignant dramas, and insightful criticism explode stereotypes about Black life in the U.S., particularly the experiences of the Black middle class. Her award-winning plays Single Black Female, Underground, Monroe, The Mamalogues and The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body have been produced Off-Broadway, throughout the U.S., and internationally. Thompson’s creative and scholarly work has received support from institutions such as Hedgebrook, MacDowell, Millay Arts, National Performance Network, Center for the Study of Race and Democracy, Clayman Institute for Gender Research, American Council of Learned Societies, W. E. B. DuBois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center, Fusebox Festival, and Texas Performing Arts. Her publications include Beyond the Black Lady: Sexuality and the New African American Middle Class as well as articles in Theatre Journal, Criterion Collection, Journal of American Drama, NPR, Theatre Survey, and The Washington Post. Thompson also co-hosts and co-produces Black Austin Matters, an NPR podcast that explores Black life, culture, and politics in Central Texas. The San Francisco native currently serves as the Bobby and Sherri Patton Endowed Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies and the interim associate dean of graduate education and academic affairs for the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas at Austin.

Margo Hall is Lorraine Hansberry Theatre (LHT)’s Artistic Director and an African Stew cast member. Hall is an award-winning actor, director, playwright, and educator. Hall was recently awarded the 2021 Kenneth Rainin Fellowship in Theater and listed as one of the YBCA 100 honorees for 2020.

She was last seen onstage in Josephine’s Feast by Star Finch for Campo Santo and Magic Theatre. Other acting credits include Black Odyssey, Fences, Twelfth Night, A Raisin in the Sun, A Winter’s Tale, American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose, and SPUNK for the California Shakespeare Theater; JAZZ, Skeleton Crew, Gem of the Ocean, Fences, and Seven Guitars for Marin Theater Company; Ah! Wilderness, Once in a Lifetime, and Marcus or the Secret of Sweet at American Conservatory Theater; Exit Strategy and Trouble in Mind at the Aurora Theater; and Marcus Gardley’s A World in a Woman’s Hands for Shotgun Players; Barbecue (also directed), and MotherF**ker with the Hat at SF Playhouse. Some of her acting credits for Campo Santo include Dennis Johnson’s Nobody Move, Chinaka Hodges’ Mirrors in Every Corner, Jessica Hagedorn’s Fe in the Desert and Stairway to Heaven, and Naomi Iizuka’s Hamlet: Blood in the Brain, 17 Reasons (Why), and Polaroid Stories.

Hall recently directed FLEX, FAT HAM, and Nollywood Dreams for SF Playhouse, and Garuda’s Wing for Campo Santo. Hieroglyph, by Erika Dickerson-Despenza, was a co-production of LHT and SF Playhouse. Other LHT credits include Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body, Sunset Baby, In the Evening by the Moonlight, Soulful Christmas, Thurgood, and Rejoice! Other directing credits include How I Learned What I Learned for LHT, Ubuntu, and Marin Theatre Company, Barbecue, Red Velvet, and The Story, an SF Playhouse/Lorraine Hansberry Theatre co-production.

Creative Team

Playwright: Lisa B. Thompson
​Director: Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe

Cast

Patricia “Trish” Lopez: Carla Gallardo
Titilola “Lola” Ogunde: Jeunée Simon
Diana “Didi” Lawson: Margo Hall
Harold “Harry” Lawson: Ron Chapman
Babatunde “Baba” Ogunde: ShawnJ West
Julie “Jules” Lawson: Sundiata Ayinde
Ken Ogunde: Titus VanHook

​Design & Production

Lighting Design: Jenny Bachofer 
Sound Design: Alexis Brooks // Ray Archie 
Scenic Design: Pamela Peniston
Scenic Build: Jamila Ring 
Costume Design: Andre Harrington

​Production Manager/ Stage Manager: Taylor Mendez

Sundiata Ayinde (she/her/hers), is an Oakland, CA-raised performer passionate about universal access to the arts. She spent two years as an assistant dramaturg working under Philippa Kelly on work such as As You Like It adapted by Shaina Taub at SF Playhouse. Ayinde’s latest work includes The Watermelon Cabaret directed by Mylo Cardona at Magic Theatre for FnFProductions and The Cake directed by Lisa Mallete at City Lights Theater. She’s grateful for her mom.

Titus VanHook (he/him) is thrilled to return to Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. He is a multi-hyphenate artist born and raised in Oakland, CA. He attended Pomona College where he earned his BA, followed by matriculating to Columbia University for his MFA in acting. Since then, VanHook has worked across different mediums including television, voice over, commercial and social media. His most recent stage productions include “Buttercup” at the Marin Shakespeare Company and Paradise Blue at Aurora Theatre Company in Berkeley, CA. He is currently a professor of drama at the Academy of Art University. VanHook would like to send his gratitude to his loved ones for their love and support. You can keep up with him on Instagram: _vanhook_.

Ron Chapman is a writer and actor who believes in the power of storytelling. He last appeared as Rev/Pap in Fat Ham.

ShawnJ West (he/him, Diva) is thrilled to be making his LHT acting debut in African Stew. He previously directed Soulful Christmas with LHT and is excited to return in a new capacity. West has been performing since high school and directing since 2008, finding both immense joy and challenge in the art of storytelling. His most recent onstage appearance was in New Conservatory Theater Center’s Unpacking in P’town (2023), where he happily tapped his heart out. When he’s not onstage or directing, you can catch him and his co-hosts sharing candid thoughts, observations, and plenty of laughs about San Francisco Bay Area theatre on the podcast Creatively Shaded, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Carla Gallardo is a San Francisco Bay Area actor, and is excited for the opportunity to perform for LHT for the first time. Past credits include: Hard Times (Word 4 Word), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo / Juliet (Marin Shakespeare Company), A Christmas Carol, Arsenic & Old Lace (Center Rep), 1984 (Aurora Theater), Doméstica Realidad, Las Azurduys (La Lengua Teatro), Cost of Living, Exodus to Eden, Book of Sand (a fairytale), The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet (Oakland Theater Project), References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot (Custom Made Theatre), among others. Through acting, she has worked as a teaching artist for many theater companies in the SF Bay Area.