“Rondo ’56: Remembering St Paul’s Black Main Street”
Join us for a “*Play and Potluck”! If we get enough RSVPs early, we should be able to get a group rate for this show! We’ll gather for a casual “Potluck” at a neighborhood home prior to the event! This is a self pay event.
Date:
Saturday October 19
Potluck at 5:00 PM (location TBD)
Play at 7:30 PM
Play:
Rondo’ 56: Remember St. Paul’s Black Main Street
History Theatre
30 East 10th St
$30-$40 (Depending on availability)
Everyone is welcome as a single, a couple or with a friend. But limited to the first 12 people that sign up. Please RSVP here by September 20.
Reach out to Judy Tande at judithtande@yahoo.com or 651-246-4714 with questions.
*It's not exactly a play, but it is an event at the History Theatre, so we’re going to count it!
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About the show:
With its four musical hosts, Rondo '56 paints a portrait in music, stories and archival photos of St. Paul's thriving Black neighborhood in the decade before it was sliced down the middle to make room for I-94. Brimming with first-hand accounts and iconic R&B and gospel favorites from the decade after World War II and before the freeway, Rondo '56 is a loving evocation of this two-mile-long neighborhood centered on Rondo Avenue, a vibrant and tight-knit community that was home to most of St. Paul's Black residents.
Rondo '56 was created in 2010 by pianist Dan Chouinard as a commission from the Minnesota Historical Society and in consultation with Rondo elders and performer colleagues who lived in Rondo. Ten years later the show was substantially updated in collaboration with vocalists and co-hosts T Mychael Rambo, Thomasina Petrus and Charmin Michelle. Since its debut, the show has been presented by the MN Historical Society, St. Joan of Arc Catholic Community (Minneapolis), White Bear Lake Unitarian, Hamline United Methodist, and Crooners Supper Club (Fridley).
In words and songs Rondo '56 tells the story of St. Paul's Black neighborhood displaced by I-94 (Star Tribune, 11/16/21)
Performers
- T. Mychael Rambo (vocals and narration)
- Thomasina Petrus (vocals and narration)
- Charmin Michelle (vocals and narration)
- Dan Chouinard (piano and narration)
- Daryl Boudreaux (percussion)
- Jay Young (bass)
- Walter Chancellor (bari saxophone)
- Scott Johnson (tenor saxophone)
