Darryl Maximilian Robinson Provides His Director's Notes On Edward Albee's "The Zoo Story"

YOUR HUMBLE SERVANT IN THE THEATRE, DARRYL MAXIMILIAN ROBINSON, RECALLS DIRECTING MULTIPLE STAGINGS OF THE LATE, GREAT TONY AWARD-WINNING AND PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING AMERICAN PLAYWRIGHT EDWARD ALBEE'S "THE ZOO STORY"

"Chicago theatregoers have long-admired the talents of Darryl Maximilian Robinson and his multiracial group of actors, the Excaliber Shakespeare Company, as he successfully transformed small spaces into grand theatre." -- Al Boswell, 'New Oak Park space enhances Excaliber's acting techniques,' The Post-Tribune ( Northwest Indiana ), January 23, 2000.

 

"..."The Zoo Story" has been performed with regularity over the past four decades. Excaliber Shakespeare Company's current staging in Oak Park, which has four actors alternating in the two roles, can be added to the list of successful renditions." -- Jenn Goddu, 'Reviews: The Zoo Story,' The Chicago Sun-Times, Feb. 17, 2000.

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Your humble servant in The Theatre, Darryl Maximilian Robinson, has directed no less than five productions of Edward Albee's Obie Award-winning one-act drama "The Zoo Story" over the years between 1993 and 2001 in Chicago and St. Louis as Founder, Artistic Director and Producer of his multi-racial theatre ensemble, The Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago, and he has found the piece a wonderful vehicle for young actors to test and develop their talents, particularly those actors cast as Jerry, who have to present the challenging monologue "The Story of Jerry and The Dog."

Taking on Albee's powerful and gripping, one-act tale of two kinds of very different males having a fateful experience in New York's Central Park, Mr. Robinson's first staging of the play was in the summer of 1993 ( exactly 30 years ago ), in an Excaliber Productions, Ltd. rendition at Cummel's Cafe in Downtown St. Louis.

 

 

At that time, he directed and played the role of Peter, and a dynamic, young 18-year-old actor making his professional stage debut with Excaliber named Danny Belrose played the role of Jerry.

Danny Belrose was excellent as Jerry, and Mr. Robinson knew he had the talent and skills to go on to enjoy a successful and productive career as an actor. Danny Belrose was not only fine as Jerry. On a double-bill of one-acts, Belrose gave an equally effective performance as the homeless drug addict Jake opposite excellent stage actor, singer and future "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" voice-over star Carey Means giving a powerful portrayal of homeless survivor Rueben in St. Louis playwright Robert Friedman's "A Man of Experience" which was the closing work after "The Zoo Story." Carey Means also served as "The Zoo Story's" highly-effective Production Stage Manager. He stated more than once that Danny Belrose's work in "The Zoo Story" was quality, professional work.

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But Danny Belrose was only one of many fine actors to appear in Excaliber's well-received productions of Albee's classic work.

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In the winter of 1995, as a late-night theatre offering ( after evening performances of ESC's 100th Anniversary Revival production of Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest " ) at The Hidden Stages Theatre near the Chinatown neighborhood of Chicago, Mr. Robinson directed dynamic and focused young actor Daniel Grillo as Jerry and talented budding character man Gregory Christopher Armstrong as Peter in an Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago rendition of Albee's "The Zoo Story."

 

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In the summer of 1997, Darryl Maximilian Robinson staged "The Zoo Story" in ESC repertory with Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night" on the intimate and much-missed stage of The Heartland Cafe Studio Theatre in the Rogers Park neighborhood of The Windy City.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gifted young actors ( and later Co-Founders of The Furious Theatre Company ) Shawn Lee and D'amaso Rodriguez appeared as Jerry and Peter in Albee's noted piece ( a revival which was effectively co-designed and co-produced by ESC Dramaturg Jeffrey Wayne Helgeson ) upon the stage of Rogers Park's Heartland Cafe Studio Theatre.

 

It was Darryl Maximilian Robinson's Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago revival stagings of "The Zoo Story" at The Harrison Street Galleries Studio Theatre in Oak Park, Illinois which garnered the most press attention for its cast in 2000, and again when it was remounted in 2001.

 

" ...it seems a reasonable guess that director Darryl Maximilian Robinson has orchestrated the rhythms of both productions with equal aplomb. There is no want of dramatic tension here, and Sandefur and Ketsios get the timing right in the most crucial scenes." -- Darryl Cater, 'Revisiting 'The Zoo' at Harrison Street Studio Theatre,' The Wednesday Journal of Oak Park, Illinois, Wednesday January 26, 2000.

 

 

The winter of 2000 Oak Park revival initially featured a cast of four actors, rotating in the roles of Albee's Jerry and Peter, giving returning audience members a chance to see four different renditions of the work.

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Initially, George Ketsios and Daniel Morgan Shelley appeared as Jerry, and Brad Sandefur and Kevin Peters appeared as Peter.

This quartet of performers were all excellent and did highly credible work. The Oak Park production was also greatly assisted by ESC Co-Producer Andy Carlson who also served as Production Photographer.

Later, from Spring 2000 through Summer of 2001, other fine ESC actors would take the "Journey to Albee's 'Zoo'" on Oak Park's Harrison Street including such talented young actors Daniel Kuhlman, Eric Wetz, Michael Pogue and Michael Cservenak as Jerry and L. C. Satterfield and James T. Alfred as Peter.

 

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Director Darryl Maximilian Robinson is grateful to all of the actors who took on the challenge to portray the roles of Jerry and Peter in his multiple stagings of skilled American playwright Edward Albee's "The Zoo Story" with Excaliber and proudly and happily thanks them for their fine work.

 

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Highlighting A 2000-2001 Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago Featured Alum:

 

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A Jerry, A Clay, And A Horror Storyteller: Actor Daniel Morgan Shelley.

When your humble servant in The Theatre, Darryl Maximilian Robinson, had the great pleasure to direct the young, versatile, talented and chameleon-like actor Daniel Morgan Shelley as a fine Jerry in the 2000 ESC revival run of Edward Albee's "The Zoo Story," and as a passionate Clay in the 2001 ESC revival run of Le Roi Jones's ( Immamu Amiri Baraka's ) "The Dutchman," and briefly as an last-minute replacement as a Featured Performer who presented a powerful dramatic reading of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-tale Heart" in the 2001 ESC encore presentation of "The Raven and Six Other Points of interest" ( all mounted on the intimate and much-missed stage of The Harrison Street Galleries Studio Theatre in Oak Park, Illinois ), he had no idea that he was directing a future BFA Graduate of New York's Julliard School of Acting as well as a future member of AFTRA / SAG and AEA who would work on stage and screen projects across this country.

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Winner of a 2019 Family Times Salt Award for Best Leading Actor In A Professional Play for his performance as Thomas in "Possessing Harriet" at The Syracuse Stage Theatre of New York, Daniel Morgan Shelley has grown and matured to become one of the finest performers to emerge from the Greater Chicago Area Professional Theatre Community. Most recently seen in a 2024 professional regional theatre revival of "The Mountaintop" in Florida, Daniel Morgan Shelley earned strong critical praise for his portrayal of Civil Rights Leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Daniel Morgan Shelley has come a very long way from telling "The Story of Jerry and The Dog" on a one-time storefront theatre stage in Oak Park. The ESC salutes him and wishes him much continued success.

 

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Darryl Maximilian Robinson has become noted as the very first black actor in American Theatre History to portray on stage a trio of classic dramatic roles including: Sir Thomas More in Robert Bolt's "A Man For All Seasons" ( in a 1984 revival presented by The University Players of The University of Missouri-St. Louis and directed by AEA Member John Grassilli at The Benton Hall Theater ); King Henry II in a 1992 multiracial cast revival of James Goldman's "The Lion In Winter" ( directed by Mr. Robinson for his chamber theatre Excaliber Productions, Ltd in St. Louis and staged at The Wabash Triangle Cafe ); and Andrew Wyke ( opposite the talented actor Sean Nix as Milo Tindle ) in a 2000, 30th Anniversary, all-black cast revival of Anthony Shaffer's "Sleuth" presented under Mr. Robinson's direction by his chamber theatre The Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago at The Harrison Street Galleries Studio Theatre of Oak Park, Illinois. Most recently, Darryl Maximilian Robinson was named a winner of a 2022 Making The World Happening Award for his numerous online theatre-related offerings at Allevents.in during the early years of the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

 

https://citizennewspapergroup.com/news/2023/dec/27/chicago-jeff-award-winner-darryl-maximilian-robins/

 

 

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