Classical Queens: Our Time

In the musical stage production CLASSICAL QUEENS: Our Time, classical music, rap, poetry, and dance converge in an exciting theatrical experience that defies traditional orchestral norms. The show’s storyline explores the untold stories of two groundbreaking Black women composers, Florence Price and Margaret Bonds, and their unlikely friendship during Chicago’s Black Renaissance in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Set against an inventive and original orchestral commission that blends electronic, trap, and orchestral music with an added dynamic layer of the moving orchestra, CLASSICAL QUEENS delivers a new way to experience theatre, dance, classical, and popular music—and takes the audience on an emotional journey into music history as never seen before onstage. Composer Cassidy Siobhan Robinson, Emcee Trey Carlisle, Track Creator Jün Campion, Co-Director/ Choreographers Meridian Negilski and Mungo Ligoya, Lighting Designer Rachael Harned with Co-Concept Creator Sarah Decker.

Commissioned by the Morrison Center.

Run Time: 90 minutes

*Trigger Warning: Some discussion of violence and mental health issues. No violence will be portrayed on stage.