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by **James Ijames**directed by **Wardell Julius Clark**
#### February 12 - March 12, 2020 (theatrical) + April 1 - 19, 2020 (remote viewing)
at [TimeLine Theatre,
615 W. Wellington Ave.
*Kill Move Paradise* closed its theatrical performance run on March 12 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, due to the incredible cooperation of artist unions, Dramatists Play Service, and playwright James Ijames, we can now offer a limited number of opportunities to see the show from the comfort of your home, with a week to watch at a time convenient for you, by streaming a previously filmed performance, edited to provide close-ups and full coverage of the staging. If you are a TimeLine Subscriber, you can use your FlexPass admissions as usual for remote viewing. A limited number of remote viewing tickets are also available for the general public.
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Described by playwright James Ijames as “an expressionistic buzz saw through the contemporary myth that ‘all lives matter,’” this *The New York Times* Critic’s Pick play is a powerful and provocative reflection on recent events, illustrating the possibilities of collective transformation and radical acts of joy.
Torn from the world they know without warning, Isa, Daz, Grif, and Tiny discover themselves stuck in a nebulous waiting room in the afterlife. While balancing the reality of their past and the uncertainty of their future, their souls try to find peace from senseless action and hope in the life they left behind.
Inspired by the ever-growing list of slain unarmed black men and women, *Kill Move Paradise* is a portrait of those lost—not as statistics, but as heroes who deserve to be seen for the splendid beings they are.
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### Meet the Artists
Learn more about the cast and production team behind the show.
### Reviews & Features
Catch the buzz, critical praise, and reactions from the audience.
### Discussions & Events
Join us for post-show discussions and other events featuring special guests close to the story and themes explored in *Kill Move Paradise*.
### Explore & Learn
Dive deeper into the world of KILL MOVE PARADISE and peruse videos, photos, and more.
### Cast
*  **Kai A. Ealy \***
  Isa
*  **Charles Andrew Gardner \* +**
  Daz
*  **Trent Davis**
  Tiny
*  **Cage Sebastian Pierre**
  Grif
*  **Donovan Session**
  Tiny (at select performances)
### Production Team
*  **James Ijames**
  Playwright
*  **Jared Bellot ^**
  Dramaturg
  Scenic Designer
  Costume Designer
  Sound Designer and Composer
  Lighting Designer
  Properties Designer
  Movement Choreographer
  Violence and Intimacy Director
  Lobby Display Designer
  Stage Manager
  Assistant Director
  Production Assistant, Young Performer Supervisor
### Understudies
*  **Londen Shannon**
*  **Stephen "Blu" Allen**
*  **Tamarus Harvell**
\* Member of Actors Equity Association
# Member of United Scenic Artists
~ Member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society
+ TimeLine Company Member
^ TimeLine Associate Artist
§ TimeLine Playwrights Collective
### Reviews
* #### Chicago Sun-Times
  February 21, 2020
  ★★★★ “Many works onstage claim to ‘take risks,’ yet most stay within fairly well-established boundaries of storytelling. *Kill Move Paradise* at TimeLine Theatre is one of the few plays to live up to that ambitious claim. … One part existential musing, one part requiem for black lives, one part biting satirical social commentary, this is a unique, hilarious, energetic and unpredictable ride. … **Possibly the most outstanding and singularly risky play you will see this year.**“
  —Sheri Flanders
* #### Chicago Tribune
  ★★★ “Directed with passionate visual panache and visceral emotional force by Wardell Clark … In many moments, **incontrovertibly excellent, the work functions as a declaration that black lives matter, that the bodies you see before you do not deserve this fate, that enough is enough, that there is a problem here that all Americans need to solve.** … If you’ve read me over the years, you’ll know my lifelong position that theater is at its most effective when it brings people together, moves us, challenges us, and makes us see the unseen. Thanks to these actors, and a director willing and able to show us the cost, the performative cost, of just staying alive, the most secure moments of *Kill Move Paradise* do precisely that. I’ve seen numerous plays with this theme over the last few weeks, and this is a vivid addition. **Clark finds many moments of truth and he builds a beautiful ensemble spirit.**“
  —Chris Jones
* #### Chicago Reader
  February 25, 2020
  **READER RECOMMENDED.** “Directed by Wardell Julius Clark with brutal, beautiful, haunting choreography by Breon Arzell, ***Kill Move Paradise* stands at the unicorn-rare intersection of mesmerizing and indispensable.**“
  —Catey Sullivan
* #### Windy City Times
  “A jolting Chicago premiere … **Director [Wardell Julius] Clark and his amazing cast find playful ways to wring as much humor out of *Kill Move Paradise* as possible.** And that’s necessary because Ijames’ script can be a gut-puncher as it pays homage to a long list of African Americans whose lives were brutally cut short.”
  —Scott C. Morgan
* #### Chicago Theatre Review
  **HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.** “**This is a stunning production that will be remembered for years to come.** It’s a play that absolutely must be seen by everyone.”
  —Colin Douglas
* #### Chicago On Stage
  “Its playwright, James Ijames, describes *Kill Move Paradise* as “an expressionistic buzz saw through the contemporary myth that ‘all lives matter.'” Truthfully, while that is certainly accurate, it doesn’t even begin to do justice to the emotional power and existential majesty of the play that is now running at TimeLine Theatre. **This is a piece of theatre unlike any you have ever seen or will likely see again:** an avant-garde exploration of American racism that is at once shocking, painful, hilarious, and deeply personal. … **It is a sharp, multi-bladed knife slicing away any possibility of indifference**, and—especially at this time in history—**a loud and necessary voice for understanding and change.**“
  —Karen Topham
* #### Newcity
  March 2, 2020
  “Wardell Julius Clark’s direction is perfectly matched with [Choreographer Breon] Arzell’s skill for shaping movement. … Clark, along with his talented quartet, have orchestrated one hell of a concert.”
  —Amanda Finn
* #### Spash Magazine
  “Powerful, profound, compelling, challenging … This impactful gut-wrenching drama deals with racial hostility, sacrifice, expiation, martyrdom with revelatory questions directed at themselves and the audience ‘witnesses’. … **TimeLine is a thinking person’s theatre that will have you wrestling with how we perceive our world long after the close of this transformative piece.**“
  —Sue Lillis
* #### Stage and Cinema
  “A compelling Chicago premiere by TimeLine Theatre, Wardell Julius Clark’s 90-minute staging and a quartet of kinetic performances bring Ijames’ afterlife to an angry apotheosis. … **These four performances create a golden gamut. They nail every side of their situation, innocence as much as indignation,** **the full complex loss that was their lives.”**
  —Lawrence Bommer
* #### Picks In Six
  “*Kill Move Paradise*, magnificently cast and directed by Wardell Julius Clark in its Chicago premiere, is **a startling, ambitious and innovative theatrical experience.** … The creative team of Ryan Emens (scenic design), Jason Lynch (lighting design), Jeffrey Levin (sound design and composer) and Izumi Inaba (costumes) creates a rugged and fascinating space between life and death that is as imaginative as the characters.”
  —Ed Tracy
* #### Picture This Post
  February 22, 2020
  **HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.** “*Kill Move Paradise* is **must-see theater** for any and all interested in how theater can not only speak to—but also break through—the paradigms of our time. … Though the set up is tragic, the in-the-moment has **way more fun per line than your average script** … Ensembles don’t come any tighter.”
  —Amy Munice
* #### Let's Play
  “**Gripping and riveting** … TimeLine Theatre presents a story that is bold and conceptual … [Director Wardell Julius] Clark puts together a very talented group of men.”
  —Rick and Brenda McCain
* #### Third Coast Review
  ★★★★ “*Kill Move Paradise* is richly imaginative and visually stunning.”
  —Nancy Bishop
* #### Around the Town Chicago
  February 23, 2020
  ★★★★ “Talk about power! **This is 90 amazing minutes** … A highly energetic show with a strong moral and four powerful actors.”
  —Alan Bresloff
### Features
* #### Rolling Out
  “By the end of the play, I want there to be a sense of hopefulness and in that hopefulness an understanding of the sheer volume of work we have left to do as a culture.”
  Tony Binns of *Rolling Out* interviews playwright James Ijames about the Chicago premiere of his play *Kill Move Paradise*.
* ##### KILL MOVE PARADISE Online Discussions
  **April 6 • April 14 • April 22**
  Join a FREE online video conference with members of the KILL MOVE PARADISE artistic team.
### Audience Reactions
* > INCREDIBLE SHOW!!! Thank you so much for supporting this beautiful art.
* > YOU MUST SEE THIS SHOW. YOU. MUST. If you miss this, you're seriously missing out on the experience of a lifetime. And that's on PERIODT!!!
* > The work that is on that stage is a GIFT!!
* > Gorgeous and heart-breaking and empowering and devastating and inspiring, all at the same time.
* > I am so incredibly proud to have been in the room for this production. I wept, I laughed, I got angry, I wept again, I shouted, I clapped and I wept some more. This play put my body through every single emotion it could muster.
Torn from the world they know without warning, Grif (Cage Sebastian Pierre, from left), Isa (Kai A. Ealy), and Daz (Charles Andrew Gardner) find themselves stuck in a cosmic waiting room.
Photo by Lara Goetsch
Kai A. Ealy is Isa in KILL MOVE PARADISE.
Cage Sebastian Pierre is Grif in KILL MOVE PARADISE.
Torn from the world they know without warning, Grif (Cage Sebastian Pierre, from left), Daz (Charles Andrew Gardner), and Isa (Kai A. Ealy) find themselves stuck in a cosmic waiting room.
In the face of senseless action, Grif (Cage Sebastian Pierre, from left), Isa (Kai A. Ealy), and Daz (Charles Andrew Gardner) try to find peace together.
Isa (Kai A. Ealy, from left), Grif (Cage Sebastian Pierre), and Daz (Charles Andrew Gardner) find themselves stuck in a cosmic waiting room.
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“One of the classiest and most consistently talented ensembles on the Off-Loop theatre scene.” — Newcity
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“History: gossip well told.” — Elbert Hubbard
“Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.” — Edmund Burke
“People tend to forget that the word 'history' contains the word 'story.'” — Ken Burns
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