Not Your Mama's Bus Tour (continued)

 

The bus chugged along the city streets with Gregory and Curly providing commentary along the way. The bus stopped five times for site-specific scenes. Each time, the audience exited the bus and interacted with the performers, who introduced them to their Chicago. History, politics, literature, sociology, and medicine courses were all offered in a 2-1/2 hour period.

Lorenzia Shelby and Joe Harding pause to remember the Grant Park riots of 1968.

The first scene was set in a park along Michigan Avenue, a little north of the Chicago Hilton. Two men, one old and one young, played chess and discussed the 1968 riots during the Democratic National Convention. The elder man, who was a groundskeeper at the time, described his dismay at the havoc the riots wrought on his carefully manicured parklands. The younger touchingly described how the bravery of the "hippies" helped him stand up to gang members at a crucial and life-changing moment.

Another scene took place on the front sidewalk of Malcolm X College. Nia exercised her right to talk about, or not, a series of words. Prompted in the game to discuss her thoughts on "Drugs," Nia replied, "I have only one thing to say about drugs. I have never used them, yet I still became homeless."