When it comes to the proud and painful song of American history, many voices are often missing from the choir. Among these muted narratives are the stories of Black women whose contributions to social movements have many times been written out of the official record. Tori Sampson’s Cadillac Crew, playing at Aurora’s Vintage Theatre through Nov. 26, is a defiant refusal to let these women be forgotten. This regional premiere directed by ShaShauna Staton deftly highlights the often-overlooked role of women in the struggle for racial equality during the Civil Rights Movement.
“Cadillac Crew is framed around a speech that Rosa Parks never got to give about rape, which is also a civil rights issue,” Staton says. “It was about consent, which the male leaders did not want any woman to discuss … I had never heard of Cadillac crews before working on this play, but they were real groups of women who drove across the country organizing Black and white women for civil rights.”
These extremely risky operations were organized by Dr. Dorothy Height, an activist who devoted her life to the advancement of Black women. While these heroics may have been excised from history textbooks, the play brings them urgently to life in part by fusing a contemporary connection with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.
“I’ve really enjoyed this story because I love being forced to learn,” says actor Zeah Loren, who plays 1960s activist Dee and BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors. “I learned that the BLM movement was founded by three women, two of whom identify as queer, which I was completely unaware of. The show forces you to question why we just accept the information that’s given to us, whether it’s through the educational system or word of mouth, about our own history.”
Following four women working in the Virginia Office for Civil Rights — played by Loren, Shadiya Lyons, Kenya Mahogany Fashaw and Katelyn Kendrick — Cadillac Crew thrusts us into a world where the fight for racial and gender equality collide.
The play begins optimistically, with activists eagerly anticipating Parks’ arrival to deliver a keynote speech about the importance of including women’s issues in the movement. However, as the day progresses, things begin to turn. On top of receiving irate phone calls and bullets taped to their doors, the women discover male leadership is blocking Parks’ speech because they believe it will be “a distraction,” which comes alongside devastating news that four women in a Cadillac crew were killed in Florida.
“After receiving awful news, you’re seeing a bit of fear, hesitation and fight or flight. You get to see what motivates these women to work for an office dedicated to eradicating class and color segregation,” Loren says. “The climax of Act 1 is all about how far you are willing to go to make the world a better place for future generations.”
Family ties
One of the unique aspects of this production is the multi-generational influence shaping its direction. Staton follows in the footsteps of her father, Denver theater legend Jeffrey Nickelson, who helped build the Shadow Theatre Company to bring African American stories to the stage before his untimely death in 2009.
Vintage Theatre took over the building Shadow operated out of in Aurora after his death, but kept his name on the mainstage theater: the Jeffrey Nickelson Auditorium. Staton’s daughter, Lyons, is also in the cast, forming a familial connection that underscores the play’s theme of legacies and the importance of preserving Black history.
Despite its historical setting, Cadillac Crew stays relevant by addressing issues of erasure, identity and social justice we’re still grappling with today. To that end, the play forces the audience to confront uncomfortable truths and become active participants in the ongoing fight for equality.
“I really hope that white people who consider themselves allies come to see it,” says actor Katelyn Kendrick, one of the production’s only non-Black performers. “I think it’s a great history lesson and touches on things that are culturally important but that we don’t talk about, like mixed families and those racial dynamics. I want the audience to be the same as it is on stage, with people from various backgrounds coming to hear the story and each taking something different away from it.”
In a world that often consigns the narratives of Black women to the shadows, Cadillac Crew stands as a beacon of remembrance. Through Sampson’s eloquent prose and the stellar performances of its cast, the play is a testament to the enduring power of storytelling, working to ensure that these once-forgotten echoes resound loud and clear.
ON STAGE: Cadillac Crew. Various times through Nov. 26, Vintage Theatre, 1468 Dayton St., Aurora. Tickets here.
