ISHMAEL REED’S
the haunting of
lin-manuel miranda
Presented by LOOKOUT LIVE
in collaboration with
NEXT EXIT PRODUCTIONS, CHATTANOOGA FESTIVALS OF BLACK ARTS & IDEAS, and SCENIC CITY SHAKESPEARE
CAST
AMIR ANDALIB / Lin-Manuel Miranda
ARCHE TWITTY / Agent
RODNEY STRONG / George Washington
ELIJAH BROOKS-DAVIS / Alexander Hamilton
MARVIN PARKS / Ben
ASHLEY NOEL / Negro Woman & Harriet Tubman
ANGEL ESTRADA / Native American
MIXY MIXON / Indentured Servant
MARCUS PRICE / Ron Chernow
TANESSA McRAE / Venus & Diana
CREW
KASHUN PARKS - Co-director (Next Exit Productions)
RIC MORRIS - Co-director (Chattanooga Festivals of Black Arts & Ideas)
RYAN LASKOWSKI - Technical Director (Scenic City Shakespeare)
COURTENAY CHOLOVICH - Producer (Lookout Live/Lookout Comedy)
MARVIN PARKS - Assistant Director
KARLEE MING - Stage Manager
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Bringing this production to life has been an extraordinary journey—one fueled by collaboration, courage, and creativity. It’s rare to witness so many theatre companies come together in such unity, and I hope this show serves as a testament to the strength we hold when we choose partnership.
This piece gave us the opportunity to honor real-life individuals whose stories have often been overlooked. It was a privilege to work with both fresh faces and seasoned actors—each lending their voice to bring dignity, depth, and truth to these characters.
We also made a deliberate choice to reimagine traditional casting. In the spirit of works like Hamilton, we cast Black actors in roles historically portrayed as white—not to erase, but to reclaim space and spark new conversations. It’s a choice rooted in vision, purpose, and power.
Thank you for joining us.
—Kashun Parks, Co- Director
PLAYWRIGHT’S STATEMENT
PLAYWRIGHT’S STATEMENT:
WHOSE HAMILTON?
The creation of "The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda" occurred accidentally. A 1981 film I co-produced, "Personal Problems," was to be shown at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. Because of the Covid outbreak, it was canceled. I had planned to go from New York to Washington by Amtrak, which gave me a refund. Still, it was too late to cancel hotel and airline reservations for my daughter and my spouse, Carla Blank, who has directed many of my plays in the United States and one of my plays in China, besides directing a play in Ramallah and collaborating with such theater luminaries as Robert Wilson, director of the five-act work, "the CIVIL warS.
I told Rome Neal, who has directed my plays since the 1990s that I'd been working on a script about Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical "Hamilton," in which the founding fathers and Hamilton's father-in-law, General Philip Schuyler, and his daughters were played by minority actors. Though Miranda and historian Ron Chernow, author of the biography "Alexander Hamilton," his acknowledged source for the content of the "Hamilton" musical, cast Hamilton as someone who was concerned about the oppressed, Hamilton was involved in slave trafficking all of his life from the time of his youth in the Caribbean when he inherited slaves and had a job grooming Africans for resale, to the time that he owned and sold slaves as a resident of New York.
Ironically, inaugural poet Amanda Gorman would praise "Hamilton" and announce that she referred to the musical in her inaugural poem. When my criticism of the play was repeated during her Vogue magazine interview, she said Ishmael is "intense." A critic of the play, Lyra Monteiro, was among those who pointed to Hamilton's sale of a Black woman and her child for over 200 dollars. He left receipts!
Despite Miranda's attempt to depict the Schuyler sisters as progressive feminists, they grew up in a household where slaves received cruel treatment, according to an examination of their remains by a forensic team. The usual excuse for the sisters, like the plantation mistresses of the South, is that they didn't know what was happening. In his play, "The Escape; Or, a Leap for Freedom," written in 1855 by William Wells Brown, a fugitive slave, the mistress of the plantation household, Mrs. Gaines, could use the cowhide against the enslaved as vigorously as the master of the house, who was bedding down as many enslaved women that were available. Indeed, some white women in the South engaged in slave trafficking themselves, according to Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers. But by contrast, I'm waiting for someone to make a film about the Richmond Bread Riots (March 1863), when one thousand armed white women rose against the Confederate army only to be threatened with a massacre by Jefferson Davis. These and other stories fall through the cracks of the American curriculum, where everything is made heroic, noble, and admirable. That's where the playwright, the poet, and the novelist come in. The stage since ancient times is where a writer can tackle issues of the day and respond to the official version of reality handed down by the state or the oligarchy. Off-off-Broadway theater doesn't require the millions of dollars to make a film.
However, there came a backlash against my play, from the initial reading of the play to the full production at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, with angry letters and comments in The New York Times, Broadway World, Vice News, and even NPR's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me." I received a fair hearing on "The View." "The New York Times finally printed the smoking gun on November 11, 2020:
"Alexander Hamilton, Enslaver? New Research Says Yes"
"A paper by a researcher at the Schuyler Mansion finds overlooked evidence in letters and Hamilton's own account books indicating that he bought, sold and personally owned slaves."
Miranda's reply to my criticisms and those of others was weak. In a tweet, he wrote that he had such a task in treating complex that he didn't have the room to include Hamilton's history as a slave trafficker because it would have challenged the premise upon which the musical was based, the fib that Hamilton was an abolitionist? Or that the Schuyler sisters were feminists. He said @Lin_Manuel:
"All the criticisms are valid. The sheer tonnage of complexities & failings of these people I couldn't get. Or wrestled with but cut. I took 6 years and fit as much as I could in a 2.5 hour musical. Did my best. It's all fair game."
This is like adapting Melville's Moby Dick and omitting the whale. The whale, in this case, was the reputation of Hamilton as a slave trafficker.
Though "Hamilton" has become part of the American school curriculum, Miranda didn't receive a rapturous reception at the University of Puerto Rico when it was performed in San Juan in 2019. The students asked why Miranda created a musical about Hamilton, whom they called an Imperialist, and not about Harriet Tubman, whose picture he kept off the twenty-dollar bill. These students must have read Hamilton's position on the Haitian slave revolt. The reputed abolitionist Hamilton sided with the French slaveholders.
Three women historians, Lyra Monteiro, Nancy Isenberg, and Michelle DuRoss, exposed the myth of Hamilton as an abolitionist. I merely staged their ideas and those of others.
Dr. Lyra D. Monteiro noted that three minority actors play white, slave-owning current or future presidents — obscuring "the white supremacist origins of our country." "It's a musical about the mythology of the ruling class — that anybody can join it," said the Rutgers professor.
Historian Nancy Isenberg wrote: "Miranda went further than Chernow in trying to reshape Hamilton into a progressive to celebrate President Barack Obama, portraying the Founding Father into someone hip and multicultural." She notes he once bought two enslaved people for $250. "Imagine if one of the songs in the musical was '$250,'" she said. "This would make everyone in the audience squirm and scream and completely undermine the heroic message and the progressive Hamilton that they want and crave."
Michele DuRoss, a professor at the University at Albany, State University of New York, wrote: "Alexander Hamilton's biographers praise Hamilton for being an abolitionist, but they have overstated Hamilton's stance on slavery." Historian John C. Miller insisted, "He [Hamilton] advocated one of the most daring invasions of property rights that was ever made-- the abolition of Negro slavery.[1] Biographer Forest McDonald maintained, "Hamilton was an abolitionist, and on that subject, he never wavered." [2] Hamilton's position on slavery is more complex than his biographers suggest. Hamilton was not an advocate of slavery, but when the issue of slavery came into conflict with his ambitions, his belief in property rights, or his belief of what would promote America's interests, Hamilton chose those goals over opposing slavery....During the eighteenth century, a large number of upper-class Americans held enslaved people. When Hamilton had to make a choice between his social ambitions and his desire to free slaves, he opted to follow his ambitions." Professor Joanne Freeman of Yale defended the musical. She and some other academics who defended "Hamilton" were on the Hamilton payroll. I asked her how much she was paid. She never answered.
For Hamilton, Black slaves were in the same category as farm animals. He accused the British of "stealing negroes from their owners." His attitudes toward Native Americans were worse. In one letter, he celebrated the massacre of Native Americans. But like the Christians who wish to end the safety net for the needy, he and his father-in-law, Phillip Schuyler, were hypocrites. They were even members of the New York Manumission Society, which his father founded, while the old man hunted down fugitive slaves.
Isenberg, DuRoss, and Monteiro are courageous women. They join Native American, Hispanic, and Black historians like the late Lerone Bennett Jr. in challenging the good old boy and girls' Historical establishment.
Miranda, a sympathetic character in my play who was misled by a curriculum like the rest of us, says that his "Hamilton," a billion-dollar property, is relevant to these times. He has a point. Hamilton wanted an elected king to rule. When that king died, another king would rule the government we have now, where the president says he rules not only the United States but also the world. Well, an Emperor.
The brave Lookout Players, the multicultural historians, the artists, playwrights, and novelists who challenge the country's official history are like Tom Witzky, played by Kevin Bacon, in the 1999 film "Stir of Echoes," in which Witzky insists that there is a corpse behind a basement wall. Nobody believed him, but he was right. He was telling the truth.
Those who wish to coast along with a make-believe version of history that has created generation after generation of bigots are standing between the new historians and that wall behind which there is an ugly entity that must be exposed to tell the truth of our history.
The Gospel of John, Chapter 8, Verse 32 says: "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
— Ishmael Reed
(Playwright, City of Chattanooga Poet Laureate Emeritus)
CAST
AMIR ANDALIB - Lin-Manuel Miranda
Amir Andalib is 34 years old and works full-time at The Howard School where he supports students with Social, Emotional & Academic Development. He is also a local poet who has performed at The Hunter Art Museum and most recently The Barking Legs Theatre. In addition, Amir is married and a Father to 2 boys (5 & 12). This is his first leading role.
TANESSA McRAE - Venus / Diana
Tanessa McRae an actress stepping into her third production, having previously brought stories to life in Vagina Monologues and For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide But Moved to the End of Their Own Rainbows. Outside the stage, she’s an esthetician, yoga instructor, doula herbalist, and proud mom—passionate about holistic wellness and the transformative power of storytelling.
MARCUS PRICE - Ron Chernow
Marcus Price, a Chattanooga native, is a devoted husband, father of three, entrepreneur, and motivational speaker. Marcus inspires others through his powerful story of resilience and redemption. He is the owner of Chosen’s Pressure Washing and Mobile Auto Detailing. Marcus embodies transformation through purpose and hard work. He’s also a seasoned stage actor, using storytelling to connect to audiences.
ANGEL ESTRADA - Native American
Angel Fraire Estrada was born in Mexico and grew up in Georgia. He is currently a student at UTC and is working towards his doctorate in Physics. Angel works as a machinist and enjoys motorcycling and playing music. This will be his first experience with acting, but is very excited and grateful for the opportunity.
MIXY MIXON - Indentured Servant
Mixy Mixon is an actor, playwright, and director from Chattanooga, TN. They earned their Bachelor's in Theater with a curricular certificate in Playwriting from Sewanee: The University of the South in 2021 where they were award the Tennessee Williams Fellowship in the Arts. Mixy has been working professionally in the Chattanooga area for five years. Appearing in dynamic roles such as Kaliope in She Kills Monsters, Janet Weiss in Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Ophelia in Hamlet. Mixy currently collaborates with several production companies within the Chattanooga area as well as Barking Legs Theater. Mixy will premiere their original play Night & Day with Seed Theater on May 23rd and 24th at Barking Legs Theater.
ASHLEY NOEL - Negro Woman / Harriet Tubman
Ashley Noel is a regional actor based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She has performed in numerous productions with local theatres, such as the play Southbridge. She also has a bachelor's in African-American studies. Ashley is committed to her craft and aspires to expand his career into film and television while continuing to contribute to the vibrant Chattanooga Theatre scene.
ELIJAH BROOKS-DAVIS - Alexander Hamilton
Elijah Brooks-Davis, a theater major from the University of the South, returns to the stage after a decade dedicated to educating youth and exploring diverse life paths. He is thrilled to make his theatrical comeback in the role of Alexander Hamilton, bringing renewed passion to the performance.
ARCHE TWITTY - Agent
Scenic City Shakespeare and Next Exit company member Arche Twitty is excited to be a part of this production of artistry and honesty. Arche would like to thank Lookout Live for bringing Mr. Ishmael Reed's production to Chattanooga and hopes that it provokes more conversations about the importance of truth in art and history.
RODNEY STRONG - George Washington
Rodney is veteran actor, stage manager and director who has worked on many Chattanooga stages since his first role in Cyrano de Bergerac at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre in 1990. He most recently worked as Assistant Stage Manager on Dreamgirls at CTC. He, also, appeared on stage as Deputy Dindon in La Cage Aux Folles last summer at CTC. Other favorite on stage roles at CTC include Maurice (3 times) in Beauty and the Beast, Norman Bulansky in The Boys Next Door, Van Helsing in Dracula, Mr. Carns in Oklahoma, Arvide Abernathy in Guys and Dolls and Eli Whitney in Anything Goes. Other favorite roles at other venues include Dr. Chumley in Harvey, Huckabee in The Fantasticks, Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing and Grandpa in Ragtime The Musical. Rodney has stage managed numerous productions including Evita, Spamalot, Hairspray, Little Shop of Horrors and Ain’t Misbehavin’. He has directed Godspell, The Miracle Worker, The Rainmaker, You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown and other shows. Rodney is married to Lynn and appreciates her support over the years of his theatrical endeavors.
CREATIVE TEAM
RICARDO C. MORRIS - Co-director (CHATTANOOGA FESTIVALS OF BLACK ARTS AND IDEAS)
Ricardo C. Morris is a native of Chattanooga and attended Clifton Hills, Calvin Donaldson, G. Russel Brown, St. Elmo elementary schools; Alton Park Junior High School and is a 1980 graduate of Howard High School. Mr. Morris continued his Tiger tradition by attended Tennessee State University where he received his B.A. degree in Speech Communication and Theater. After graduation Ricardo taught Theater, English and Dance for 8 years at Hixson High. In 1994 Ric left teaching to attend Yale University where he earned a Masters in Fine Arts (MFA) in Arts Administration. While attending Yale, Ric founded the Dwight/Edgewood Project which worked with disadvantaged youth through play writing and production. This program earned him the honor of being the first School of Drama student to become a Yale Presidential Fellow.
Ric is currently the Theatre Arts & Public Speaking teacher at The Howard School. He is also the owner and CEO of Renaissance Consulting and Management. Renaissance Consulting & Management is an administration consulting firm committed to aid in the sustainability of nonprofit organizations particularly those working in the arts.
Ric is the Founder and CEO of Chattanooga Neighborhoods Arts Partnership, a 501 (c)(3) that he started in 2016. The mission of the ChattaNAP is to utilize the arts to improve the quality of life for ALL residents of the Greater Chattanooga; particularly those living in underserved areas. His strategy is to do so one neighborhood at a time. The organization is best known for its program the Chattanooga Festival of Black Arts & Ideas: Juneteenth Independence Day.
Prior positions include: Executive Director of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in Birmingham, Alabama; and the Harris Arts Center in Calhoun, Georgia; founder of Wesleyan University’s Green Street Arts Center in Middletown, Connecticut. He was the creator of: Chattanooga CultureFest which he ran for 3 years; The Taste of 4th Avenue Jazz Festival which has taken place in the Historic Fourth Avenue Black Business District for 17 years; and The International String Band Festival in Calhoun, GA.
As an artist Ric considers himself a dancer/actor/director and has appeared in several productions at the Chattanooga Theater Center including: playing the Lion in The Wiz, Hello Dolly, A Chorus Line, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. He has directed: A Streetcar Named Desire; Pearl Cleage’s Blues for an Alabama Sky and Bourbon at the Boarder, August Wilson’s Fences, James Baldwin’s The Amen Corner, and The Color Purple. His hobbies include cooking, gardening, traveling and home improvement.
KASHUN PARKS - Co-director (NEXT EXIT PRODUCTIONS)
Kashun Parks is a bold and multifaceted theatre artist who thrives on stories that challenge, disrupt, and spark conversation. She recently appeared as Nia in Intersextions (Next Exit Productions) and is currently stepping into the role of Beatrice in Scenic City Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. As a director, Kashun brings vision and intention to every project, from the independently produced The Vagina Monologues to festival favorites like Love Bites and full productions like Doubt and Daughters of the Moon. She holds a BS in Theatre, an MBA in HR Management, and a certification in Organizational Development. Kashun proudly serves as Creative Director of Next Exit Productions.
RYAN LASKOWSKI - Technical Director (SCENIC CITY SHAKESPEARE)
Ryan Laskowski is a local actor, director, and designer most known for his work as Founder and Artistic Director of Scenic City Shakespeare. An alumnus of Center for Creative Arts and Chattanooga State’s Professional Actor Training Program, Ryan has been involved in countless local productions. He was also a founding member of the Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga. Memorable roles on stage include, The Modern Major General in Pirates of Penzance(CSRT), Nicky in Avenue Q (ETC), and Touchstone in As You Like It(SCS). You may also have seen his work as a designer or director in recent productions of The Vagina Monologues, For Colored Girls (NoogaVision), and Scenic City Shakespeare’s 2024 production of Macbeth. In addition to his work on productions, Ryan serves on the Board of Barking Legs Theatre and Culture Books Chattanooga and is a member of the 2025 River City Company Emerging Producers Cohort. Ryan would like to thank Courtenay for the opportunity to be involved with this production, Ishmael Reed for his incomparable ability to cut through the BS, and Ripken for holding down the fort through back to back Tech Weeks.
MARVIN PARKS - Assistant Director / Ben
Marvin is continuing his journey into theater by working with emerging directors with a keen artistic eye. He recently contributed as a sound designer and stage manager for The Vagina Monologues (directed by Kashun Parks) and now makes his assistant directing debut with The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda. Passionate about storytelling and innovative theater, Marvin brings fresh perspective and creative energy to every project. He is excited to collaborate with this talented group on this bold production and continue growing as a visionary director.
KARLEE MING - Stage Manager
Karlee Ming is a stage manager and actor born in Taiwan and raised between Alabama and Tennessee. As a theatre student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, they have worked on several UTC Theatre Co. productions, both on and backstage, including 9 to 5 and Blood Wedding. They’ve also been a storyteller for Cast Iron Storytelling and just originated the role of Jo in InterseXtions.
COURTENAY GILLEAN CHOLOVICH - Producer (LOOKOUT LIVE)
Courtenay Cholovich (Producer, Lookout Live) is a performance arts practitioner - performer, director, writer, educator, community organizer, and producer - whose work exists on the fringes, the borderlands, the boundaries. She works to bring communities together in nontraditional spaces through nontraditional means - or by subverting traditional spaces and means for new purposes. Courtenay holds a BFA in Acting from the University of Florida and an MFA in Performance from Arizona State. She is the COO of Lookout Live, the 501(c)(3) home of Lookout Comedy. Courtenay is grateful for continued opportunities to collaborate with local arts and community orgs, including Next Exit Productions, Scenic City Shakespeare, Chattanooga Festivals of Black Arts & Ideas, CTC, Ensemble Theatre, Obvious Dad, Southern Exposure, Seed Theatre, CALEB, CoPAC, and River City Company.
PRODUCER’S NOTE
I know how theatre happens. I don’t know WHY it happens.
There is absolutely no reason why it should. People should not spend hours of every day learning to say words that aren’t theirs to repeat ad nauseum in front of a live crowd. People should not take time out of their daily, hectic lives to conjure up costumes, sets, lights, sound cues, projections, and props to tell a story that could probably be summed up in about 30 seconds over the course of an hour and a half night after night (following countless nights of rehearsing that recounting over and over and over). There is no magic spell that forces actors to say the right lines or sing on pitch or that causes the lights to go up and down at the correct times. It’s very difficult to make all of those things happen. Like…stupid difficult. And then you do it, and then…it’s done. That’s it. Poof. Nothing to show for it but maybe some fun pictures and definitely some weird inside jokes.
Doing it makes no sense. None. At all.
And yet, there are stories that refuse to remain untold. There are stories that are wrapped in other stories, stories about other stories, stories with too many layers and nuances for mere words to convey.
And so, here we are. Doing a play, and not ONLY a play, but a play that was written IN RESPONSE TO ANOTHER PLAY. It’s so…odd.
It’s also odd thinking of myself as this show’s “producer” when, in truth, it was a trajectory of events and a happenstance of incredible fortune/folx, mostly outside of my control, that ultimately led us here. Perhaps it can best be illustrated in a (truncated) timeline:
2017: I move to Chattanooga and start getting involved in the local theatre scene as an actor
2018: I start doing stand-up comedy at JJ’s Bohemia and meet Donnie Marsh, founder of Lookout Comedy; I also direct my first local show and meet Ric Morris through Chattanooga Theater Centre
2019: I meet Ryan Laskowski and Emma Collins of Scenic City Shakespeare and Kashun Parks, actress extraordinaire
2020: Some insane thing happens and I end up trapped in my apartment for a really long time, and during this time I discover Chattanooga-born author (and then some) Ishmael Reed via an online book club with some local comics and do some RIDICULOUSLY elaborate e-theatre with aforementioned SCS folx and also with Kashun through Muse of Fire
2021: I see HAMILTON for the first time, on Disney+. I think it’s okay. I continue digging into the works of Ishmael Reed…
2022: …including his play, THE HAUNTING OF LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA. Woah. I continue working with Ryan and Kashun on various productions and become a producer of the Lookout Comedy Festival.
2023: I meet Jason Tinney and Holly Morse-Ellington of Next Exit Productions, for whom Kashun would become Creative Director. Around this same time, I have a meeting with Fallon Clark of Noogavision. Her work inspires me to dig up HAUNTING and puts me to percolating.
2024: I’m part of the River City Company’s Emerging Producers program (for which Ric Morris was a mentor) for the Lookout Festival, leading to us incorporating as a 501(c)3 - Lookout Live. It is also then that I learn the Broadway tour of HAMILTON is coming to Chattanooga the following spring. I reach out to Ishmael Reed’s agent for rights and am granted them, free of charge. Mr. Reed himself gets in touch and tells me he is going to be named Chattanooga’s poet laureate emeritus that March. I run into Ric at the Emerging Producers finale event and ask his thoughts. He says, “It has to happen.” I have a phone call with James McKissic of Arts Build and Shane Morrow of RISE and ask their thoughts. They say, “It has to happen.”
And it does have to happen. But I can’t do it. No way. Noooooo. Way. No. Nope. No. I can’t.
But - because I have been lucky enough to meet and work with some of Chattanooga theatre’s finest - I know who can.
2025: The DREAM TEAM comes together - Ric, Kashun, and Ryan come on board as co-directors and technical director, respectively. Fallon Clark once again plays an instrumental role in jump-starting our collaborative juices. Ric suggests the auditorium at Howard High - where ISHMAEL REED’S MOTHER WENT TO SCHOOL Y’ALL - as our performance space. A fantastic cast is casted - pulled from local regulars on various stages to new-and-newish-comers from our collective circles. Kashun’s husband, Marvin, is taken with the work and becomes both assistant director AND actor. Grant support from Arts Build and The Unfoundation build up our budget. We manage to snag Karlee Ming as our stage manager (THANK GOODNESS). I get in touch with Carmen Davis, the city’s Director of Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy, who facilitates a cast and crew sit down with ISHMAEL REED HIMSELF at Howard. They block the movement. They learn the lines. We have meetings. We post posts. We do interviews. We put together all the things that make the thing. People (you!) ACTUALLY BUY TICKETS to this madness.
And here we are.
I still don’t know why it happens. I have no idea why all these wonderful people said “yes” to this absolutely insane idea from an upstart producer with a fledging nonprofit and a loud mouth and a propensity to overshare (see all of the above). I know at least, now, that I will never really know why, and that is part of the magic of it all - of theatre, of stories, of life. It isn’t about the answers; it’s about the conversation.
Thank you for being part of the conversation with us. Your voice, your presence - it could just be that you are the very thing that is holding this all together.
Courtenay Cholovich - Producer (Lookout Live)
This production was brought to life with support from
