ISHMAEL REED’S

the haunting of

lin-manuel miranda

Presented by LOOKOUT LIVE, NEXT EXIT PRODUCTIONS, and SCENIC CITY SHAKESPEARE

with grant support from ARTS BUILD, the TENNESSEE ARTS COMMISSION, and the SANKOFA FUND FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

DEDICATION FROM PLAYWRIGHT ISHMAEL REED:

“I wish to dedicate all of my Chattanooga projects to Grace Sheridan Grote, who died in 1942. Both my grandmother and mother worked for her and her husband. She was there for us as we lived through family tragedies. Her brother-in-law, a professor at the University of Chattanooga, invented Rolaids. Thanks, Ishmael”

CAST

AMIR ANDALIB / Lin-Manuel Miranda

ARCHE TWITTY / Agent

THOM RAY / George Washington

ELIJAH BROOKS-DAVIS / Alexander Hamilton

MARVIN PARKS / Ben

ASHLEY NOEL / Negro Woman

NNEKA IJEOMA / Harriet Tubman

ANGEL ESTRADA / Native American

GRACE HOLTZ / Indentured Servant

MARCUS PRICE / Ron Chernow

ASHLEY TISDALE / Venus & Diana

CREW

MARVIN PARKS - Director (Next Exit Productions)

KASHUN PARKS - Assistant Director (Next Exit Productions)

RYAN LASKOWSKI - Technical Director (Scenic City Shakespeare)

COURTENAY CHOLOVICH - Producer (Lookout Live/Lookout Comedy)

DESHANEE THOMAS - Stage Manager

featuring musical composition by LELAND DANTZLER

DIRECTORS’ NOTES

This production is my conversation with history—one that refuses to stay quiet. My research into founding myths, American exceptionalism, and the voices erased in their telling led me to approach The Haunting this time not as a correction, but as a reckoning.

This version leans into contradiction: liberty beside bondage, genius beside exploitation, and progress haunted by its cost, while allowing the satire to stand out through refined performances.

As a new director, I have been deeply supported by my wife, Kashun Parks, whose expertise, clarity, and theatrical instincts grounded this process. Working side-by-side with her—while stepping into the role of Ben myself—gave me a new appreciation for the work from within the play. Acting while directing sharpened my empathy for the cast and strengthened my commitment to truthful, embodied storytelling.

This production asks the audience not just to watch, but to reckon—to sit with discomfort, listen closely, and question which stories we choose to celebrate. I am grateful to have worked with such a talented group of individuals who contributed to this wonderful work of performance art.

Best regards,

- Marvin Parks (Director, Ben)

***

This production marks a full-circle moment for me.

When The Haunting was first produced, I had the honor of co-directing alongside Ricardo Morris. That process stretched me, challenged me, and reminded me why I fell in love with theatre in the first place. Together, we made intentional casting choices that centered black actors in roles traditionally portrayed as white, drawing inspiration from works like Hamilton, where history is reimagined through a contemporary lens. That choice shaped the soul of the piece and continues to inform it.

This time, returning as assistant director and casting director, and collaborating with my husband, Marvin Parks, allowed me to see the play with fresh eyes. New actors have stepped into these roles with clarity and courage, bringing new life and nuance, while returning actors have deepened the world we built together. The growth of this piece mirrors the growth of the artists involved, myself included.

I am deeply proud of both iterations of The Haunting, and profoundly grateful for every artist, collaborator, and supporter who has helped carry this story forward. Theatre is a living thing, and it has been a joy to witness this work continue to breathe, evolve, and haunt us in all the right ways.

- Kashun Parks (Assistant Director, Casting Director)

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 a Chattanooga Native, Poet, Actor and Teacher at The Historic Howard School. Where he leads Social Emotional Learning. Amir previously debuted in the role of Lin Manuel-Miranda last May, and is incredibly honored to have been asked to reprise the role. He hopes the play will spark local activism & a deeper will to fight for a better future, here in Chattanooga. 

ASHLEY TISDALE - Venus / Diana

Ashley is very please to be joining to HAUNTING cast in their return of the Chattanooga show. Her past professional productions include, Lear (Cordelia), Oh Righteous God and Sinful Me (Bridget Marino), Revolt! She Said, Revolt Again (Ensemble), The Shadow Kids (Niko Brown), Death of a Salesman (Mrs.Forsythe/Jenny). Additional credits: Chicago (Ensemble/June University of Tennessee Chattanooga) Cats (Jennyanydots). Special thanks to Emmie, Mom, Dad, brothers and Thomas for your constant encouragement and support! @the_ashleyliza

MARCUS PRICE - Ron Chernow

A Chattanooga native and father of 3, 2 boys & 1 girl, and Proud Owner and operator of Chosen’s Pressure Washing and Mobile Auto Detailing. Marcus brings heart, authenticity, and a powerful sense of purpose to the stage. Marcus has been in several theatrical stage performances. He is no stranger to storytelling, having shared his voice through speaking engagements, personal testimony, and community-centered work. Grounded in faith and shaped by real-life experiences, he approaches this role with humility, courage, and deep gratitude. Marcus is honored to be part of this production and believes this opportunity is a God-ordained step in his creative journey. He hopes his performance resonates with audiences and reflects the beauty of growth, grace, and resilience.

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. HAUNTING is his first experience with acting, but is very excited and grateful for the opportunity.

GRACE HOLTZ - Indentured Servant

Grace Holtz grew up an only child so her thirst for attention is bottomless thus, she naturally fell into acting and performance. She moved to Chattanooga in 2008 to achieve a BA in Theatre from UTC. Some of her most recent roles include Intersextions (Mary Margaret, 2025), Lear (Edmund, 2023), Gruesome Playground Injuries (Kayleen, 2022), You Got Older (Mae, 2021),and is honored to add The Haunting (Indentured Servant, 2026) to the list. Her knowledge of history and acting has grown through this experience.

ASHLEY NOEL - Negro Woman with Child

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 her career into film and television while continuing to contribute to the vibrant Chattanooga theatre scene.

NNEKA IJEOMA - Harriet Tubman

Nneka Ijeoma is a classically trained actor and performance artist from Rochester, NY. She has worked with Chattanooga Theatre Centre, Obvious Dad, Scenic City Shakespeare, and Next Exit on previous local productions. She is known for her love of wine education and stand-up comedy. Free Congo.

ELIJAH BROOKS-DAVIS - Alexander Hamilton

Elijah Brooks-Davis, is a graduate from Sewanee, University of the South’s theater program and an educator full-time and server of the community. Elijah as a passion for the Arts and honored to be reprising the role of Hamilton in this show. 

ARCHE TWITTY - Agent

Arche Twitty is a lover of words, great stories, and (theatrical) drama.  Having caught the acting bug in 2022, Arche has had the honor of sharing the stage and learning from some of the city's most talented actors and directors. Arche is honored to reprise his role as The Agent in Ishmael Reed’s historical truth, and to bring this important piece to life with such an amazing cast.

THOM RAY - George Washington

Thom Ray began his acting career portraying “Julius” in Chattanooga Theatre Centre’s performance of Prelude to a Kiss. Thom earned “Best Actor in a Debut Performance” for CTC’s 2024 season. Bitten by the theatre bug, he has appeared in several more plays in the Chattanooga area at Oak Street Playhouse, Barking Legs Theatre, and Next Exit Productions. Thom has also worked as background/extra roles in several films and television series. A native of Speedway, IN, Thom is a graduate of Indiana University #GoHoosiers. Thom is also an avid golfer and fisherman. He now resides in Soddy Daisy, TN.

CREATIVE TEAM

MARVIN PARKS - Director / Ben (NEXT EXIT PRODUCTIONS)

Marvin is artist whose recent work spans directing, performance, and technical design. After more than two decades as a steadfast supporter of his wife’s work in theater, he formally stepped into the performing arts within the past few years and quickly established himself as a versatile and committed collaborator. In 2024, Marvin served as Executive Producer, Stage Manager, and Sound Designer for The Vagina Monologues, overseeing both creative and logistical elements of the production. In early 2025, he joined The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda as Assistant Director, contributing to the development of the production’s vision and execution. That same year, he worked as Light and Sound Technician for Intersextions, further expanding his technical expertise. Marvin went on to direct the second run of The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda, while also performing the role of Ben in both productions of the play. His work is grounded in a deep respect for storytelling, history, and the collaborative process, with a growing focus on socially engaged and culturally resonant theater. Though newer to formal arts practice, Marv brings decades of lived experience, leadership, and discipline into every rehearsal room, approaching theater with humility, intention, and a strong belief in its power to challenge, educate, and transform audiences.

KASHUN PARKS - Assistant Director / Casting Director (NEXT EXIT PRODUCTIONS)

Kashun Parks is a lifelong theatre artist drawn to stories that grow through collaboration, curiosity, and care. Her work centers on an ensemble driven process and the belief that theatre is a living conversation between artists, audiences, and time. She is the Executive Director and co-founder of Next Exit Productions, where she develops original work and creates space for new and evolving voices. Some of her directing credits include The Vagina Monologues, Doubt, and Daughters of the Moon, as well as two upcoming Next Exit Productions projects: Anywhere, Suddenly, written by Jason Tinney and premiering this fall, and Unidentified, a new works selection at ConNooga. Her work is guided by deep respect for process, the people in the room, and the belief that theatre is something we build together.

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. 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.

DESHANEE THOMAS - Stage Manager

DeShanee Thomas has been in the Chattanooga area since 2017. Her productions credits include directing Rocky Horror Picture Show- An Interactive Experience with The Seed Theater and Stage Managing "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf" with Nooga Vision. Acting credits include Benetha Younger in Raisin in the Sun and Constant Stacks in Rock of Ages. She has also worked with hair and makeup design, props
DeShanee has been acting, singing, dancing, writing poems and short stories since middle school. 
DeShanee has participated in open mic reading poetry in Chattanooga, Nashville, TN, and Springfield, IL. She has also written a short play for Suicide prevention week for the US Army. 
When not in the theater, DeShanee enjoys viewing and participating in painting, attempting to sing, dance, working on crafts and collecting vintage clothing, jewelry and trinkets. 
She is excited to Stage Manage this production with this amazing group of people. DeShanee would like to thank friends and family for being so encouraging of her theater misadventures. DeShanee lives by the words, “It's not just art, it’s therapy”.
 

COURTENAY GILLEAN CHOLOVICH - Producer (LOOKOUT LIVE)

Courtenay Cholovich is a performing 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.

This production was brought to life with grant support from Arts Build, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and the Sankofa Fund for Civic Engagement.

We would like to extend our special thanks to CRABTREE FARMS, CON NOOGA, CHATTANOOGA THEATRE CENTRE, THE MET OFF MAIN, and NOOGAVISON THEATRE AND PERFORMING ARTS CO. for their help in bringing this production to life!

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