Chicken Stories by Marcus Folmar

Chicken Stories

Written and Directed by Marcus Folmar

The new play hatched by Marcus Folmar (Blackish,Brooklyn 99) takes a hilarious & biting look at the culture through the lens of Chicken.

“A collection of hilarious and at times biting vignettes that examine the culture and times through the unexpected, yet undeniably relatable—and historically relevant— lens of chicken.”

Some of the stories are fictitious. Some of the content is based on real events. Folmar is African American, and his show to some extent is about the important place that chicken occupies in considerations of Black American cuisine, in terms of its history and its centrality in Black culinary culture. The vignettes that comprise the Chicken Stories lean in the direction of humor, yet deal substantively with significant themes like Black entrepreneurship and empowerment, the generational shifting of values, loss, cultural appropriation, modern dating and more.

Chicken brings people together: families, friends, neighbors, schoolmates, coworkers. It is comforting, nourishing, and delicious. It can also spark tensions (e.g., my mother’s chicken recipe is better than your mother’s chicken.  Which local establishment makes the better wings?)

Now, are you ready for some chicken?

The cast includes:

Lavel Schley, Darien Sills-Evans, Maurice G. Smith, Lanett Tachel, Colin McGurk, JP Payton, and LaVonna Miller, Alexis Underwood, Tagger Skomsky, with Columbus Short and John Marshall Jones.

Original score: Stan Seymour. Scenic design: David Offner. Lighting design: Brandon Baruch. Sound design: Marcus Folmar. Costume Design: Courtney Williams. Choreography: Mori Edwards. Stage Management: Anna Kuperschmidt.

Playwright, director, and co-producer Marcus Folmar graduated with honors from Northwestern University and proceeded to Hollywood. His screenwriting credits include The List (ABC Family), The fallen, A Dark Way Out, and a web series, Alley Way. Also an actor, he appeared on Blackish, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Frasier, The Big Bang Theory, and more. An accomplished improviser, he frequently appears on stage at Upright Citizens Brigade.