This summer, the Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture had the privilege of presenting two powerful works at the Napa Institute Arts Festival: Four Quartets and the concert performance of Call Me From The Grave.
The latter, our brand-new musical in development, captivated audiences with the story of Robert Johnson, the legendary Blues guitarist whose life is shrouded in both history and myth.
A Story of Dreams, Loss, and the Crossroads
Call Me From The Grave opens in Greenwood, Mississippi, where a young sharecropper named Robert dreams of becoming a Bluesman. When his loving girlfriend Virginia becomes pregnant, he sets aside those ambitions to build a life and a family.
Tragedy strikes when Virginia dies from complications in childbirth, and their infant son is taken in by her disapproving father. Crushed by grief and failure, Robert encounters the Devil, who offers him the music career he’s always wanted, at the cost of his soul and the condition that he never returns home.
Years later, Robert’s fame spreads from Mississippi to Chicago and beyond, but news from home forces him into an impossible choice: protect his success or risk everything to save the people he loves.
A Blues Tale in Concert Form
This Napa performance was staged as a concert presentation with stripped-down staging, but rich with the raw emotion and evocative music that drives the piece. Audiences were swept into Robert’s journey through soaring gospel, aching ballads, and foot-stomping Blues numbers.
The cast brought depth and fire to each role:
Robert Johnson: Israel Erron Ford
The Devil: Christian McQueen
Virginia Travis: Nya Phillips
Sarah Travis: Ashley LaLonde
Julia: Danyele Yvonne James
Charles: Marqell Edward Clayton
Ensemble: Caitlyn Joi, Bradwin Amos, Elayna Garner
With live music by Charlie Romano (piano), Ben Samuelson (guitar), Aaron W Shaul (bass), and John Doing (drums), the score pulsed with authenticity and urgency.
The Artists Behind the Work
Call Me From The Grave is written by Harold Hodge Jr., a New York-based playwright and director whose emotionally charged work draws on his multicultural upbringing in Japan to amplify marginalized voices.
Music and lyrics are by Charlie Romano, a Latin American composer/lyricist from Chicago whose storytelling spans from intimate “micro-musicals” to large-scale productions. A 2021 O’Neill Finalist and NAMT Semi-Finalist for Call Me From The Grave, Romano’s credits include Onward and Upward, Video Rental Store, The Ballad of Elisa Lam, and Tita.
Call Me From The Grave Napa Institute Concert Production Team
Producer: Lawrence Daufenbach
Director/Bookwriter: Harold Hodge Jr.
Musical Director/Pianist: Charlie Romano
Technical Advance: Mike Goebel
Production Coordinators: Ryan Flannery & Genevieve Swanson
Stage Operations: Blue Note Napa
From Napa to Chicago and Beyond
Call Me From The Grave is more than a compelling Blues drama: it’s part of the Athenaeum Center’s long-term vision to mount a full production, beginning in our hometown of Chicago, a city deeply intertwined with the Blues, and ultimately to bring it to Broadway.
This work embodies our belief that great art can reveal deeper truths of the human soul and invite audiences into a profound encounter with Beauty.
Our Mission in Action
The Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture exists to invite people into encounters with Beauty and to revitalize the great Catholic tradition of the arts from our home in one of Chicago’s most distinctive cultural and religious spaces. We present a diverse range of programming—art, music, theater, and conversation—that seeks to guide patrons toward what is good, true, and beautiful.
We are grateful to the Napa Institute Arts Festival for the opportunity to share both Call Me From The Grave and Four Quartets with an audience eager for works that speak to the heart and elevate the spirit.
