War and Peace Gets a Black and Gay Twist

Because you could learn a lot from a drag queen.

Bailiwick Chicago will present the world premiere of Princess Mary Demands Your Attention, a new play by Aaron Holland.

Directed by Bailiwick artistic director Lili-Anne Brown, Princess Mary Demands Your Attention will run January 15 through February 21, 2015, at Chicago's Victory Gardens Richard Christiansen Theater.

The play "tells the soulful story of Amari Bolkonski, a gay, black daydreamer seemingly 'stuck' in life," according to press notes about the production. "A chance meeting throws him into to a decade-long journey to personal acceptance and freedom, guided (and haunted) by an inexplicable and challenging drag queen. With storytelling that incorporates music and dance, Princess Mary Demands Your Attention -- inspired by parts of Tolstoy's War and Peace -- is a fierce new play that ultimately demands an answer to the question: Is there really anything in your way?"

Led by Baron L. Clay, Jr. as Princess Mary and Armand Fields as Amari, the cast includes TJ Crawford, David Kaplinsky, Pam Mack, Rus Rainear, Omer Abbas Salem, and Jeremy Sonkin.

Holland's other LGBT-themed work includes The Secrets of Triple G and Five Mo's Named Guy.

For tickets and more information visit BailiwickChicago.com and VictoryGardens.org.