Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Last July, Oak Park-based actor Kevin Theis was en route to Jewel when Frederick Douglass came on the radio. Not, obviously, the actual 19th-century abolitionist who escaped slavery and became an internationally known orator. Theis was hearing Douglass’ descendants on National Public Radio, marking Independence Day by reading passages from Douglass’ 1852 speech “What, to the Slave, is the 4
Theis had read the speech before, but in the middle of a summer of global social unrest, it hit harder. When he got home, he set to finding another audio version of it, assuming there would be “dozens.” He couldn’t find a single one.