John Chenault is an Associate Professor at the Kornhauser Health Sciences Library (KHSL) on the University of Louisville (UofL) Health Sciences Campus. Chenault also teaches for the Pan African Studies Department (PAS) in the UofL College of Arts and Sciences. A Cincinnati native, Chenault began his performing arts career in 1967 with the New Theater of Cincinnati. From "techie" to actor to playwright and producer, he has been involved in dozens of productions behind and on the stage. Since 1993, Chenault has collaborated with composer Frank Proto on a series of music dramas for orchestra, jazz band and chamber ensemble. They have received commissions for new works from several major orchestras, and from the American Composers Forum, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 2008, the University of Maryland (UM) School of Music commissioned the duo to write an opera based on the life of legendary heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis. Shadowboxer premiered April 17, 2010, at the Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts, at the University of Maryland, College Park. Over the twenty-three years of their collaboration, their work has been performed throughout the U.S., and in Canada, England, Germany, and France.
Professor Chenault would like to dedicate this production of “Bloodline Rumba” in memory of Jan R. Carew, Clarence R. Tally, and J. Blaine Hudson—mentors, teachers, and friends who continue to inspire his work.
