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these actors are presented only for ideation purposes. none are committed to the project in any capacity.

Odell 

Odell is a naturally talented musician who befriends Slider as a young teenager and brings him home to live with his grandmother, Mama Ruth. They grow up playing music in the AME church and head to Memphis to play "mixed" during segregation.

Slider

Slider has grown-up next to an abusive and tyrannical father, watching his genteel and loving mother fade away to cancer. When his dad abandons him taking his sister to Oklahoma with him, he is left to fend for himself. Odell is his rock growing up.

Mama Ruth

Mama Ruth is a strong Black woman who has raised her grandson Odell since early childhood after the death of her daughter. Wise and weathered, she brings up both boys in the AME church and struggles when they leave for Memphis to follow their dream of playing music together. 

Ruskin Hathaway III 

Ruskin is a renegade from his Southern roots who has espoused the Civil Rights Movement, fighting bigotry and racism in all of its manifestations be it in court, in the media and by his larger-than-life presence at "mixed" gatherings that he anticipates will be disrupted by The Man.

Daddy Knows

Daddy Knows is a cool cat of the era who owns a popular record store where he often holds live music sessions for his customers. It is a hang-out for local black youth with a smattering of mixed customers. A musician in his own right with a tragic story of his touring, he is a strong supporter of Odell and Slider's missions to become "the ones" who break the color barrier of the time.

Casey

Casey is a bright attorney and champion for the underdog who is a a progressive feminist before this definition existed who becomes a driving force and the voice of reason in Slider's life, as well as his love interest. 

Lavidia

Lavidia is an intellectual and Civil Rights activist. Conscious, alert, aware and faithfully committed to her community, she is a supporter of Odell and Slider's mission and ultimately becomes Odell's muse, advisor and companion.
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Mad Dog

Wild man DJ with a poetic and beautiful heart who cares about everybody. His love and passion is the music and the musicians who make it. A rebel and community fixture, if it's happening in music, Mad Dog is on it. 

Professor

Scholar, gentleman and activist.
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