A Passion for Performance

June 16, 2025

BUST by Pulitzer-Prize finalist playwright Zora Howard is described as “an Afrocurrentist play.” It ran in Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre from Feb. 13 to March 16, 2025, as well as the Goodman’s Albert Theatre in Chicago from April 19 to May 18, 2025. 

It opens with a scene in which two characters witness a neighbor getting pulled over by the police. What ensues in the laugh-out-loud drama is shrouded in mystery, with the cast and crew keeping mum about what exactly is meant when these characters are faced with “the Devil.” However, in the Alliance Theatre program for BUST, Howard provides some context. 

“There is some real ugly stuff that Black people have to navigate living in this country,” she said. “And yet there is an artfulness to how we move through it all—with humor, with deftness, with style.”

Cecil Blutcher ’13, plays one of the main characters, Trent, who records the inciting altercation on his phone, then struggles with what to do with the footage. For Blutcher, it’s difficult to describe what he wants audiences to walk away with. “I want people to think more deeply about the totality of our experience in a cosmic way. There’s a lot of spirituality in this play, without being overtly spiritual at all, and that’s an aspect of it that I really want people to tap into,” he said.

The whole process has become something of a full circle moment for Blutcher, who grew up in Chicago. “This work with this team of people is very special, because I was born here. Performing at the Goodman is a tremendous milestone professionally and personally,” he said.

Those who knew Blutcher in high school may be surprised at his continued acting pursuits, seeing as he only did one play before graduating. But those that know him from his Bradley days saw a different side of him.

Little Works of Art

After catching the performance bug in high school, Blutcher had no idea how to make his passion a profession. But he knew if he came to Bradley University and joined the Speech Team, he could continue exploring the craft. “From there, I just got really hungry for performance,” he said.

Blutcher found the regimented nature of speech and debate to be a perfect fit. “It’s kind of like track and field for oratory,” he said. “It was great for me because I was an athlete in high school, and the way we treated it was very much like a sport. We traveled every weekend. We had scholarships. It was great.”

“There’s something really special about preparing these little works of art over the course of the year,” Blutcher reminisced.

In addition to the Speech Team, Blutcher began to integrate himself into the Theatre department, taking classes, auditioning for plays, and soaking up knowledge wherever he could find it. By the time he graduated (as a Political Science major), he had been in three plays and done countless performances through speech and debate. 

“I wasn’t even a theatre major,” Blutcher remembered. “I just decided one day to take a meeting with then-theatre professor, Steve Snyder. I said ‘I want to be an actor, but I’m not a major. How can you help me?’ Slowly but surely, he guided me down this path.”

After graduating from Bradley, Blutcher got his MFA at Pennsylvania State University and spent some time in New York City. Now, he lives in Metro Atlanta, working as an actor, writer and musician. To this day, he remains proud of his time at BU. “I’ll always ride for Bradley,” he said.

Culture of Development

For Bradley students looking to follow in his footsteps, Blutcher avoids one term in particular when doling out advice. “I don’t like the word aspiring. I think with whatever you are, in any field, there’s no aspiring—you either are or you are not. I think the question of becoming a professional is a matter of just sticking with it and surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals.”

To some extent, following this advice is exactly how Blutcher ended up in BUST to begin with. He surrounded himself with people like Howard in the theatre world, participating in workshops of scripts in progress. 

“In New York, there’s a whole culture of play development,” Blutcher explained. “This was one of those situations where every time there was a new version of it, she just kept asking me to come read it. Fast-forward a few years later and here we are in production.”

When it comes to what’s next for Blutcher, the answer is still a bit uncertain. One thing is guaranteed after the two-city run of the show concludes, however—Blutcher intends to catch up on some well-needed rest.

“Two runs of one show is a tremendous gift, but I’m also going to be tired. And I try not to get too fixated on the future, especially with what I do, because there’s no way to know what the future holds. And I mean that in the most wonderful way possible,” he expained. “I think a lot of my work in life, as a person and as a professional, is being cool with that, and I think I’m finally entering a space where I am cool with that.”

Those unable to catch Blutcher in a live production can see him as Vernon in the Starz original show, Hightown, or Caleb in the Paramount+ Original reboot of The Game.

–Jenevieve Rowley-Davis