Characters
Russell Grant is a 48-year-old designer who has made enough money from his unconventional inventions to retire early.
Jennifer is his 14-year-old daughter by his first marriage. She's characterized by the author as "a prodigiously bright and imaginative child."
Dena Grant is Russell's wife. She was born and raised in Halifax. She is a 37-year-old modern dancer coming to New York because "her old friend Lisa Dann has offered her a chance—one last chance—to dance in New York, and not just in New York but at the Joyce Theatre, the showcase, the worldwide Mecca of Modern dance."
Michael is a charismatic black man who is leading the revolution that the Grants find themselves caught up in.
José is the superintendent of Grant's apartment as well as being hired by Russell as a bodyguard for Jennifer. He is "a short dark handsome seventeen-year-old Puerto Rican with long unruly curls and an air of cynical amusement."
Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, Countess of Landsfeld, better known by the stage name Lola Montez, was an Irish dancer and actress who became famous as a Spanish dancer, courtesan, and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who made her Gräfin von Landsfeld. At the start of the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, she was forced to flee. She proceeded to the United States via Austria, Switzerland, France and London, returning to her work as an entertainer and lecturer.
Sugar Ray Robinson was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time.
Spider Robinson is an American-born Canadian science fiction author. He has won a number of awards for his hard science fiction and humorous stories, including the Hugo Award 1977 and 1983, and another Hugo with his co-author and wife Jeanne Robinson in 1978.
Kate Garry Hudson is an American actress, author, and fashion entrepreneur. She rose to prominence for her performance in the film Almost Famous (2000), for which she won a Golden Globe and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her other films include How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003), Raising Helen (2004), The Skeleton Key (2005), You, Me and Dupree (2006), Fool's Gold (2008), Bride Wars (2009), Nine (2009), Deepwater Horizon (2016), Mother's Day (2016), Marshall (2017) and Music (2021), for which she received her second Golden Globe nomination.
Black Cat is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Throughout her history, Black Cat has sometimes been an enemy, love interest, and ally of the superhero Spider-Man. Created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Dave Cockrum, she first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #194.
Pearl Eileen Primus was an American dancer, choreographer and anthropologist. Primus played an important role in the presentation of African dance to American audiences. Early in her career she saw the need to promote African dance as an art form worthy of study and performance. Primus' work was a reaction to myths of savagery and the lack of knowledge about African people. It was an effort to guide the Western world to view African dance as an important and dignified statement about another way of life.
Jade is a fictional superhero in the DC Comics Universe. She first appeared in All-Star Squadron #25 in September 1983.
Bill Robinson, nicknamed Bojangles was an American tap dancer, actor, and singer, the best known and the most highly paid Black American entertainer in America during the first half of the 20th century. His long career mirrored changes in American entertainment tastes and technology. His career began in the age of minstrel shows and moved to vaudeville, Broadway theatre, the recording industry, Hollywood films, radio, and television.
Katherine Dunham was an African-American dancer, choreographer, creator of the Dunham Technique, author, educator, anthropologist, and social activist. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers in African-American and European theater of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. She has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance."
Jennifer Tipton is an American lighting designer. She has designed for dance, theater, and opera.
The Werewolf by Night is the name of two fictional characters who are werewolves appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Werewolf by Night first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #2.
First Families of Virginia (FFV) were those families in Colonial Virginia who were socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers. They descended from English colonists who primarily settled at Jamestown, Williamsburg, The Northern Neck and along the James River and other navigable waters in Virginia during the 17th century. These elite families generally married within their social class for many generations and, as a result, most surnames of First Families date to the colonial period.
Yvonne Rainer is an American dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker, whose work in these disciplines is regarded as challenging and experimental. Her work is sometimes classified as minimalist art. Rainer currently lives and works in New York.
Rosemary Ann Harris is an English actress. She is a 1986 American Theater Hall of Fame inductee.
Psycho-Man is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
The Littlest Rebel is a 1935 American drama film directed by David Butler. The screenplay by Edwin J. Burke was adapted from a play of the same name by Edward Peple and focuses on the tribulations of a plantation-owning family during the American Civil War. The film stars Shirley Temple, John Boles, and Karen Morley, as the plantation family and Bill Robinson as their slave with Jack Holt as a Union officer.
Lightning is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Not pinpointed with direct reference, Lightning first appears in the miniseries Kingdom Come in 1996, written by Mark Waid and illustrated by Alex Ross. The character is given official introduction in Justice Society of America vol. 3 #12, written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Dale Eaglesham in the Modern Age of Comic Books.
Jennifer Lynn Connelly is an American actress who began her career as a child model. She appeared in magazine, newspaper and television advertising, before she made her film acting debut in the crime film Once Upon a Time in America (1984). Connelly continued modeling and acting, starring in a number of films, including the horror film Phenomena (1985), the musical fantasy film Labyrinth (1986), the romantic comedy Career Opportunities (1991), and the period superhero film The Rocketeer (1991). She gained critical acclaim for her work in the science fiction film Dark City (1998) and for playing a drug addict in Darren Aronofsky's 2000 drama Requiem for a Dream.
