Growing up in North Lawndale, then moving to East Garfield Park, Denise Jones found herself addicted to heroin at age 12, dropped out of school by fifth grade, and went to prison after hanging out with her mother on the streets.
“We were on a drug spree together. We were sticking up together, pimping together, burglarizing and playing checks together. She was no longer my mom, she was my hustler,” Jones said.
Jones took her experience with drugs, homelessness and incarceration on Chicago’s West Side and created a story of redemption through her memoir, “Who Said It Couldn’t Be Done?: A Diamond From the Rough.” She developed that into a play called “Beyond the Door,” produced in 2019, 2024, and now 2026. The latest iteration will show on Aug. 21 and 22 at New Life Covenant Church, 3400 W. Division St.
“I always wanted to take the story back to where it originated from, and that’s the West Side of Chicago. When I drive through Madison Street, I see the former me. When I go up and down Pulaski and Cicero, I see the former me,” Jones said.
Though Jones had to relive traumatic experiences from her childhood to write her memoir in 2010 and develop it into a play six years later, she wants audiences to walk away from the production and be able to “recognize hope and know that change is real.”
“I hope that people will feel seen,” said Julisa Marcel, who’s directing this adaptation of “Beyond the Door.” “They’ll feel heard, they’ll feel loved, and that they will leave with a lot of hope. We say it in the play, but if God can do it for Denise, and if she could change her life. … anybody can do it.” She added, “We really want people to feel connected to the story and to go with us on the journey.”
In 2019, Jones produced “Beyond the Door” at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center in Hyde Park. In 2024, she put on the play at the Beverly Arts Center on Chicago’s South Side. Both productions sold out.
After feedback from Steppenwolf Theatre and Goodman Theatre, Jones said the newest version of “Beyond the Door” better develops her relationship with her mother.
“I think our earlier versions gave a lot of glimpses into her life experience,” Marcel said, “getting a glimpse of scenes out of the memoir. But this version feels more complete, feels more like a standalone.”
Marcel said the 2026 “Beyond the Door” also has more of a throughline to the title of the play — what she said was one of the most challenging parts about adapting this version.
“The play hadn’t yet been really pulled together in a way that emphasized the meaning of ‘Beyond the Door,’” Marcel said. “What’s the relation to the book, what it meant to her, so that I could make that come out in the story.”
Jones said the title of the play references how much of her trauma was happening behind closed doors, not allowing her to have honest conversations about it or heal.
“When you look at most things that happen in life with trauma, it’s always pretty much behind the door, and nobody talks about it,” Jones said. But adapting her memoir into a play allows audiences to join her in emerging from behind the door to “Beyond the Door.” “These are doors that were once closed that are now open to allow you the opportunity to step beyond.”
“I’m a strong believer in saying what you’ve experienced and in the ability of the spoken word to release you from difficult things,” Marcel said.
This version of “Beyond the Door” also includes a new artistic consultant in Felicia P. Fields, a Tony-nominated actress who was in the original Broadway production of “The Color Purple.”
“A Diamond From the Rough”
Jones was inspired to write the story of her childhood after years of “wondering why I turned out to be the way I did,” she said. “Writing became a therapeutic point for me to be able to understand what happened to me.”
Jones grew up in a family of incest, “so that stunted my growth,” she said. And when she moved in with her mother around age 10, she was often locked in a room with a bucket as a bathroom while her mother hosted parties.
“What I saw messed me up as a child,” Jones said. “My mom introduced me to sticking a needle in my arm at the age of 12 years old, and I became addicted to drugs.”
After a home invasion case, Jones faced up to 60 years in prison. Then, she lived over 17 years of her life as a man.
“I always kept feeling like I could never get right,” Jones said. “I kept shooting drugs and drinking cough syrup because I wanted to kill myself because of all the pain.”
But in 1986, Jones found God, and with religion, a group of parishioners, counselors and ministers who supported her. She started speaking at the Cook County Jail and “I asked God what other vehicle I could use to convey the message,” she said. That led her to writing her memoir, then adapting the story for the stage.
“Seeing that played out and acted out posed a question to [audiences], ‘How can I change, if she did?’ It allows them to see themselves and that this person is not ashamed about their life and they’re able to put it out there,” Jones said.
Jones went back to school to get her GED and master’s degree. In 1997, she started a commercial cleaning company out of Lansing, and services Chicago businesses. The business now has 28 employees, and Jones said five are formerly incarcerated. In 2004, she launched the nonprofit, Tender Touch, on Chicago’s West Side to offer mentorship programs to women experiencing addiction, incarceration and other challenges.
To buy tickets to “Beyond the Door,” showing Aug. 21 and 22 at New Life Covenant Church, 3400 W. Division St., visit https://www.beyondthedoorplay.com/.