Lucas John Bellamy, whose father founded St. Paul’s Penumbra Theatre, died in Hennepin County Jail in Minneapolis last week.
The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office released a brief statement Sunday night, saying a 41-year-old “was found unresponsive in his cell” on Thursday afternoon. The Hennepin County Jail roster identifies him as Bellamy.
“Medical aid was rendered by staff and paramedics,” the statement said. “They continued emergency medical treatment until he was pronounced dead. The case is under investigation, therefore, no further information can be released at this time.”
His sister, Sarah Bellamy, who is now Penumbra’s president, said in a Facebook post that her brother was charming, courteous, insatiably curious, intelligent and magnetic, adding that he had been “heroic” in his efforts to overcome addiction over the past two decades.
Lucas Bellamy was arrested July 18 in Independence, Minn., on several bench warrants from other agencies and on suspicion of fleeing a police officer, fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle, receiving or concealing stolen property, and possession of a dangerous weapon (metal knuckles or a switchblade), according to Hennepin County Jail records.
He was booked and held on a number of previous charges including drug possession, driving under the influence and driving without a license.
His father, Lou Bellamy, a director, actor, producer and educator, founded Penumbra Theatre 46 years ago in St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood. The theater is nationally recognized for its work with Black artists, including Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson.
In August 2020, Penumbra Theatre announced that while it will still perform stage works it was evolving into the Penumbra Center for Racial Healing to expand its community and racial equity programs.
Efforts to reach the Bellamy family and Penumbra Theatre were unsuccessful Sunday.
According to his sister’s Facebook post, Lucas Bellamy had struggled with addiction for the past 20 years.
“And while his death at just 41 years old is tragic and far too soon, leaving us brokenhearted and bereft of his light, we also celebrate the strength he demonstrated over and over again as he tried to fight the powerful hold alcohol and then opioids had on him,” she wrote. “We bear witness to how heroically he fought those demons and even in our brokenness, we celebrate the courage and valor of a man who fought and rose so many times. We rose and fell along with him.”
She added her brother leaves behind a son, Greyson, for whom he “wanted so much to be a positive role model.”
Lucas Bellamy was an accomplished marksman who loved duck and pheasant hunting with his father and uncle, competed in downhill skiing in high school, was an avid golfer and loved cooking meals for loved ones, his sister wrote.
At the Penumbra Theatre, he performed in “Waiting in Vain,” “Sleep Deprivation Chamber,” and “Get Ready,” “where his role as a shy poindexter who turned into a suave, slick emcee won the hearts of audiences night after night.”
She said that some of her brother’s most meaningful work in his life had been to support children with special needs, “especially those whose disabilities isolated them socially.”
As a child, he had often been hospitalized because of asthma, she wrote, and the care from doctors and nurses had “instilled in him a deep commitment to charity for children’s hospitals.”
His sister wrote that a celebration of life will be held in the future and that in lieu of flowers, donations could be made in his name to Children’s Minnesota Hospital in Minneapolis and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital are appreciated.
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