black experience Archives - Chicago On Stage

November 11, 2022November 11, 2022Chicago Reviews

“Trouble in Mind” delves into racial tension on Broadway in 1957

Photo by Liz Lauren Alice Childress’ powerful play Trouble in Mind did not get its planned Broadway run in the mid-1950s because […]

July 4, 2022July 4, 2022Chicago Reviews

The Story Theatre weaves history and “not history” into a brilliant conflation of revolution and the Black experience

As its name implies, The Story Theatre knows how to tell a story. The young company, only in its third season, has […]

June 27, 2022June 27, 2022Chicago Reviews

Choir Boy explores gay Black manhood at Steppenwolf

It is a wonderful coincidence that now, during Pride month, just after an inventive musical about a gay Black man trying to […]

February 20, 2020February 21, 2020Chicago Reviews

Powerful, painful, and often hilarious, “Kill Move Paradise” is an expressionistic window into the too-frequent killing of Black men by police

Review by Karen Topham, ChicagoOnstage, member American Theatre Critics Association, photo by Lara Goetsch. Its playwright, James Ijames, describes Kill Move Paradise […]

Allen Gilmore, James Vincent Meredith. Photo by Michael Brosilow

September 13, 2018Chicago Reviews

“Radio Golf” receives a masterful production at Court Theatre

Review by Karen Topham, American Theatre Critics Association member; photos by Michael Brosilow. I somehow managed to miss out on August Wilson’s […]

July 22, 2018Chicago Reviews

Fleetwood-Jourdain’s “Topdog/Underdog” is a dark comedy with deep drama

Review by Karen Topham, American Theatre Critics Association member In the Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/Underdog, by Suzan-Lori Parks, two brothers struggles with some […]

July 8, 2018July 8, 2018Chicago Reviews

The impressive “Tilikum” is not a play about whales

Reviewed by Joe DeRosa; photo by Jonathan L. Green “You can’t worship walls and be free.” —Kristiana Rae Colon, Tilikum Before […]

February 9, 2018February 11, 2018Chicago Reviews, USAOnStage

Boston Onstage: “Hype Man” Is an Impressive Look at Black Culture

Review by Kitty Drexel, American Theatre Critics Association member Photo by Paul Fox/Company One (Boston, MA) The prep work done for Hype […]