It’s been a minute since I’ve visited the Kingdom of Other: 13 years, to be precise. The last time I saw Jackie Taylor’s The Other Cinderella was in 2010, before Black Ensemble Theater moved to their spacious Clark Street home. (And it was certainly long before BET planned an expansion across the street that will […]
Tag: Black Ensemble Theater
Cooking With Soul
Near the end of Black Ensemble Theater’s (BET) superb new revue A Taste of Soul, co-emcee Qiana McNary mentions that the show’s creators hope to leave the audience both “full and hungry at the same time.” The show’s central framing device—a television cooking program veering into musical numbers, concurrently leading the audience through the history […]
Keeping it real about musical marriages
For better or (probably for) worse, The Real Housewives of (enter location here) reality TV show franchise is an American institution that has infiltrated mainstream society. The show documents the incredibly intimate details of the partners and mostly stay-at-home wives of prominent public figures. Peeling back the layers of the housewives’ professional and personal lives […]
Sing a song
Black Ensemble Theater has cornered the Chicago market on excellent musical tributes to prominent Black musicians, and their latest show Reasons: A Tribute to Earth, Wind & Fire (EWF) is no exception. The show is a high-octane extravaganza that opens with a set of glowing drumsticks, signaling that something special has arrived. Maurice White, the […]
Art markets, Joy to the World, and personal style
Free Street Theater joins up with Plant Chicago for a winter market and storytelling event at Plant Chicago’s building (4459 S. Marshfield). From 11 AM-3 PM, you can enjoy stories (1-2 PM), songs from Orcas Are Dolphins (playing 11:30 AM-1 PM), a clothing swap, and the chance to purchase wares from local vendors, including Zeitlin’s […]
Heavenly blues
Black Ensemble Theater’s latest follows the company’s tried-and-true formula with an otherworldly twist. In Blue Heaven, written and directed by Daryl D. Brooks (BET’s producing managing director), a quartet of deceased blues greats—Chester Arthur Burnett, aka Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, McKinley Morganfield, aka Muddy Waters, and Stevie Ray Vaughan (no nickname)—hang out […]
New generation, old family stories
Change is afoot at Black Ensemble Theater as it prepares to embark on a new era, leveraging a $5 million grant to implement founder and CEO Jackie Taylor’s longtime vision of a Free To Be corridor, which would expand the footprint of the theater campus and provide housing and support opportunities for artists and community. […]
Spiritual healing
Black Ensemble Theater’s first play back since the pandemic, an original from founder Jackie Taylor (she wrote, produced, directed, and choreographed), is exactly what the title states—an out-of-body, communal experience that creates the physical “togetherness” we’ve missed for so long. It’s an energizing and participatory homage to the Black church experience, which as the cast […]
Black Harvest Film Festival, reggaetón, and roller skating
It’s getting a wee bit chilly around here but here’s some things to do this week that just might warm you up. Fri 11/19 606 Records and Cleve Carney Museum of Art (CCMA) are teaming up to celebrate Ben LaMar Gay’s new album, Open Arms to Open Us (be sure to read Reader contributor Hannah […]
Black Ensemble Theater scores big with MacKenzie Scott grant; Victory Gardens announces new playwrights ensemble
$5 million helps BET regain lost ground from COVID, while Ken-Matt Martin reignites a VG tradition.
A day of service
Upcoming events and recommendations from our listings coordinator
Lisa Beasley cooks up her own opportunities
How she went from cracking jokes at church to touring with one of the world’s comedy giants to writing her own recipe for success.
Black Ensemble Theater’s The Healing is saved by the audience
Jackie Taylor mixes history, personal essay, racial justice, and music to mixed effect.
The Other Cinderella turns Black Ensemble Theater into a magic kingdom
Forty-three years after its first production, Jackie Taylor’s African American adaptation still enchants and empowers.
Spektral Quartet’s new season takes deep dives in diverse directions
Spektral Quartet’s new season takes deep dives in diverse directions, “posi-djent” act Harm Less celebrates a new album, and more.