Boutayna Chokrane, author at Chicago Reader

A white ceramic bust sits on a white plinth. The head is thrown back in tears, and has curly black hair. The body is marked by dark wounds.

The stories behind Cherylle Booker’s sculptures

by Boutayna Chokrane November 2, 2023October 31, 2023

The Judy Istock Butterfly Haven at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum is one of Cherylle Booker’s cherished sanctuaries. A fortress of butterflies and solace that never fails to soothe her soul. “Every time I go there, I reach out my hand, and a butterfly lands on me,” Booker recalls. “How could you not feel more […]

Image of 12-foot-tall puppet of Little Amal surrounded by crowds on the Brooklyn Bridge

Arts & Culture

Little Amal invites Chicago to walk a little closer together

by Boutayna Chokrane September 28, 2023September 28, 2023

Although Amal, a towering 12-foot puppet representing a ten-year-old Syrian refugee girl, is silent, she speaks a universal language of empathy that has shifted countless perspectives, including in our Windy City. “From the very first journey, it was apparent that this was something the community was craving,” says associate artistic director Khadijat Oseni. A collaborative […]

Two ceramic figures stand with their arms around each other. They wear bikinis, sandals, and bandannas and have several tattoos.

Arts & Culture

Sydnie Jimenez sculpts a new vision of beauty

by Boutayna Chokrane September 25, 2023October 16, 2023

In the care of a collector in Miami, Sydnie Jimenez’s self-portrait stands tall, immortalizing her and her twin sister, Haylie, in a side-by-side embrace. “The person who bought it is also a twin,” the 25-year-old says. Reaching about four feet in height, the sculpture emanates a sweet and soothing presence. Haylie’s clay fingernails and toenails […]

Two Black women in a living room. One stands near the back wall on the left. The woman on the right is seated on a couch, looking at the other woman

Theater Review

Trauma and resilience

by Boutayna Chokrane September 6, 2023September 6, 2023

Chicago native Inda Craig-Galván takes theatergoers on a heart-to-heart journey in A Hit Dog Will Holler, a two-hander that underlines the trauma and resilience experienced by Black women—often called upon to be at the forefront of social movements—living in America. Directed by Myesha-Tiara, Artemisia Theatre’s production zooms in on the unlikely friendship between Gina (Alexandria […]

Designer Chelsea B wears one of her HypeBo hats, which are oversized crocheted layers. Here they are in orange, pink, and white layers. Chelsea looks at the camera and carries a bouquet of crocheted flowers.

Arts & Culture

‘I didn’t come here to make blankets’

by Boutayna Chokrane May 30, 2023May 30, 2023

Chelsea Billingsley, better known as Chelsea B, always knew she’d be an artist. With her latest collection, “Give Them Their Flowers,” the crochet streetwear designer pays tribute to her great-grandmother and great-uncle, both of whom have left a lasting impact on her life in different ways. Pauline Winters, her great-grandmother, was also an avid crocheter, […]

Eight actors stand in a row onstage, dressed in costumes and makeup of the Aztec empire. They are lit in a reddish glow.

Theater Review

Defying fate

by Boutayna Chokrane May 17, 2023May 17, 2023

Step into the Aztec Empire during the 16th century, on the eve of a new millennium. City Lit’s world-premiere musical Aztec Human Sacrifice (written by Kingsley Day and Philip LaZebnik) tells the tale of The Chosen One (Freddy Mauricio), destined for sacrifice to ensure the sun’s rise. Defying fate, he flees with Princess (Marcela Ossa […]

A couple standing looking at each other warmly. The setting appears to be a hallway in an apartment building. There is a mirror behind them and a door with an "EXIT" sign to the left. The man is wearing a dark leather coat and a dark woolen hat with a red-and-black plaid scarf. The woman has her dark hair pulled into a ponytail and is wearing a tan tank top and a brown cardigan.

Theater Review

Cultural storms

by Boutayna Chokrane April 5, 2023April 6, 2023

A production with a promising premise is especially disappointing when it falls short. Unfortunately, that’s the case with Uprising Theater’s Decolonizing Sarah: A Hurricane Play. Amidst the chaos of a category three hurricane and the COVID-19 pandemic, exes Waleed (Kal Naga) and Sarah (Maren Rosenberg) find themselves isolated in an Airbnb. Sarah, a white woman, […]

Three SWANA actors are seen sitting together on a couch in a living room set. At left is a man with brown hair and beard, wearing a blue patterned sweater and jeans. He is looking at the other two, his arm stretched out before him. A young woman with short dark hair, wearing khakis and a green flowered shirt, sits center. On the right is another young man with brown hair, no beard, wearing a gray hoodie. He is smiling. The young woman is looking in his direction.

Arts & Culture

Tales of our nights

by Boutayna Chokrane March 8, 2023March 8, 2023

There’s a tranquil moment of healing in act two, when a teary-eyed Marwa turns to their older brother Yousif and pleads, “I don’t want 17 years to pass.” That instant captures the heartbeat of Layalina (lay-ali-na), a new play at the Goodman that aims to remind us what family can truly mean at best. Layalina […]

A Black woman in a maid's uniform sits on a motel room bed at left, with the receiver of a black rotary phone held to her ear. Sitting on the bed next to her and learning toward her is a Black man (playing Dr. Martin Luther King) in dark trousers and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

Theater Review

Brief encounter

by Boutayna Chokrane February 23, 2023February 22, 2023

Some believe that those who suspect death is near can often feel it approaching, and in Invictus Theatre’s rendition of Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. senses his end is coming. This fictional and subversive play, directed by Aaron Reese Boseman, imagines the evening after King (Mikha’el Amin) has delivered his “I’ve […]

an illustration of two people sitting at a wine bar, with a bartender pouring a drink. done in mostly black, white, grey, and shades of wine red

Food & Drink

M is for Mariano’s

by Boutayna Chokrane February 21, 2023February 21, 2023

Despite the popularity of the wine bar in Mariano’s locations across the city, nobody knows who Nob is or how the grocery store bar got its name. Regulars call it the M bar, for Mariano’s. And at the M bar, neighbors love to hang out and grab a drink—or three.

A man dressed like Genghis Khan stands left, his right hand outstretched as if describing something. A young Black man in an orange long-sleeved T-Shirt and dark pants stands right, looking on him in amazement or fright. The framing of the photo is slightly off kilter, and a brown wood door is visible in the reare center

Theater Review

The great con

by Boutayna Chokrane January 27, 2023January 27, 2023

Redtwist’s rolling world premiere of The Great Khan with the National New Play Network couldn’t be better timed. When Florida’s Department of Education had just rejected an Advanced Placement course in African American studies. When Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders just signed an executive order banning critical race theory in public schools, making Arkansas the 18th […]

An Arab American family at a kitchen table. The daughter is standing on the left. The mother is seated in front of her, looking at a laptop and talking to her son, who is seated at the right. His head is resting in his hand and he looks worried.

Theater Review

Mosque4Mosque upends stereotypes

by Boutayna Chokrane November 23, 2022November 23, 2022

Mosque4Mosque is not a monolithic representation of the Arab American Muslim experience, and perhaps that’s exactly the point. Written by Omer Abbas Salem and directed by Sophiyaa Nayar, this charming production challenges all preconceived notions of a play about an Arab American Muslim family. In this sitcom-esque dramedy, Ibrahim (played by Salem) and his family […]

Eleven actors are seated and standing in a group on a pink background. They are of various races, genders, and ethnicities. Objects associated with fantasy games (scepter, skull, chalices) are held by some of them.

Theater Review

Choose your own adventure—from your seat

by Boutayna Chokrane November 9, 2022November 9, 2022

The Twenty-Sided Tavern—written by David Andrew Greener Laws (aka DAGL), with game design by Sarah Davis Reynolds, and produced by David Carpenter, is an interactive, theatrical quest that invites you to control the story from the comfort of your seat. Inspired by fantasy tabletop role-playing games, you choose the characters and the choices they make […]

Two people are kneeling in front of a coffee table with a Ouija board on it. Both are in bathrobes. The man on the left is Black, and the person on the right is Latinx.

Theater Review

Reclaiming Pilsen’s raw history

by Boutayna Chokrane October 19, 2022October 19, 2022

From “Baby I Need Your Loving” by the Four Tops to “Money” by Cardi B, everything about this chilling production, including the score, muddles the gap between past and present. An immersive, soul-stirring play by Ricardo Gamboa, directed by Katrina Dion, The Wizards explores the city’s haunting past, reminding us that we are still living […]

A line of performers in 1920s garb sit on the floor of an apartment set, mouths open in what appears to be either raucous laughter or loud singing.

Theater Review

Party like it’s 1926

by Boutayna Chokrane August 31, 2022August 31, 2022

Blank Theatre Company’s production of The Wild Party (book, music, and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and based on the 1926 narrative poem by Joseph Moncure March), directed by Jason A. Fleece, tells the story of Queenie and Burrs, toxic lovers in the roaring 20s. In their Manhattan apartment, they throw a party, which manifestly goes […]