Sheri Flanders, author at Chicago Reader

Three women are shown from the waist up. A white woman stands in the center looking out, while two Black women are on either side of her, looking at her skeptically.

Blackademics offers a course in code-switching

by Sheri Flanders October 26, 2023October 26, 2023

Set in an uber-modern high-end restaurant, the three-person play Blackademics, written by Idris Goodwin, sets up a gilded cage match of the wits for two Black frenemies in academia. Newly tenured professor Ann (Jessica F. Morrison) overcompensates through authentic African garb for what she feels she lacks in “authentic” Blackness due to her upper-class background. […]

Barbie sings while she drives in a pink car away from the rainbow arch that is Barbieland, with Ken sitting in the back seat

Film

Review: Barbie

by Sheri Flanders July 26, 2023September 25, 2023

Greta Gerwig serves up a frothy confection of fashion and fun coupled with searing social critique of the iconic doll in the movie Barbie.

four Black people stand around an open game board, with other books, games and trinkets surrounding them on shelves

Film

Review: The Blackening

by Sheri Flanders June 15, 2023September 25, 2023

Poised to become a summer blockbuster, The Blackening is a hilarious horror-comedy romp that’s smart and self-aware.

seven Black people stare with curiosity and fear toward the camera

Film

‘Without that sketch, maybe nothing, baby!’

by Sheri Flanders June 14, 2023June 15, 2023

An interview with Chicago native Dewayne Perkins, writer and star of the new horror-comedy The Blackening

A 1950s kitchen and living room set. A Black man in a striped shirt and T-shirt sits at the table on the left, and a Black woman in a yellow dress and apron stands right.

Theater Review

A refreshing October Storm

by Sheri Flanders May 18, 2023May 18, 2023

Expertly written, exquisitely performed, steamy, and hilarious, The October Storm at the Raven Theatre offers a warm slice of south-side Chicago life in the 1960s. Joshua Allen’s play, the second in his Grand Boulevard Trilogy (the first was The Last Pair of Earlies, produced by Raven in 2021) is refreshing in that it explores the […]

Three men stand onstage in a dive bar, playing air guitar. A woman in a black leather jacket sits on a stool at a table pointing to them.

Theater Review

Ready to rock

by Sheri Flanders April 26, 2023April 26, 2023

Airness, now playing at the Citadel Theatre, delivers a rocking good time, laughs, and a rock classic earworm to follow you home. Chelsea Marcantel’s play follows the journey of Nina (an earnest Julia Rowley) an outsider who dives headfirst into the world of competitive air guitar. Nina initially judges her fellow competitors as cringeworthy but […]

Two Black men stand facing each other in what looks like a wooden cabin set with rough wooden plank walls. The man on the left is bald, wearing dark trousers, a light shirt, and a dark vest. The man on the right is wearing overalls and a plaid shirt. Both are bearded. They look as if they are caught mid-laugh. The man on the left is holding what looks like a diploma or some sort of certificate. Behind them we also see light green curtains and a set of shelves with various household implements on them. A table with a lace tablecloth and a chair covered in light red patterned upholstery is visible at the lower left.

Theater Review

The pain of history

by Sheri Flanders March 23, 2023March 23, 2023

I cannot recommend this play without caveats. At least to Black people. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad play. As a matter of fact, it’s a very good play. It’s clever, well-written, timely, and it makes good use of unusual devices. The quality of the play is not the problem. The problem […]

Center is Christian Denzel Bufford as Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire. He is wearing white trousers and a sparkling tank top. He is flanked by two Black women, MIciah Lathan and Keya Trammell, who are singing back-up while wearing black gowns, cut to be off one shoulder.

Theater Review

Sing a song

by Sheri Flanders March 15, 2023March 15, 2023

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 […]

Film

Harold Dennis’s diamonds are in his own backyard

by Sheri Flanders February 23, 2023February 21, 2023

Every year, countless local actors move to LA to pursue a career onscreen. But what about the ones who stay? What does it mean to be a working actor in Chicago?

a young white girl stands in front of a light blue backdrop with puffy fake clouds

Film

Sundance: risk-free in 2023

by Sheri Flanders and Josh Flanders February 14, 2023February 14, 2023

This year’s Sundance Film Festival was a quieter affair.

A young Black woman in a white knit top and blue jeans sits cross-legged on stage. To the right of her in the photo we see a young Black man in a blue hoodie and sweat pants seated and looking toward her. The stage is rough wooden planks, like a boardwalk. Behind them we see a kind of pink plastic sheeting material.

Theater Review

Infatuation and identity

by Sheri Flanders February 8, 2023February 8, 2023

When The Revival theater opened its doors in 2015 at the corner of 55th Street and University Avenue, its intent was to pay homage to improv’s earliest roots. Paul Sills formed the Compass Players in that exact spot, bringing his knowledge of his mother Viola Spolin’s theater games (outlined in her seminal work Improvisation for […]

The author sits in a chair, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and looking at the camera. An empty chair sits beside him.

Arts & Culture

David Razowsky wants to set “yes, and” on fire

by Sheri Flanders January 27, 2023January 27, 2023

Improvisers from around the globe flock to Chicago to learn the “right” way to improvise, yet veteran actor (actor, not improviser) David Razowsky’s new book throws “yes, and” in the trash, sets it on fire, composts it, and plants a tree with it. He’s earned the right, after ten years on Second City Chicago’s mainstage […]

Pictured are side-by-side headshots of two Black women, both leaders of theater companies in Chicago. On the left is Charlique Rolle of Congo Square. She is wearing black, and is seated with her hands clasped in her lap. She is smiling. On the right is Myesha-Tiara of Perceptions Theatre. She is wearing an orange top.

Arts & Culture

The strength of community

by Sheri Flanders January 25, 2023January 27, 2023

At the end of September 2020, I wrote a piece for the Reader titled “Black artistic leaders take charge at several Chicago theaters,” which framed the influx of new (and preexisting) Black leadership in Chicago theater against the backdrop of a historic disruption in the industry. That disruption was powered in part by COVID-19 leading […]

Theater Review

Apartheid and Antigone

by Sheri Flanders November 23, 2022November 23, 2022

Exquisitely paced and intellectually explosive, The Island at Court Theatre is a profoundly moving work of art. From the first moment, this production (directed by Gabrielle Randle-Bent, Court’s associate artistic director) seizes the audience and thrusts them into the world of two political prisoners of apartheid and doesn’t let go, even long after the play […]

a Black woman dressed in all black with gold earrings looks out toward the open water

Film

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

by Sheri Flanders November 10, 2022November 10, 2022

A thoughtful and mature exploration of communal grief in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a fitting tribute to the legacy of Chadwick Boseman.