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 […]
Tag: Dwight Neal
Posted inTheater Review
Soul sisters
If you’re looking for respite from the slush-bound, gawdawful doldrums of February (and who isn’t?), Mercury Theater Chicago offers a scorching-good respite in Women of Soul. Rebooting the show they debuted in 2018 at Black Ensemble Theater, writer/director Daryl D. Brooks and musical director Robert Reddrick don’t shy away from taking on the tunes that […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Black Ensemble Theater’s The Healing is saved by the audience
Jackie Taylor mixes history, personal essay, racial justice, and music to mixed effect.
Posted inArts & Culture
You Can’t Fake the Funk is superfreaky fun
Black Ensemble Theater’s celebration of the history of funk dazzles with defiant joy.