E. Faye Butler Archives - Chicago Reader

Alexis J. Roston as Marie Knight stands at an upright piano on the left while Bethany Thomas as Sister Rosetta Tharpe stands holding a guitar on the right. The set is of a white wooden funeral parlor sanctuary.

Sisters in song

by Kerry Reid July 19, 2023July 25, 2023

George Brant’s Marie and Rosetta, now at Northlight in a production directed by E. Faye Butler, is a tribute to the contributions of Black women in gospel, rhythm and blues, and rock, as embodied by Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Marie Knight—neither of whom are as nearly well known as they deserve to be (even though […]

Image of brick building with realtor sign on fence

Ghost Light

Steep plans a big move—just down the street

by Kerry Reid February 9, 2022February 11, 2022

In summer of 2020, Steep Theatre announced that they were losing their longtime Berwyn Avenue home (just next to the Red Line stop). The landlord was selling the building, which contained both the flexible-seating 60-seat black box theater and the adjoining Boxcar bar and performance lounge that Steep opened in 2018. At the time, Steep […]

Fannie Lou Hamer in green print dress, holding sign reading "To Hope Is to Vote."

Theater Review

Fannie Lou Hamer takes us to church

by Sheri Flanders October 27, 2021October 27, 2021

Fannie (The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer) by Cheryl L. West, now onstage at the Goodman Theatre, delivers a sorely needed injection of patriotism into our cynical electorate. But don’t balk at the word “patriotism”—this show is a far departure from your high school assembly. Fannie was presented abridged last fall in public […]