Lorraine Hansberry Archives

In the foreground on the left, a white man in white shirt, suspenders, and tan trousers faces a Black woman in a 1950s-style blue dress. Behind them on the left we see a Black man, also in shirt, trousers, and suspenders, and a white woman in a brown suit dress, looking at the argument unfolding between the two characters in the foreground.

She sees you, white American theater

by Kerry Reid November 17, 2022November 30, 2022

Alice Childress’s Trouble in Mind made its off-Broadway debut in 1955, but it never made the leap to the Great White Way (emphasis most definitely on “White”). The white producers demanded that Childress give her story about racism in the American theater a happier ending depicting racial harmony. (Pause for irony.) Childress refused at first, […]

a rendering of the future Chicago Fire performance center

On Politics

It worked!

by Ben Joravsky October 31, 2022October 31, 2022

It was a connect-the-dots moment in Chicago as the following news stories recently broke in rapid succession. Chicago Public School enrollment fell again. It’s now down more than 115,000 students over the last 20 years. There are homeless camps in many parks and under viaducts, including Touhy Park on the far north side. That’s where […]

News & Politics

Writers on the wall

by Debbie-Marie Brown September 29, 2022September 29, 2022

A new exhibit at the American Writers Museum featres prominent and lesser-known Black authors, poets, and journalists.

Arts & Culture

Tyla Abercrumbie is about more than The Chi

by Janaya Greene November 24, 2021November 24, 2021

Playwright, actor, director, and artist Tyla Abercrumbie remembers when she was called to theater as clear as day. Blue lights beamed from a ceiling as Alvin Ailey dancers weaved and flowed with silk fabrics, making grade school Tyla feel like she was swimming in an ocean as the company of dancers performed their “Wade in […]