Acclaimed writer-performers headline Wirtz Center Chicago fall lineup

CHICAGO --- Northwestern University’s Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for Performing and Media Arts in Chicago, 710 N. Lake Shore Drive, will host four innovative productions this fall illuminating important historical figures or cultural traditions and art’s ability to heal.     

“All three of these fall offerings are by celebrated writer-performers who tell intimate personal stories that resonate across time and place,” said Tanya Palmer, assistant dean and executive artistic director for Northwestern’s School of Communication. “Each performance is distinct, but all of them grapple with art’s ability — in the face of real damage and devastation — to heal us.” 
 
Tickets for these programs are available through the Wirtz Center website, by calling the Wirtz Center box office at 847-491-7282, or visiting the box office, which is located on the Evanston campus in the Barber Theater lobby, 30 Arts Circle Drive. 

Media are invited to review to any of the fall productions by emailing Stephen Lewis at stephen.j.lewis@northwestern.edu. 

Fall 2024 programs at Wirtz Center Chicago:  

“Tipi Tales from the Stoop” 
Oct. 4-5
Written and performed by Murielle Borst-Tarrant 
Directed by Steven Sapp and Mildred Ruiz-Sapp 

New York City has always been a gathering and trading place for many Indigenous peoples, where Native Nations intersected from all directions since time immemorial. It was a place to gather and seek refuge during times of conflict and struggle. Borst-Tarrant’s family first came to New York City in the late 1800’s from Virginia, and bought a house in Brooklyn and raised four generations. This story is about how they as a family had to keep tradition alive. The survival of genocide, relocation, the boarding school system and the ban by the U. S. Government that meant they could not practice their cultural traditions. The story is about her family’s triumph of will, dysfunction and historical trauma through laughter. Being brought up in Brooklyn in a Mafia-run neighborhood when they were the only Natives on the block is part of her personal tapestry. And this is just one Tipi Tale of the city. This program is made possible in part through funding from the Astere E. Claeyssens Artist-in-Residence program.  

“Grace” 
Oct. 10-12 
Written and performed by Chloe Johnston 
Directed by Coya Paz 

Grace is an interactive performance and deeply personal look at artificial intelligence, games, technology, and the people who make them. It is an investigation of how we interact with natural language processing programs everyday — and how they will never love us back. It is about identity and how it is constructed in person and online. And it’s about what happens when your voice travels around the world in ways you never imagined. 

In partnership with Pivot Arts and Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE). 

“Felon: An American Washi Tale” 
Oct. 25-26 
By Reginald Dwayne Betts 

Alone in solitary confinement, a teenager called out to the men in the hole with him, “Somebody, send me a book!” Moments later, Dudley Randall’s “The Black Poets” slid under his cell door. Those pages, in that desperate place, were the start of the teen’s transformation into a poet, lawyer, and promoter of prisoner’s rights. Now, nearly 20 years after his release from prison, Reginald Dwayne Betts explores the experience and lingering consequences of having a criminal record in a solo theater show based on his poetry collection, Felon. Betts, who recently received a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, advocates for literacy in prisons and is the Founder and CEO of the nonprofit organization Freedom Reads, which delivers books to inmates and brings contemporary writers and artists together with incarcerated audiences. 

“I came here to weep” 
Nov. 15-16 
Created by Yanira Castro/a canary torsi 

First presented at Brooklyn’s Chocolate Factory Theatre in 2023, “I came here to weep” is a performance installation led by Bessie-Award winning choreographer and interdisciplinary artist Yanira Castro, and co-created with the public. It is a multimodal, interactive project made up of participatory scores with corresponding materials and a built audio environment designed by NU faculty member and sound artist Stephan Moore. This iteration of the participatory performance is the culmination of a two-week artist residency at Northwestern focused on design. “I came here to weep” examines U.S. territorial possession, Puerto Rican sovereignty, and invites the audience into a collective exorcism. 

I came here to weep is a part of the Chicago Latin Theater Alliance’s (CLATA) DESTINOS, 7th  Chicago International Latino Theater Festival, Sept. 30-Nov. 17.    

About Wirtz Center Chicago 

Located inside Abbott Hall on Northwestern’s Chicago campus, Wirtz Center Chicago is a state-of-the-art facility that fosters innovation among local and visiting artists, scholars and theatre makers. Minutes from the Loop and within walking distance of several of Chicago’s most renowned cultural and performing arts spaces, Wirtz Center Chicago offers two new black box theaters, an expansive lobby space and rehearsal rooms –– all much-needed resources for artists and small theater companies looking to create and showcase their work. Audiences can also take advantage of free parking in the lot adjacent to the theater.