Join us on October 4th for a great night of true story theater, potluck dinner, and vital creative community. October’s show features one of our most exciting features line-ups to date. We are proud and honored to have these people join us. A primary goal of Here, Chicago is to bring you stories from people with a wide range of life-experiences, and this will certainly be the case in October. Join us for true stories from a Chicago Police Drug & Gang Unit Officer and Actor/Dancer, a Transgender Artist and Educator, a Population Health Nurse, and a Minister. Each one of these people not only has brilliant stories to tell, but they happen to be excellent human beings.
Here, Chicago is at Theater Wit on October 4th, but we have transitioned to ticketing through Brown Paper Tickets (like we do for Stage 773!), to make things simpler for guests. Please click here or use the link on the right to reserve your seats in advance. As always, we recommend advanced reservations, as the evening is likely to sell out. An admission ticket is required for every person with a seat; even those with FREE potluck entry. Especially if you are taking the trouble to prepare a dish, we recommend securing your spot in advance. Both free and general admission tickets can be reserved online.
Our show features 4-5 invited features, and 5 walk-up tellers straight from our audience. If you’d like to tell a story on October 4th, just prepare a 5-6 minute piece that you are comfortable and confident telling without notes, and arrive at 7:30 to sign up with Nnamdi on the stage. Our open-mic spots are part of a story slam, and the teller who receives the most audience points by private ballot will be invited to feature at our next show. We have 5 open spots, and 5-8 people usually sign up to tell, so the odds are pretty good that you’ll get up. Walk-up tellers are selected with an eye towards diversity of experience and point of view. All things being equal, we roll the dice.
Here are the great people we KNOW will be bringing you stories on October 4th:
Rebecca Kling is a transgender artist and educator who explores gender and identity through solo performance and educational workshops. Kling takes the position that sharing accessible queer narrative with a wide audience is a form of activism, and that understanding combats bigotry. In 2013, she was named as part of the inaugural Trans 100, a list celebrating excellence in the transgender community. In 2014, she was named as one of the Guild Literary Complex’s 25 Writer’s to Watch. Kling has received praise from The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Reader, CitiBeat Cincinnati, Overly Theatrical, and elsewhere. She regularly speaks and performs at high schools, universities, and theater festivals around the country. Her writing has been published at Jezebel, in Chicago IRL issues 1 through 4, Bodies of Work, the Center for Classic Theatre Review, and elsewhere. Her book, No Gender Left Behind, was released in 2013.
Melvin Davis is a Chicago Police Officer, and has been for the past twenty-two years. He is native of St. Louis, Missouri, and moved to Chicago with his family when he was young. Melvin works the entire city in a unit called Drug and Gang House, which is responsible for emergency gang activity throughout Chicago. Through his work with this unit, he has interactions with youth and young adults on a daily basis. Melvin also entered the field of entertainment as a dancer a few years ago, having performed as a principle dancer in The Wiz and La Star Dust Revue with Joseph Holmes Dance Company, A Chorus Line with Katherine Dunham Theatre and Dreamgirls with Joel Hall Dance Company. Melvin has been a featured competitor on American Gladiators, and made a guest appearance on NBC’s Crime Watch. He is also a fitness enthusiast, model and stuntman.
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Joe Fishburn is a registered nurse at Loyola University Hospital in the Population Health department. He received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Chamberlain College of Nursing in 2013 and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology degree from the College of Wooster in 2009. Joe is an avid traveler and outdoor enthusiast. He recently began studying improvisational comedy at Second City Training Center. Joe plans to pursue a career in mental health nursing in the near future.
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Susan Haarman is Faith and Justice Minister at Loyola University. She is from Louisville, KY but she’s lived in Milwaukee, Texas, Berkeley, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. When she was at Marquette Unviersity getting a degree in journalism and theology, she was first exposed to Jesuit education, and hasn’t looked back since. She has a Masters in Divinity from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, and a graduate certificate in Spiritual Direction with a focus on Spiritual Exercises. She’s a former Jesuit Volunteer and has a love of triatholons and red pandas. When’s she’s not planning Alternative Break Immersion programs, she loves having discussions about pop culture and social justice – especially the intersection of both..
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Nnamdi Ngwe and I so look forward to seeing you at the show. It’s set to be a wonderful night. As always, bring a prepared dish for the potluck, and get in free. Or give $11 and enjoy a beautiful night of theater and delicious dinner without having to lift a finger. Either way, you win! And so does everyone who makes this great night together.
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See you soon!
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Here, Chicago on October 4th
Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont
7:30 potluck | 8pm show
Tickets
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