International Voices Project For the past decade, Chicago theaters have teamed with consulates, universities and other cultural partners to connect our city with contemporary theater from around the globe, presenting readings of new plays by international playwrights. Season eleven of the project continues, moving online with free live-streamed play readings by writers from Spain, Ukraine, Serbia, Germany, Romania, Finland, Egypt and Canada. Each reading is followed by a Q&A with members of the production. September 2–October 21
LITANY (Po’Chop|Jenn Freeman) Performance artist Po’Chop (aka Jenn Freeman) has worked across mediums for a long time, upending tired out notions of eroticism, gender and race on burlesque stages and delighting subscribers to The Brown Pages newsletter through the written word and visual art. This fall, with support from Rebuild Foundation and Chicago Dancemakers Forum, Po’Chop brings her practice to video, creating five dance shorts that probe ideas of Blackness, queer identity, spirituality, grace, rage and healing. The completed films will screen together in early 2021. September 21, 2020-January 14, 2021
5th Annual Peacebook Festival (Collaboraction) Chicago’s annual festival of short performances on the subject of peace has never felt more relevant or more urgent. Traditionally, the festival tours the neighborhoods and includes a post-show “Crucial Conversation” with audiences, moderated by the company’s executive director Dr. Marcus Robinson. In response to the current climate, short, live-streamed videos will be grouped around themes of resilience and perspectives on peace. October 2-3
