niegel smith
-
This Week’s Virtual Events Are a 'Cascade' of Brown Sounds and Learning How to Catch Creation
Well, well, well. It seems we’ve come to yet another end of the virtual events road—at least where the month of March is concerned. As expected, this Women’s History Month/Black HerStory Month has been nothing short amazing, though it definitely brought its fair share of eye-worthy news stories over the last four weeks. But we’re…
-
Infinite Possibilities: Black Love Matters in Christina Anderson's How to Catch Creation
It’s impossible to talk about award-winning playwright Christina Anderson’s How to Catch Creation without talking about love; specifically, black love. In its world premiere at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre on Monday, Anderson’s multigenerational drama introduced six black characters whose love stories span almost a half century and explore the myriad and unique ways in which we…
-
A Hero’s Journey: Father Comes Home From the Wars Is a Reckoning with American History
A war. A hero. A conflict. A journey. These are the components of any timeless tale, dating as far back as the ancient Greeks. In fact, they are the prototypical “hero’s journey,” as epitomized by the second-oldest known Western text in history, well-known to many high school and college literature students as Homer’s The Odyssey.…