The past, present, and future of Pride - Stonewall at 50 - Chicago Reader
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
and future of Pride
The past, present,
Stonewall at 50
C H I C A G O ’ S F R E E W E E K LY S I N C E 1 9 7 1 | J U N E 2 0 , 2 0 1 9
THIS WEEK C H I C AG O R E A D E R | J U N E 2 0, 2 01 9 | VO LU M E 4 8 , N U M B E R 3 7
IN THIS ISSUE TO CONTACT ANY READER
EMPLOYEE, E-MAIL:
CITY LIFE end of vaudeville, If I Forget is
(FIRST INITIAL)(LAST NAME)
@CHICAGOREADER.COM
04 Public Service a powerful portrait of a family
ON THE COVER Announcement Chicago trying to survive in a changing
organizations that offer help, world, and a bracingly honest PUBLISHER TRACY BAIM
advice, and solidarity to the stand-up returns with World’s EDITORS IN CHIEF SUJAY KUMAR, KAREN HAWKINS
DEPUTY EDITOR KATE SCHMIDT
LGBTQIA community Greatest Dad(?). CREATIVE LEAD SUE KWONG
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY JAMIE RAMSAY
NEWS & POLITICS FILM CULTURE EDITOR AIMEE LEVITT
MUSIC EDITOR PHILIP MONTORO
05 Joravsky | Politics Which 26 Festival This year’s African ASSOCIATE EDITOR JAMIE LUDWIG
vice is more destructive: Diaspora International Film SENIOR WRITERS DEANNA ISAACS,
gambling or reefer? Festival illuminates the BEN JORAVSKY, MIKE SULA
STAFF WRITERS MAYA DUKMASOVA, LEOR GALIL
07 News The push to make all experiences of Black people EDITORIAL ASSOCIATE S. NICOLE LANE
single-stall public restrooms in around the world. GRAPHIC DESIGNER DAVON CLARK
Illinois gender-neutral 27 Movies of note Deserter SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR BRIANNA WELLEN
MUSIC LISTINGS COORDINATOR
delivers an anti-communism SALEM COLLO-JULIN
message and stellar acting, FILM LISTINGS COORDINATOR PATRICK FRIEL
1 Pasolini presents the Italian THEATER ASSIGNMENTS EDITOR CATEY SULLIVAN
3 CONTRIBUTORS NOAH BERLATSKY,
director like a modern-day saint, DAVE CANTOR, LUCA CIMARUSTI, ISA
and Brainiac: Transmissions GIALLORENZO, ANDREA GRONVALL, KT
2 After Zero shows how to rebuild HAWBAKER, RACHEL HAWLEY, JUSTIN HAYFORD,
JACK HELBIG, IRENE HSIAO, DAN JAKES, MONICA
after tragedy. KENDRICK, STEVE KRAKOW, MAX MALLER,
BILL MEYER, QUINN MYERS, J.R. NELSON,
LEAH PICKETT, KERRY REID, BEN SACHS, DMITRY
FOOD & DRINK SAMAROV, TIFFANY WALDEN, ALBERT WILLIAMS
----------------------------------------------------------------
09 Restaurant Review A snug DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL JOHN DUNLEVY
4 snack shop across from the DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT & PROGRAMS
Guatemalan consulate offers a KRISTEN KAZA
OFFICE MANAGER SORAYA ALEM
taste of Central America. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS JANAYA GREENE,
YAZMIN DOMINGUEZ
ADVERTISING
312-392-2970, DISPLAY-ADS@CHICAGOREADER.COM
CLASSIFIEDS: SALEM@CHICAGOREADERCORP.COM
MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE SALES DIRECTOR PATTI FLYNN
30 Feature How Homocore VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES AMY MATHENY
Chicago propped open the gate CLIENT RELATIONSHIP MANAGER TED PIEKARZ
for queer punks. SENIOR ACCOUNT REPRESENTATIVES
BOB GRIFFITH, ANDREW HAYES,
35 Shows of note Earth, Leela
5 FEATURE James, Ruido Fest, and more
JORI LIEFSCHULTZ, LENI MANAA-HOPPENWORTH,
ALEX RAY, LISA SOLOMON, BILL WOSSOW
11 Parade Relive Chicago’s 1976 this week CLASSIFIED SALES MANAGER WILL ROGERS
Pride Parade 36 Secret History of Chicago NATIONAL ADVERTISING
12 Photo Centering the voices Music Lithuanian American VOICE MEDIA GROUP 1-888-278-9866
and experiences of Black power poppers Dead Freddie VMGADVERTISING.COM
JOE LARKIN AND SUE BELAIR
1. Drag performer LO-TI-ON (Tommy Nouansacksy) lesbians defy their own demise
20 Pins Walk down button 39 Early Warnings Imfact, Sheer ----------------------------------------------------------------
2. Rap artist TWEAK G (Jasamine Harris)
memory lane with the Reader Mag, Helmet, and more just- DISTRIBUTION CONCERNS
3. Homocore Chicago founders JOANNA BROWN distributionissues@chicagoreader.com
and Windy City Times. announced concerts 312-392-2970
and MARK FREITAS
39 Gossip Wolf Local producers
4. Los Crudos and Limp Wrist front man MARTIN SORRONDEGUY ARTS & CULTURE Tensei create an electronic
STM READER, LLC
BOARD PRESIDENT DOROTHY R. LEAVELL
5. Middle-schooler MOLLY PINTA, who organized Buffalo Grove’s 18 Comedy A generation that canvas of astral soul, Chicago TREASURER EILEEN RHODES
first Pride parade grew up queer on the Internet house producer Derrick SECRETARY JESSICA STITES
AT-LARGE SLADJANA VUCKOVIC
finds a home on Chicago’s drag “Sleezy D” Harris passes away,
Not pictured: Husband-and-husband team photographer stages. and more. CONSULTANT CAROL E. BELL
Jeremy Hayes and stylist Matthew Ancer ----------------------------------------------------------------
THEATER OPINION READER (ISSN 1096-6919) IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY
22 Pride Ten essential plays for 41 Savage Love Dan Savage BY STM READER, LLC
2930 S. MICHIGAN, SUITE 102 CHICAGO, IL 60616
Pride Month offers advice to a husband 312-392-2934, CHICAGOREADER.COM
24 Review The Mountaintop whose wife won’t even kiss him.
ON THE COVER: PHOTO BY JEREMY HAYES; ART depicts a very human Martin COPYRIGHT © 2019 CHICAGO READER
DIRECTION: JAMIE RAMSAY; STYLIST: MATTHEW ANCER;
PHOTO ASSISTANT: TREVAR EVETT. FOR MORE OF Luther King Jr. on the eve of his CLASSIFIEDS PERIODICAL POSTAGE PAID AT CHICAGO, IL
HAYES’S WORK, GO TO JEREMYHAYESPHOTOGRAPHY.COM. assassination. 42 Jobs ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CHICAGO READER, READER, AND
REVERSED R: REGISTERED TRADEMARKS ®
24 Plays of note The Ballad of 43 Apartments & Spaces
Lefty & Crabbe tells a tale of the 43 Marketplace
2 CHICAGO READER - JUNE 20, 2019 ll
CHICAGO’S 50TH ANNUAL
PRIDE
SUNDAY JUNE 30
PARADE
STEP OFF
12 Noon • Broadway at Montrose
PARADE ROUTE
12 Noon from the Broadway/Montrose corner proceeding south on Broadway; then south on Halsted;
then east on Belmont; then south on Broadway; then east on Diversey to Cannon Drive
INFORMATION
www.ChicagoPrideCalendar.org
773-348-8243 • PrideChgo@aol.com
TRAVEL INFORMATION
Ride the CTA/PACE/METRA to the parade
www.transitchicago.com • 312-836-7000
www.metrarail.com • 312-322-6777
ll JUNE 20, 2019 - CHICAGO READER 3
CITY LIFE
A Pride Parade float in Boystown, 2012
@NATHANMAC87/FLICKR
Public Service Announcement
P is for pride
Chicago organizations that offer help,
advice, and solidarity phone service largely manned by community
volunteers for many years, and today’s Center
on Halsted has programming in the same spir-
it. It’s a community and cultural center that
serves LGBTQI people of all ages with group
therapy, job placement, social and recreation-
al programs, family activities, and more. Cen-
A
s a loyal Reader reader, you may already ter on Halsted also has comprehensive pro-
feel well versed in LGBTQIA issues. I’m grams offering help to LGBTQI seniors in the
hoping that the majority of you are community and those living with HIV/AIDS.
at least an A (ally) even if you’re not feeling
aligned with the other letters (and by the way, Affinity Community Services
LGBTQI people should also be A’s for each Affinity is a social justice organization that has
other, in case we all forgot). Sometimes life supported Black lesbian, bisexual, and trans
brings you more complicated situations than women thoughout its existence, though its
were covered in Lesléa Newman’s 1989 book research and activities also serve the broad-
Heather Has Two Mommies. You’ve always er LGBTQI and Black communities. In addition
felt like an advocate, but you’ve just found gay to peer-led support groups, Affinity works on
porn in your 14-year-old son’s room. You’re research and networking initiatives, like the
out to everyone in your personal life, but recent webinar series the Blackprint, a “plan
you’re trying to get ahead in a conservative for building the leadership capacity” of Black
industry and feel conflicted about letting your LGBTQI women.
coworkers know about your partner. You man-
age an office and want to do more than just say Chicago House
you’re inclusive. Here are a few of the many Chicago House is an organization that was
Chicago organizations that can offer help, formed in the 1980s to assist persons with
advice, and solidarity. HIV/AIDS facing homelessness. It has grown
into a multifunctional social service agen-
PFLAG cy, including the TransLife Care program for
Originally Parents and Friends of Lesbians trans people needing help navigating every-
and Gays, PFLAG has offered free support thing from housing to legal issues. Other Chi-
groups for allies and the LGBTQI community cago House community services include rent-
since 1973. A PFLAG get-together is often the al assistance, case management, and health-
first step for parents of recently out LGBTQI care navigation. —SALEM COLLO-JULIN
people trying to navigate the new waters and
learn how to be supportive. PFLAG was even PFLAG CHICAGO METRO CHAPTER
recommended by Dear Abby in a 2016 col- 773-472-6469
umn as a helpful resource for a trans person pflagillinois.org
looking to reveal the news to their parents. I CENTER ON HALSTED
recommend the Allies page at the national 3656 N. Halsted
PFLAG website for a guide for training ideas 773-472-6469
centeronhalsted.org
and topics for straight people looking to learn
about language and inclusivity. AFFINITY COMMUNITY SERVICES
773-324-0377
affinity95.org
Center on Halsted
The Center on Halsted was previously known CHICAGO HOUSE
as Horizons Community Services, which came 1925 N. Clybourn
from Gay Horizons, the original founding 773-248-5200
chicagohouse.org
name from 1973. Horizons had a free help-line
4 CHICAGO READER - JUNE 20, 2019 ll
NEWS & POLITICS
Weed was recently legalized
for recreational use in Illinois.
MARCO VERCH/FLICKR
65
FLOORS.
POLITICS much less debate.
If you want to know more about the conse- ZERO
A tale of quences of the 816-page gambling bill, I urge
you to read the stories by Dan Mihalopoulos
and Jason Grotto—a tagteam of investigative RIGHT
two vices reporters for WBEZ and ProPublica, respec-
tively, who proclaim the new bill will “trans-
form Illinois into the gambling capital of the ANGLES.
Let’s pit reefer vs. gambling Midwest.”
to see which is worse. Here’s a sampling . . . TA K E O N E O F O U R
“The legislation legalizes sports gambling;
By BEN JORAVSKY sanctions six new casinos, including one in 85 TOURS AND SEE
Chicago; increases the number of video gam- CHICAGO FROM
Q
bling machines . . . and transforms the state’s
A F A S C I N AT I N G
uick question . . . Which vice is more horse racing tracks into ‘racinos’ by permit-
destructive: gambling or reefer? ting casino operations at the state’s three PERSPECTIVE.
I’ve been posing this question for existing tracks.”
weeks, ever since our state legisla- “The number of state-sponsored gambling
tors expanded one and legalized the ‘positions’—seats to place a bet inside a ca-
other. sino, bar or racino—will grow from almost
The overwhelming response is gambling, of 44,000 to nearly 80,000. That’s about four
course. In fact, when I broadened the vices we times the number of positions in any neigh-
legalize and tax, most people place marijuana boring state. . . . Within two years, Illinois
third in destructiveness, behind liquor and could have more than 7,000 video gambling es-
cigarettes. And yet? tablishments, 5,000 lotterylike sports betting
Well, let me start with the good news. Yes, kiosk locations, 16 casinos, five racinos and
state legislators finally got around to voting online sports gambling accessible on millions
to legalize marijuana—something they should of mobile phones.”
have done years ago, Place your bets, suckers.
And, yes, Governor Pritzker signed the bill. Look, I’m not calling for a prohibition on
So yes, you can legally smoke as of January 1. gambling. I’m a libertarian when it comes to
So congratulations one and all. vices—legalize them all, with proper over-
But man, oh, man, the hypocritical anguish sight, of course.
and agony of legislators as they made their But why are we so cautious about the conse-
vote was almost too much to take. quences of one vice and so cavalier about the
In contrast, they whipped that gambling other?
expansion bill through the statehouse in the I blame it on the "War on Drugs" we spent
last days of the session that had already gone the last 50 or so years fighting. It was a hor-
overtime and when most reps and senators rific waste of time and energy that destroyed
wanted to go home. countless families and communities—espe-
I haven’t seen such rapidity on passing a cially Black ones.
major bill since the City Council passed the There were many reasons to support the
parking-meter deal with almost no thought, legalization of marijuana—not the least J
ll JUNE 20, 2019 - CHICAGO READER 5
NEWS & POLITICS
continued from 5 and got staggeringly drunk. games that were stacked against them. that can be downloaded from many sites.
of which is that it’s so freaking hypocritical to But gambling? Well, there’s never really No, it had to do with which team of billion- Directed by Chris Buddy, it tells the story of
throw Black people into jail for the high crime been a war on that. The state instituted the aires—with their armies of lobbyists—would KC, a card counter. That’s a guy who’s smart
of doing something that white people do every lottery years ago. Churches and not-for-prof- prevail over the other. enough to beat the casinos at blackjack by
day without a second thought. its have been having raising money with bingo In the end, in-state gambling interests predicting safe bets to make by studiously
But Republicans dedicated years to the War and casino nights forever. largely beat back attempts by out-of-state keeping track of what cards have been played.
on Drugs, cheered on by Bill Clinton Demo- Hardly any Republicans voted to legalize online sports betting sites to get a toehold in Thanks to his card-counting capabilities,
crats who were determined never to let the reefer. But the gambling bill had widespread Illinois. KC, not the casinos, has the upper hand. So
Republicans make them look “weak” on crime. bipartisan support. Bottom line: the operators who run the how do casino operators treat him? They kick
Obviously, they couldn’t just let it go over- So apparently it’s OK to smoke, drink, and gambling industry wanted to make more him out of their casinos.
night. Got to pretend they truly believed all gamble. But reefer? It’s the demon drug! money, and the politicians who run the state If they ran the NBA this way, my beloved
that antidrug nonsense they’ve been spouting Oh, there was anguish over the recent gam- needed more tax dollars to, you know, run the Bulls would get to ban LeBron or Kawhi or
for years. Hence, the antireefer breast-beating bling expansion bill. But it had almost nothing state. And that was that. Curry from playing. That way they might actu-
in last month’s legislative debate by legisla- to do with whether turning Illinois into Vegas That brings me to the recent "fair tax" ini- ally win a championship, as it’s hard to lose if
tors who, for all I know, went out afterwards made it easier for suckers to go broke playing tiative that also passed the house and senate you keep the better guys from playing.
last session. This is an initiative to replace the I’m not sure how it can be legal to ban card
current flat tax with one that makes wealthier counters from casinos. But it’s riveting to
people pay at a higher rate. watch KC donning disguises to sneak past the
Not one Republican legislator—including casino’s thuggish security guards.
those who voted to expand gambling—voted Again, I’m not calling for a gambling ban.
for it. But there’s got to be a saner way to fund gov-
Apparently, Republicans don’t mind raising ernment than soaking the suckers who are
taxes so long as someone else pays them. In foolish enough to think they can beat the odds
this case, gambling addicts and other suckers. that are stacked against them. v
While I’m on the subject, check out Inside
the Edge, an enlightening new documentary @joravben
CAUSE Are you suffering from
Herniated Disc
SCIATICA or
from a
LEG PAIN
HERNIATED DISC?
Explore a Nonsteroidal, Non-opioid
Option Other Than Surgery
& FIND OUT MORE OR SEE IF YOU PREQUALIFY:
EFFECT
877.770.1411
CALL
Radiating Pain
in a OR VISIT
Single Leg
www. theDISCoverystudy .com
Consider the Discovery 6603 Study!
You May Be Eligible To Participate If You: If You Qualify
• Are experiencing pain in a single leg that is • You will receive a single injection of the
associated with lumbar disc herniation which investigational drug (or a control)
has not lasted for more than 12 months • All study related exams and
• Are 30 to 70 years of age procedures are at no cost to you
• Are NOT in routine use of opioids/ cannabis • Participation in the study is completely
• Are < 35 of BMI voluntary, and you may be
• Are NOT receiving worker’ s compensation compensated for your time and travel
6 CHICAGO READER - JUNE 20, 2019 ll
NEWS & POLITICS
JP CARRASCAL
NEWS
Nobody’s business
The push to make all single-stall public restrooms in Illinois gender-neutral
By NICO LANG
E
very time Angelina Nordstrom want- Grayslake and state rep Sam Yingling, Dem-
ed to use the restroom, it took ten ocrat of Round Lake Beach, were joined by 15
minutes to get there and ten minutes other Democratic lawmakers in sponsoring
to get back. Nordstrom, who is trans- SB 556. In a statement, Yingling claims the
gender, says that a former employer legislation’s passage “will ensure that every
forced her to use the bathroom in a separate resident in Illinois, regardless of gender iden-
building after coworkers complained about tity, is able to use a single-occupancy restroom
her using the women’s facility. without fear of discrimination.”
“That was a lot of time out of a workday,” “I appreciate the overwhelming bipartisan
Nordstorm tells the Reader, estimating that support as this legislation will not only benefit
her boss’s discriminatory order cost her up to trans Illinoisans, but parents with opposite
an hour’s worth of productivity every day. sex children,” he says in an e-mail to the Read-
For the past four years, Nordstrom has er, “such as a dad spending a day out with his
lobbied with Chicago Restroom Access Project little girl, and people with disabilities out and
(CRAP) and the Pride Action Tank of Chicago about with their caregiver.”
to pass legislation that would ensure other Supporters say compliance with the bill
trans and gender-nonbinary Illinoisans don’t wouldn’t be burdensome for businesses: all
have to experience the same mistreatment. restaurants and stores would have to do is
If signed into law, Senate Bill 556 would man- replace the “male” and “female” signs on their
date that “every single-occupancy restroom single-stall restrooms with ones stating the
in a place of public accommodation or public facilities are open to everyone.
building be identified as all-gender.” Myles Brady Davis, communications di-
On May 21, the Illinois house voted 109 to 55 rector and press secretary for the LGBTQ
in favor of the legislation. advocacy group Equality Illinois, says gen-
Democratic state senator Melinda Bush of der-neutral facilities are already the J
ll JUNE 20, 2019 - CHICAGO READER 7
GREEN NEWS & POLITICS
element continued from 7
norm on airplanes, Amtrak commuter trains,
be extremely meaningful for the estimated
49,750 trans and nonbinary people who call
RESALE
and in Starbucks cafes. In consulting with Illinois home.
local businesses about the proposal, Equality While Brady Davis, who identifies as nonbi-
Illinois found that 51 percent said all-gender nary and uses gender-neutral pronouns, has
restrooms “would have a positive impact not experienced discrimination on the basis
www.big-medicine.org
6241 N. Broadway, Chicago
on their business,” while 39 percent had no
opinion.
“People just know that this is the right thing
of their gender identity since transitioning,
they plan to have a baby with their wife in the
future. Brady Davis intends on carrying the
to do,” Brady Davis tells the Reader. “This is child. Without a law like SB 556 on the books,
773-942-6522 going to be a very life-changing bill that’s
going to benefit so many.”
In addition to wide support from the busi-
being visibly pregnant could open them up
to harassment or even violence in restroom
facilities.
Mon-Sat 11-7 ness community, the legislation has met with “I have my father’s face, but at the time
Sun 12-7 little opposition, according to Illinois house
speaker Greg Harris. While he says that a 2017
when I’m pregnant, I would have my mother’s
body,” they say. “Gender-neutral bathrooms
bill making it easier for transgender people to would be the bathrooms that I would feel saf-
update their birth certificates was met with est in.”
“really hateful” rhetoric in the state legisla- According to research from the Williams
Recently BGA ture, not a single senator voted against SB 556 Institute, a pro-LGBTQ think tank at UCLA,
(Better Government when the proposal was debated in April.
The conservative Illinois Family Institute,
seven in ten transgender people have been
discriminated against while attempting to use
Association) rated for instance, has referred to birth certificates the bathroom. Eighteen percent of respon-
that accurately reflect a transgender person’s dents claimed they have been refused access
Chicago as the gender identity as “falsified” documents. to a restroom because of their gender identity,
“Gender-pretenders can now acquire birth while 9 percent said they have been assaulted
WORST major certificates that falsely identify them as the or beaten as a result.
city in the sex they are not and that falsely state that
this identification happened at birth, which it
But one of the reasons SB 556 has enjoyed
such wide support is that it impacts more
nation for did not,” the lobby group claimed on its web- than just members of the trans community,
site after the birth certificate bill was signed according to Brady Davis. They point out the
recycling into law by former governor Bruce Rauner, a legislation also affects “parents with kids of
:( Republican.
“The chest pounding and the wailing and
the opposite sex, caretakers of people of the
opposite sex, and people with disabilities.”
gnashing of teeth from opponents, you just The bill “helps a broad range of people,”
don’t see anymore,” Harris tells the Reader. Brady Davis says. “I’m going to be really happy
“People are getting to understand that a bill the day that it’s signed.”
Take control of like this is just a common-sense thing.” SB 556 isn’t the only pro-LGBTQ bill await-
your part of the After passing the house and senate, SB 556
is headed to Democratic governor J.B. Pritz-
ing consideration by the governor. Earlier
this year, the Illinois house and senate voted
solution and buy ker’s desk in the next 30 days. He will then in favor of legislation mandating that public
have 60 days to sign the legislation into law. schools educate students about “the role and
recycled clothing, The first-term Democrat, whose 2018 cam- contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
housewares and paign website referred to him as “a staunch
advocate for LGBTQ rights,” is expected to
transgender people in the history of this coun-
try and this state.” Similar laws have been
furniture as often approve the bill. enacted in California and New Jersey.
SB 556 is similar to regulations already Another bill awaiting the governor’s signa-
as possible on the books in California, Vermont, and ture, SB 1319, seeks to prevent discrimination
New Mexico, where they have met with lit- against LGBTQ seniors and people living with
:) tle outcry. New Mexico governor Michelle HIV in nursing homes, assisted living facili-
Lujan-Grisham, a Democrat, OKed a ties, and other state-funded housing. It would
gender-neutral bathroom law in April after classify these populations as “groups of great-
www.big-medicine.org the legislation, HB 388, passed its house of
representatives with an overwhelming 54-12
majority in February. It goes into effect July 1.
Although the legislation amounts to a
est social need.”
Pritzker is expected to weigh in on the leg-
islation, including SB 556, before the end of
June, which marks LGBTQ Pride month. v
“simple sign change,” as Brady Davis calls it,
advocates say the passage of SB 556 would @Nico_Lang
8 CHICAGO READER - JUNE 20, 2019 ll
FOOD & DRINK
CAFÉ ANTIGUA | $
R 5540 N. Long
773-930-4962
cafe-antigua-antojitos-guatemaltecos.business.site
Clockwise from left : tostada de chao mein,
chile relleno, ejotes envueltos, chuchitos de
pollo, and pacayas envueltas KATHLEEN HINKEL
ten chuchitos. She wants to take everything.
She’s like, ‘I got a big family. I got a lot of
mouths to feed.’”
The rellenos and pacayas are among the
Canos’ best sellers. The former, unlike the
familiar Mexican-style cheese-stuffed po-
blanos, are bell peppers packed with a fine
mince of green beans, carrots, and pork or
chicken. They’re battered with egg white and
deep-fried, then served with tomato salsa and
a shower of snowy cotija cheese on a house-
made white corn tortilla. Pacayas are the un-
opened flowers of the pacaya palm, a bud that
resembles a bundle of long, thin ears of corn.
Crunchy and pleasantly bitter, they get the
same treatment as the rellenos. So do a num-
ber of other snacks, most notably pigs’ feet,
pressure-cooked before going into the fryer so
that they’re unctuous and chewy, and sections
of lengua as beefy and tender as a good steak.
Café Antigua is a cozy space. There’s not
enough room for a fryer, so Karina preps and
cooks these items at the Canos’ new brick-and-
mortar restaurant, Antojitos Guatemaltecos,
in Belmont Cragin, and reheats them to order
at Café Antigua. They hold up pretty well, as
evidenced by the numbers of them that go on
long out-of-state road trips.
RESTAURANT REVIEW Karina also stuffs and steams a family of
Guatemalan tamales. There’s the traditional
It’s not about coffee at Café Antigua tamal colorado—soft, silky masa cylinders
enshrouding a whole piece of pork or chicken,
all snugly swaddled in banana leaf. Paches
A snug snack shop across from the Guatemalan consulate offers a taste of Central America. are similar, but formed from potato dough.
Chuchitos are mini tamales wrapped in corn
By MIKE SULA husk, tamalitos little tamales mixed with
the earthy, somewhat sour leafy greens of a
C
legume native to Mexico and Central America
offee is one of the reasons that more $4.95 grande Iced Caramel Cloud Macchiato The Chicago consulate provides a range of called chipilin. On the sweeter side, rellenitos
Guatemalans are caught trying to get sold at Starbucks, but rather a $1.99 cup of La services for Guatemalan immigrants who’ve de platano are ripe plantains stuffed with
into the United States than migrants Jarrillita instant coffee. landed all over flyover country—Illinois, Iowa, sweetened black beans, deep-fried, and pow-
from any other country. According to Still, most of Cano’s customers prefer to pay Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, dered with confectioners’ sugar.
the Washington Post, even premium a dollar more for steaming mugs of sweetened Wisconsin, North Dakota. Most of these places The word shuco is a slang term for “dirty”
fair-trade prices paid by large buyers like Star- atole to go with their tamales, chiles rellenos, don’t have groceries or restaurants that sell when referring to a person, but it’s also the
bucks can’t stop workers from throwing up and pacayas envueltas. In the 16 months he dishes or even staples from back home, so the name of the Guatemalan hot dog, which is like-
their hands and risking everything for better and Karina have been open, he says, they’ve Canos targeted an ideal spot to sell nearly two ly to give Chicago dog partisans the vapors, as
lives in the U.S. found that most of the people who stop in dozen Guatemalan antojitos and drinks. it’s a wiener (or longaniza sausage) blanketed
Douglas Cano sells Guatemalan coffee at before or after their business at the consulate And for now, it’s mostly Guatemalans com- with cabbage, mayo, mustard, and ketchup
Café Antigua, the tiny snack shop he operates have come to the midwest to escape gang vi- ing through, happy to find a taste of home. and cradled on a bun smeared with guacamole.
with his wife, Karina, across the street and olence in their home country, rather than the “There is a lady that comes once a month from It’s one of the more conspicuous snacks at
around the corner from the Consulate General vagaries of the volatile international coffee Rockford,” says Douglas. “And she always Café Antigua, perhaps outdone only by an-
of Guatemala in Jefferson Park. It’s not the economy. takes, like, 20 chiles rellenos, 18 pacayas, and other great achievement in cross-cultural J
ll JUNE 20, 2019 - CHICAGO READER 9
Search the Reader’s online database of thousands
FOOD & DRINK of Chicago-area restaurants—and add your
own review—at chicagoreader.com/food.
Less scrolling.
Douglas and Karina
Cano, owners of Café
Antigua KATHLEEN HINKEL
continued from 9 ies, faxes, money transfers, and groceries and
culinary pollination: the tostada de chao mein. crafts from back home. But the main draw is
Supposedly the product of decades of Chinese Karina’s food, which possesses the universal-
migration to Guatemala, it’s a pile of stir-fried ly appreciated quality of deliciousness that
noodles, peppers, and cabbage showered with everyone should be aware of, business at the
cilantro and cotija, needing nothing more than consulate or not. v
a dash of Ina brand soy sauce.
More strumming.
The Canos also sell phone cards, photocop- @MikeSula
Give your digital life a break.
Connect over music, dance & more.
Anyone can play! Find your
summer class at oldtownschool.org
10 CHICAGO READER - JUNE 20, 2019 llPride 1976
Photos by DIANE ALEXANDER WHITE
From left :
DIANE ALEXANDER WHITE was a photogra-
phy student with a camera at the seventh an- A handmade sign proclaims the A drag queen waits for the parade
“7th Annual Gay Pride Parade.” to begin on the side streets of
nual Gay Pride Parade in 1976. It was the disco Belmont and Broadway
era, and the fashions of the day were captured The crowd watches from the
vantage point of a Dominick’s A couple enjoys the view of the
by the 21-year-old Chicago native. The goal grocery store while the Pride parade from the comfort of their
was to document the spirit of Chicago’s urban marchers ring a bell and play a stairs.
landscape and photograph candid moments trombone on Broadway.
Even the balloons are gay at Pride.
of a vibrant city in motion. The LGBTQ parade Heavy Sunday traffic flows in the
was a grassroots, assertive declaration of lane opposite the marchers.
DIANE ALEXANDER
independence with a small crowd and handful Psychedelic face paint, fur boa, and
commemorative tank top announce WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY
of marchers and floats on the southbound lane Through 7/10
the parade.
of North Broadway Street, as oncoming traffic Center on Halsted
The crowd fills the sidewalk at 3656 N. Halsted
continued in the opposite direction. Witness
Belmont and Broadway, while the centeronhalsted.org
the diverse faces that paved the way for con- Seahorse II floats down the street.
temporary Pride. v
ll JUNE 20, 2019 - CHICAGO READER 11I
’ve lived in Chicago for almost ten years, have
been active within queer communities, and
have been identifying as a lesbian, but I had
very little exposure to the history and the impact
Black lesbians have had on Chicago’s south-side
communities and beyond.
Then I met Krü Maekdo, who founded the Black
Lesbian Archive in the summer of 2017 to preserve
and communicate the history of Black lesbians via
news articles, publications, photo albums, litera-
ture, and oral histories.
There are folks who have concerns that the
term “lesbian” is disappearing, in this case more
specifically Black lesbians. Amidst the beautiful
progression and visibility of queer identities with-
in the LGBTQIA+ community, there is something
inherently powerful about naming. For the Black
women I photographed, there is a resonant power
and pride that comes with identifying themselves
as exclusively “lesbian.”
These intergenerational portraits center the
experiences, activism, and diverse ways in which
Black lesbians in Chicago continue to thrive and
actualize themselves on their own terms.
Participants’ statements have been edited for
length and clarity.
Kiersten “Kee” hell you gon’ love somebody
else?’”
Parks + Dominique
“Dumoo” Johnson D O M I N I Q U E : “ Wh e n m y
cousins would go out, I
KIERSTEN: “It was my soph- would go out with them and
omore year of high school be in the gay scene. Most
that I realized I leaned more of my friends are also gay.
‘Black women towards women. And now I
feel I’m just a lesbian. I just
connect more with women.
We in the community every-
where (on the south side).
You go outside by my house,
are everything’ To be Black and gay is beauti-
ful to me! Just being Black in
general is hard.
it’s gay couples outside all
the time. We everywhere. So
when people say stuff about
Centering the voices and experiences of “There’s so many people us not bein’ out here—we
Black lesbians in Chicago out here still figuring out how out here. And I haven’t real-
to identify themselves, and ly been to the Pride parties
Written and photographed by in the process being thrown really, but it’s always love
ZAKKIYYAH NAJEEBAH down and doubted. So to be and fun when I’m around gay
both Black and openly gay, people. I feel comfortable
to be comfortable with your- and I feel safe.
self and for me, it’s amazing. “I’m just proud to be who
Self-confidence is everything! I am. I love who I am. And I
“Like RuPaul said, ‘If you also love Black women! Black
can’t love yo’ self, how the women are everything.”
12 CHICAGO READER - JUNE 20, 2019 llKrü Maekdo
Founder of Black
Lesbian Archives
“Identifying as a lesbian feels
like a revolution! Black les-
bians I feel are always put
at the bottom of the con-
versation. I love who I am
and I feel powerful embrac-
ing who I am. There were all
these different labels I was
discovering at first but then I
realized: ‘Actually, I’m just a
lesbian!’ I love women—I’ve
always loved women for as
long as I can remember.
“When I came to Chica-
go and started Black Les-
bian Archives, I was tread-
ing a line and was hesitant
because queer is more inclu-
sive, you know? So at first I
thought, Should I do Black and I’m a Black lesbian who lesbians who were doing
Queer Archives? So Imani wants to know more about similar work here in Chica-
[Rupert-Gordon, executive Black lesbians! There’s very go who supported the mis-
director] of Affinity [Commu- little history that focuses on sion of the archives and were
nity] Services asked me what our experiences. I found a eager to work with me. So
it was I really intended to do, community with other Black here I am!”
Rachel Pierce spaces that aren’t always some great relationships.
Filmmaker about drinking or partying. Especially with more Black
Like small-group-type things women and women of color,
“ Within the community, or just more meet-ups. I’ve for sure. But we need more
there’s a demand and impor- put myself out there more spaces for rest and slowness,
tance for more ‘sober’ queer in that way and have made reflection and connection.
“But as far as, like, the
Jasamine Harris, though, sometimes to hurt identity and community that I
me, but I’m not ashamed of consider myself aligned with,
aka Tweak G that. I’m proud as hell to be it’s the lesbian community. If
Rap artist gay. So yes—I’m a dyke! Just I’m looking for resources, or
come at me with respect, a sense of support, or even
“I’m a masculine-centered that’s all I ask. just fun. And lesbian is just
Black lesbian! It’s hard and “I also just love Black more specific. But when I say
it’s very exhausting having women! It’s comforting to lesbian, though, it definitely
to always explain my woman- know I have someone to love makes people think I’m not
hood. It’s always under ques- who can relate to what I’ve attracted to men and I am.
tion, and folks always expect been through—you know? My But that’s just my truth.
me to overcompensate that life, my trauma, all of it. I don’t “The language is definite-
I’m a woman just because have to always explain myself ly important, but the more
I’m not always feminine pre- (with a Black woman) because we keep holding boundar-
senting. I’m always judged they understand already—my ies, the more we isolate our-
by my clothes. I be tellin’ wife knows me. I don’t have selves sometimes. It can limit
folks, ‘Don’t box me in, you’re to tell her how to meet me collaboration in terms of
gonna have a hard time and halfway. She’s nurturing, lov- health and education. But I
you’ll fry your brain trying to ing, understanding, kind, and also understand that people
figure me out!’ But I proud- sweet. It feels like home. I need a sense of identity and
ly claim myself as a dyke. can be my true self and don’t community.”
People have used that term, have to hide.” continued on 16
ll JUNE 20, 2019 - CHICAGO READER 13A R T Y 1 9
CK P 2 0
B LO ew i ng Co un e 23,
ID E y B r
da y , J
PR om muni
t
Sun
a r z C
with M io ns
n i z a t
a r tists a nd o rga
o L G B T Q +
ride n g Ch icag
f P r i
e a r s o Featu
50 y ra in
h and
more!
as e of rinks , merc
nc Food,
d
en ue i
s i d ev
I n
Presented by
t o 9 pm
1 p m
S I r o n St
In support of
The following organizations
with 25% of sales 3630
Free parking
In partnership with All ages $10
h air accessible
Wheelc
ChicagoReader.com/pride shine!
R ain or
14 CHICAGO READER - JUNE 20, 2019 ll1pm Drag Queen Story Hour
Theater of the future with Youth Empowerment
2pm
Performance Project & Free Street Theater 50x50
Sandra Antongiorgi LIVE (Caribbean,
3pm
Rumba, Jazz, Soul, Rock and Neo-Soul)
B.Blyss! salsa dance lesson
4pm
with Alex Agudo & DJ Sandra Suave
House dance music lesson with
5pm
Boogie McClarin & DJ Duane Powell
History of Chicago Drag
6pm
with Lucy Stoole & friends
Queer hip hop showcase with Young Chicago Authors
7pm featuring: E’Mon Lauren, LorealAustin, Henri Mayhem,
Roy Kinsey, Tweak G, Dominique James & DJ Cash Era
Janet Jackson LIVE tribute by FEMME/SLASH
8pm & Slo 'Mo Party with special guests:
Daryn Alexus, Avery R. Young, Adam Ness, Gem Tree & more
Full schedule at ChicagoReader.com/pride
ll JUNE 20, 2019 - CHICAGO READER 15continued from 13
on I saw that we were missing
stories about Black lesbians
in particular. So I did this film
called The NIA Project: Imag-
es of African American Les-
bians. Stories are so import-
Pat McCombs at the Michigan Womyn’s ant. And I’ve maintained this
Activist and organizer [Music] Festival. This was incredible array of relation-
in 1986, I believe, and each ships doing this work. There’s
“Here in Chicago, I’ve always tent had a different focus this idea that there’s work
been a party promoter and that centered the concerns here to do and are you doing
activating something! Exec- of different women-of-col- your work?”
utive Sweet started out with or groups, such as Native
Pam Terrell and myself and American, Asian, Latino, and WILLA: “Before we recog-
DJ Sheron Webb. Eventu- Black women. There were so nized we could be something
ally it just became me and many white women we had more than friends, we would
Vera Washington. We went to do something to come have these marathon phone
around and did a lot of stuff: together, and white women calls talking about anything
boat rides, parties, and we couldn’t come in, which was and everything—before the
had a lesbian bar up north very controversial at the era of cell phones! The phone
at one point on Clark Street time. But on the outskirts, bills would be ridiculous! We
called Sweets. The reason we I had white women allies would talk from work, and
felt a strong need to gath- who would do anti-racism when my job would get the
er amongst ourselves is that workshops. bill, they’d ask, ‘Willa . . . ?’
we played the type of music “We were such a minority And I’d say I was working on
that we liked! And the type of that we were on the outskirts, a ‘special’ project.
things we liked. so we had different activities “So we met [through] a
“I also started the first in place that could cater to us really good friend of Mary’s
Women of Color tent space and just us!” and somebody who I hung
out with and worked with,
Renae Ogletree, who was a
real sort of mover and shak-
er in the queer community,
in particular the Black lesbi-
an community here in Chica-
go. And also did a lot of work
around HIV and AIDS. She
introduced us.
“I think I was fortunate
Mary Morten her at first, but I realized how because I grew up during the
President of much I was laughing with her, civil rights era . . . in Texas . . .
Morten Group and it remains an important in segregation, [and] I was
part of our relationship. Being always in that kind of envi-
Willa Taylor able to laugh makes all the ronment where everybody
Director of education difference. So here we are. was always trying to figure
and community “From a very early age, out how to make the world
engagement at the I came out of college and better. It gave me a sense
Goodman Theatre started doing a lot of activ- of myself, but it also always
ist work. So I got involved helped me recognize and
MARY: “We just celebrated with Chicago NOW [Nation- identify triumphs. Right now,
our 20th anniversary. We met al Organization for Women] we have a wonderful circle
for the first time at this con- and became the first Black of Black lesbians, and also
ference in Long Beach, but woman and lesbian [pres- gay men, here in Chicago.
it was the Creating Change i d e n t ] of t h a t c h a p t e r, And we make an effort to try
Conference in Pittsburgh which at that time was the and make that accessible to
when we realized there was second-largest one in the people younger than us. But
something there. We did long country. I’ve also worked in terms of activism, most
distance for about a year. And with Chicago Abortion Fund, of my activism has always
Willa moved here in Decem- doing a lot of work around been about . . . living my life
ber of ’99 . . . and now it’s reproductive justice. I’m also out loud. I’ve always tried to
been 20 years! I didn’t like a filmmaker, and really early make spaces wherever I am.”
16 CHICAGO READER - JUNE 20, 2019 llFirst Pride Festival on the South Side
really see that through the 3 DAYS \\ 5 COMMUNITIES \\ 8 EVENTS
lens of being a Black lesbian
. . . changes how I view FUN.FREE.HISTROIC
things. It took me a while to
uncover that.
“Just even saying ‘I’m a
Black Lesbian,’—because
queer is so trendy a term
PRIDE
right now—it means some-
thing. It’s about being exclu-
SOUTH SIDE FESTIVAL ‘19
sive within an inclusive space.
So yes, I don’t only want
Presenting Sponsor
to be under an umbrella, I
want that lesbian voice to be
heard. I feel like it’s becom-
ing watered down. And
SAT. 6.29
it’s hard to connect some-
times. Even under this queer
umbrella, there still needs to MEET US AT THE DUSABLE | 12PM
be a strong lesbian commu-
nity. When it comes to Black D U A N E P OW E L L LO R A B R A N C H DJ DA P P E R
lesbian spaces, where are
we? We don’t have an estab-
lished area or space. It can
Ujo Wadjet are on the deepest level. And be hard, I feel, for us to find
Wellness coach and so in turn, that’s me connect- spaces exclusively for us.
fitness trainer ing to who I am in regard to I say all this so people can
my sexual orientation. There’s know that we’re still here! It’s
BOOGIE R OY K I N S E Y AV E H R E
“Spirituality for me is about this masculine aspect and the about confidence, pride, and
connecting to who you truly feminine, and being able to awareness.”
Yvonne Welbon
Filmmaker, founder BRANDON MARKELL CHA$E MORENXXX
of Sisters in Cinema
and the Black Lesbian
Writers Room
“I had an encounter with a
woman my senior year of
college and thought . . . I THE VIXEN M I S T E R WA L L AC E C A K E S DA K I L L A
think I could be a lesbian? I
always had a girlfriend but
would date men every now
and then . . . you know, here
and there. But it was when I
moved to Taiwan after col-
lege. I had been there for,
like, six years. And I was like, RSVP PRIDESOUTHSIDE.COM
I should decide. I think I was
27 when I decided. You know
OUR
how I decided? I am a better
SPONSORS
me with a woman, I’m at my
best. I’m my best person. I’m
who I am truly when I’m with zy—I would disappear with a but I’m just a lesbian. The
a woman. man, where I wouldn’t do that connection is there for me.
“I couldn’t be who I truly with a woman . . . you know? I For sure. No question about
am with men. But it was cra- don’t know if it’s socialization, it.” v
ll JUNE 20, 2019 - CHICAGO READER 17ARTS & CULTURE “AUNTIE’S TREASURES”
Sat 6/22, 5 PM, Bughouse Theater, 1910 W.
Irving Park, facebook.com, pay what you can.
moving toward relying on summarizing ideas
through video. Not only must a performer
capture an audience’s attention onstage, they
must do it online as well. Recently, the mul-
timedia production company Rowdy House
PRIDE teamed with Chicago drag celebrity Aunty
Chan to create “The Real Dragwives of Chica-
The rise of the viral go,” a sketch featuring staged drama between
five local comedy queens: Aunty Chan, Mau-
reen SanDiego, Bambi Banks-Couleé, T Rex ,
Internet queens and Saltine. In its first day online, the video
attracted nearly 3,500 views.
“With the Internet now you see drag queens
A generation that grew up queer on the Internet being a part of a viral sensation, at least in the
finds a home on Chicago’s drag stages. queer community,” says Derry. “It might not
necessarily reach everyone, but the comedy
By MEGGIE GATES that people are doing now is reaching more
people because it’s on the Internet.”
The new audience for drag is 16 to 30-year-
olds who have grown up with the Internet and
RuPaul’s Drag Race. And some people who
first came out to see drag queens perform
found a community they could be themselves
LO-TI-ON at ‘Killer Babes’ at in. Though the LGBTQ community has become
Replay Lakeview ERIK M KOMMER more accepted by mainstream society in
D
recent years, the Internet is still a home and
erry Queen takes the stage in a laced scene. Decked out in inflatable outfits (some a cardboard cylinder spray-painted silver). a safe space where people can connect and
leather corset and a black skirt. He representing Internet memes) and extreme Leaning on well-known pop culture references talk to others who also feel ostracized during
begins performing a traditional lip stylized makeup, drag queens are going to in- eases some of the pressure of trying to con- tumultuous times. For some young people, it
sync to Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi.” credible lengths to make each performance a nect with an audience. The performance may remains the only outlet they can find.
And then things turn sour. An edited fully realized stage number, embellished with flop, but at least everyone will enjoy it. “I run an all-ages show, but it’s difficult
sound bite of Anderson Cooper declares that a story line, backup dancers, and acrobatics. “When you see a drag mix, which is a wide getting people out there,” says Auntie Hero-
“Derry is a top,” a term in gay culture that, Acts have progressed from stand-up and variety of performance in one number, is ine. “The teen queen community does a lot of
well, you can look it up, and Derry runs from lip-synching to routines that rely heavily on usually when you see online viral sensations,” video content. They have their own drag races,
the stage in shame. “I’m not a top!” he protests visuals and, most importantly, viral videos and says Derry. and they’re almost exclusively online because
as Britney Spears’s “Piece of Me” plays him off sound clips. The use of Internet culture, which With an endless amount of resources, there’s nowhere to do it.”
and performers posing as paparazzi snap pho- also includes well-known Vines and news- incorporating viral content can be a curse as This becomes what people recognize and
tos of him. The piece plays well to a sold-out related segments, makes the acts relevant to much as it is a blessing. As with SNL, comedy know. It’s how the LGBTQ community invites
audience packed shoulder to shoulder. Two a younger audience. This is an experience, not queens must stay on top of the game to remain people into conversation, by meeting pain
men circle Derry and lift him over their heads just a performance. relevant. with laughter. The energy is infectious and it’s
as fake blood runs from his mouth. He’s met “People are drawn to things they recognize “What’s hard for comedians today is that what transforms online followings to people
with a standing ovation. right away,” says Derry Queen, whose “Derry there’s so much new material coming out,” coming out to see a live show. It’s what packs
The theatrics of Derry’s variety show tran- Queen’s Big Queer Variety Show” runs month- says Auntie Heroine, a queen who runs the Derry Queen’s show at the Hideout, where
scend traditional expectations of drag. His ly at the Hideout. “Using a sound clip you monthly all-ages drag show “Auntie’s Trea- people sit knee to knee in folding chairs
show includes acts ranging between stand-up recognize or mirroring motions from a video sures.” “People still talk to me about their watching a drag number in which Mr. Krabs
and sketch, all of which take him at least a is what gets people’s attention. That’s what’s favorite number of mine when I did Melania from SpongeBob SquarePants seduces a dollar
month to churn out. Many of the acts rely on getting popularized right now in the Chicago Trump, which was right after the inaugura- bill to “I Can Hear the Bells” from Hairspray.
gags and pranks pulled on the audience to en- drag scene.” tion. Then RuPaul released Aquaria doing a The familiar nostalgic attribute of this very
gage interest. Sound bites are perfectly edited Chicago’s pageant-drag roots have grown Melania bit two years later because they had queer performance leads people through
to sync with videos, dubbed over and remixed outward to intertwine with comedy and Inter- filmed it when it was superrelevant, [but] the door between the world of mainstream
to present surreal, larger-than-life conceptual net culture. Costumes are still campy, but it’s nobody cared to see it. In general, our culture, media, where they feel like outsiders, to one
pieces that usually stun the crowd. This is a no longer a beauty contest as much as a “who since everything is there and it’s available, we of mashed-up pop culture, where they realize
rising form of art that incorporates Internet can do it all” contest. Queens must stay rele- have such a low attention span.” As someone they belonged the whole time. It’s a home peo-
lingo, social commentary, and pop culture vant, look amazing, have an individual stage who hosts a monthly drag show and travels ple might not realize they needed until they
references into one drag number. persona, and sing and dance. They take on the country to perform, Auntie knows that see what’s on the screen, moments of their
In Chicago, where both the gay and comedy difficult tasks, such as LO-TI-ON’s re-creation remaining relevant is key to maintaining childhood that make them feel safe. v
communities thrive, it’s no wonder there’s of the Boston Dynamic robot dog (by moving interest.
been an artistic shift in the city’s drag comedy back and forth with another performer inside Drag, like most things in our culture now, is @meggie_gates
18 CHICAGO READER - JUNE 20, 2019 llll JUNE 20, 2019 - CHICAGO READER 19
THE READER AND WINDY CITY TIMES
KIRK WILLIAMSON
Layout design by Kirk Williamson
20 CHICAGO READER - JUNE 20, 2019 llSTROLL THROUGH LGBTQ BUTTON HISTORY
These buttons from the private collections of LGBTQ advocates Robert Castillo, Nancy Katz, and the late Marie J. Kuda
date from the 1960s to the 2000s. Buttons have traditionally been a way for members of the community to wear their
politics and make visual statements about the issues they care about. Walk down button memory lane with the Chicago
Reader and Windy City Times this Pride Month.
KIRK WILLIAMSON
ll JUNE 20, 2019 - CHICAGO READER 21THEATER
Steppenwolf’s Ms. Blakk for President
MICHAEL BROSILOW
L
anford Wilson’s 1964 one-act The Arnold’s disapproving mother. A shortened
Madness of Lady Bright, a dynamic version of the work, titled Torch Song, played
character study of an aging drag on Broadway last year and is slated for a na-
PRIDE queen, is frequently cited as Ameri- tional tour this fall.
ca’s first “gay play.” It premiered at As Is and The Normal Heart, two dramas set
Out of the Caffe Cino, an off-off-Broadway coffeehouse
theater in New York’s Greenwich Village
that also nurtured the work of emerging gay
during the first years of the AIDS crisis in New
York, both premiered off-Broadway in 1985.
William M. Hoffman’s poetic As Is concerns a
closets and playwrights Robert Patrick, Tom Eyen, Jean-
Claude van Itallie, and William M. Hoffman.
Mart Crowley’s 1968 The Boys in the Band
gay couple who separate, then reunite when
one of the men is diagnosed with what was
then an almost inevitably fatal disease. Larry
onto the stage
was the first mainstream commercial hit Kramer’s semiautobiographical The Normal
about gay life. Set at an all-male birthday Heart scrutinizes with angry and sometimes
party whose bitter host draws his guests into anguished candor the ideological and personal
a round of ugly but ultimately cathartic emo- conflicts among AIDS activists in the early 80s.
Ten essential plays for Pride Month tional games, the play depicts (as I wrote when Tony Kushner’s sprawling “gay fantasia
I reviewed a 1997 About Face production) “the on national themes,” Angels in America, is a
By ALBERT WILLIAMS transformation of a subculture of shame into two-part epic chronicling the experiences of a
a community bound by self-understanding, network of people impacted by AIDS in 1985-
self-respect, loyalty, and love.” Originally 1990, when medical advances began making
produced off-Broadway, Boys finally came to the illness more manageable. A scathing
Broadway last year for a short run (for which indictment of Reagan-era indifference to the
it won a Tony Award for best revival), and in epidemic (the cast of characters includes real-
January, Windy City Playhouse will give the life right-wing power broker Roy Cohn), it’s
script its first Chicago staging in 20 years. also a meditation on humanity’s relationship
Martin Sherman’s harrowing, brilliant Bent, to whatever divine forces may be at work in
which premiered in London in 1979 before our lives, balancing philosophical, religious,
making its way to Broadway the following and political inquiry with cracking-good
year, concerns a Berliner in Hitler’s Germany soap-opera plotting.
who’s sent to a concentration camp, where Fun Home, Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori’s
he passes as a Jew rather than a homosexual, quirky 2015 musical, is adapted from lesbian
earning a yellow star on his camp uniform cartoonist Alison Bechdel’s 2006 graphic
instead of the more despised pink triangle. memoir. It depicts Alison as a child, adoles-
But his pose is compromised when he falls in cent, and adult, charting her process of com-
love with an openly gay fellow inmate despite ing out and her troubled relationship with her
constant surveillance by gun-toting guards. closeted gay father.
Jane Chambers’s Last Summer at Bluefish In a year when American voters are consid-
Cove opened off-Broadway in 1980, three years ering the possibility of a small-city mayor be-
before Chambers died at age 46. It’s the story coming the nation’s first openly gay president,
of a dissatisfied middle-aged married woman Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble members
who falls in love with another woman she Tarell Alvin McCraney and Tina Landau are
In PREVIEWS: meets while on a vacation at a Long Island making waves with Ms. Blakk for President, de-
July 10 – 11 beachfront colony. Groundbreaking in its time, scribed by Reader critic Dan Jakes as a “docu-
Opening night this once-popular, now-neglected tearjerk- party celebrating the true story of queer
activist Terence Alan Smith, aka drag queen
is July 12 er—along with the other plays in Chambers’s
oeuvre—deserves another look. Joan Jett Blakk,” who ran for president in 1992
Harvey Fierstein’s funny and moving Torch on the Queer Nation Party ticket. Cowritten
Song Trilogy opened on Broadway in 1982 by McCraney and Landau, the show is direct-
after developmental productions off-off- ed by Landau (who was named one of Out
Broadway in the late 1970s. It’s a suite of one- magazine’s “Out100” in 2009) and stars Mc-
acts about wisecracking but vulnerable female Craney, whose other work on LGBTQ themes
impersonator Arnold Beckoff and his complex includes the plays Choir Boy, Marcus, or the
relationships with his bisexual lover, Ed; Ed’s Secret of Sweet, and In Moonlight Black Boys
wife, Laurel; a gay teenager named David Look Blue, which became the basis of the film
whom Arnold adopts; and, most intensely, Moonlight. v
22 CHICAGO READER - JUNE 20, 2019 llYou can also read
