Chicago actor, singer and playwright Sandra Delgado has a busy summer ahead, with two live performances in July and August celebrating the heart and soul of Latine music, history and culture.
On Friday, July 19 at 8 p.m., The Sandra Delgado Experience returns to the Epiphany Center for the Arts, where she’ll weave song, story and sublime moments of personal connection into an incomparable, hypnotic tapestry of her bilingual and bicultural existence that leaves the audience craving “una mas.”
Get ready to ride a wave of high-energy cumbias, heart-soaked boleros and mystical moments that embrace the now while celebrating the heart and soul of Latine culture. July 19 happens to be the eve of Colombian Independence Day, so expect an exhilarating, SDE crowd favorite "cumbiazo" jam saluting the Cumbia, Colombia's beloved national rhythm, to be taken up a notch.
The Sandra Delgado Experience, December 8, 2023, Epiphany Center. Credit: Ryan Brandoff
Audiences have called The Sandra Delgado Experience “unique, refreshing, inviting of everything possible and positive,” “raw…engaging…magical” and “the show I didn’t know I needed.” If you haven’t had the experience, you’re in for a special night all about loving ourselves and each other, created and performed by a Chicago cultural icon.
Tickets are on sale now at epiphanychi.com. General admission seats are $35. Front section VIP table packages are $90-$300. Take advantage of early-bird pricing through June 3. The Epiphany Center is located at 201 S. Ashland Ave., Chicago.
The Sandra Delgado Experience is presented as part of Collaboraction Theatre’s House of Belonging live event series. Collaboractivists, members of the company’s community, enjoy early entry at 7 p.m., drink specials and first dibs on GA seating. Sign up by July 19 at collaboraction.org/memberships for as little as $1/month to take advantage of these exclusive member perks.
As part of its House of Belonging Series, Collaboraction presented The Sandra Delgado Experience with members of the La Havana Madrid house band at Epiphany Arts Center on December 8, 2023. Press play to enjoy their cover of "Because The Night," written by Bruce Springsteen and originally performed by Patti Smith.
After you've enjoyed The Sandra Delgado Experience…
Mark your calendar for the return of La Havana Madrid, Delgado’s smash hit love letter to the city of Chicago, one-night-only, Friday August 23 at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, presented by Collaboraction and Teatro Vista as part of Millennium Park's 20th Anniversary Celebration.
Sandra Delgado, creator and star of La Havana Madrid. Credit: Joel Maisonet
Step back to the 1960s as Pritzker Pavilion is transformed to honor La Havana Madrid, a real nightclub at the corner of Belmont and Sheffield where newly arrived Latino immigrants gathered to dine, dance and find community. As the glorious rhythms of mambo and salsa form the heartbeat of an ever-changing city, audiences learn the stories of Latine newcomers seeking a home in Chicago, discovering their destinies and falling madly in love.
DJ Julio Bishop will spin classic salsa to get the party started at 6 p.m. The performance is at 6:45 p.m. Admission is free. The Jay Pritzker Pavilion is at 201 E. Randolph in downtown Chicago. Visit MillenniumPark.org for more information.
Sandra Delgado, creator and star of La Havana Madrid. Credit: Joel Maisonet
About Sandra Delgado
Sandra Delgado is a Colombian-Chicagoan artist who creates joyful spaces of connection for all. She is best known for her smash hit show La Havana Madrid, featured in the New York Times and CNN. A respected veteran of the stage, acting highlights include work at Steppenwolf and Goodman in Chicago and The Public Theatre in New York. Awards include a United States Artist Fellowship, NALAC Grant, Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Literature, 3Arts Award, Joyce Award, TCG Resident Actor Fellowship, and the 2017 Latina Professional of the Year Award from the Chicago Latino Network. She serves her city as a board member of The Chicago Public Library and is one of the women honored in Kerry James Marshall’s largest public mural, “Rushmore,” at the Chicago Cultural Center. Her audioplay, if you belong to me as I belong to you, is on Audible as part of a collaboration with the Oscar winning film, Women Talking. IG: @yosoysandradelgado
The Sandra Delgado Experience, August 23, 2023 at Joe’s Pub at New York’s Public Theater. Credit: Leo Mascaro
Collaboraction is a 27-year-old, ethno-diverse non-profit arts organization that builds knowledge, empathy, dialogue and action around oppression and inequity through live theater, film, radio and online interactive programs. Across all platforms, Collaboraction uses its KEDA methodology - Knowledge, Empathy, Dialogue and Action - to spark changes in behavior and attitudes that manifest social change.
In May 2024, Collaboraction announced it will build and open a new home this fall inside the Kimball Arts Center, 1757 N. Kimball Ave. in Chicago’s Humboldt Park community, right off the 606, where Chicagoans from across the city can come together to grow together. Collaboraction’s new “House of Belonging” will feature a 99-seat flexible studio theater and a 50-seat cabaret with a cafe/bar. The 4,000-square foot space will be a community hub presenting live theater, spoken word, music, dance, films, workshops and special events. It also will be home to The Light, Collaboraction’s youth artist-activist program.
To learn more, visit collaboraction.org, tune into Collaboraction Radio, live, every Saturday at 4 p.m. on WCPT AM 820, subscribe to the Collaboraction Radio podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, or follow Collaboraction on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Twitter.