Chicago’s Collaboraction Theatre Company has released its September guest list for Collaboraction Radio, live, every Saturday from 4 to 5 p.m. CST on WCPT 820 AM, Chicago’s Progressive Talk.
(left) Collaboraction Radio co-host Carla Stillwell, American Theatre Magazine Chicago editors Gabriela Furtado Coutinho and Jerald Raymond Pierce, and Collaboraction Radio co-host Anthony Moseley in-studio at WCPT, Saturday, August 26. (right) Jasmin Cardenas and Elsa Hiltner, nationally recognized advocates for pay and labor equity in the art, are live guests for this Saturday’s Labor Day weekend edition of Collaboraction Radio.
Joining hosts Anthony Moseley, Carla Stillwell and contributor Dr. Marcus Robinson live, in-studio this Saturday and through September are:
September 2: A special Labor Day weekend edition with internationally recognized organizer of pay and labor equity in the arts Elsa Hiltner (On Our Team, Lawyers for the Creative Arts), joined by award-winning bilingual artist, activist and producer Jasmin Cardenas (WorkersTEATRO) in the artist spotlight.
September 9: Pilar Audain, Associate Director, Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation-Greater Chicago, housed at The Chicago Community Trust, will share about her critical work. Artists from Artemisia Theatre’s A Hit Dog Will Holler also will perform an excerpt from their new show.
September 16: Jorge Valdivia, Executive Director, Chicago Latino Theater Alliance (CLATA), previews the 6th Destinos, Chicago International Latino Theater Festival, September 28-November 12.
September 23: Jamie Kalven, Founder of the Invisible Institute, shares how the South Side non-profit journalism company holds public institutions accountable.
Collaboraction Radio is Collaboraction’s new way to gather Chicagoans and people worldwide around the company’s digital campfire to inspire new ideas, empathy, dialogue and action around today’s most critical social issues.
Each week, Collaboraction features news, talk, commentary, guest interviews with social justice warriors and live performances by Chicago artists who are creating positive change. Listeners enjoy a fast-paced hour of timely conversation, comedy, storytelling, spoken word and digital theater, all rooted in positive social justice. In addition to the live radio broadcast, audiences around the world can watch and interact with the show’s livestream on Facebook or YouTube.
Worried about the state of Chicago theater? Watch this!
From left: Collaboraction Radio co-host Carla Stillwell, American Theatre Magazine Chicago editors Gabriela Furtado Coutinho and Jerald Raymond Pierce, Collaboraction Radio co-host Anthony Moseley, and contributor Dr. Marcus Robinson in-studio at WCPT on Saturday, August 26.
Last Saturday’s live, in-studio conversation with guests Jerald Pierce and Gabriela Furtado Coutinho, Chicago editors of American Theatre Magazine, was a banger. The hot topic was the state of live theater in Chicago and the nation. Watch, listen and respond to the show on Collaboraction’s YouTube channel, here.
And if you’re into podcasts, just add Collaboraction Radio to your Spotify or Apple Podcast playlist and you’ll never miss an episode. All shows, linked below, are posted weekly on both platforms:
Episode 11, August 20: Dr. Marcus emcees spoken word performances by artists/ activists and frequent Collaboraction collaborators Jeronimo Speaks, Phenom, Pinqy Ring and Abad Vizquez.
Episode 10, August 12: Collaboraction's youth ensemble The Light preview their Chicago Parks tour to Austin, Rogers Park and Englewood, and talk about their growth as artists and social justice activists.
Episode 9, August 5: Anthony and performer and organizer A'Keisha Lee, Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation, discuss her work mobilizing people directly impacted by systematic divestment.
Episode 8, July 24: Dr. Marcus and Carla are joined by Puerto Rican rapper, author, speaker and educator, Pinqy Ring, named Best Hip Hop Artist by the Chicago Reader in 2023.
Episode 6, July 15: Dr. Marcus and Anthony mix it up with special guest Phenom, veteran Chicago emcee, national spoken word poet and founder of Emcee Skool.
Episode 5, July 8: Carla and Dr. Marcus are joined by Coco Elysses, a producer, award-winning music director, composer, conductor, musicians, actress, screenwriter, doula, published poet, and Chair of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians).
Episode 4, July 1: Carla and Dr. Marcus talk with corporate chef and restaurant consultant, Chef Erika Durham, plus actor and sound designer Warren Levon performs an excerpt from Frederick Douglass’s 1852 speech “ The Meaning of the 4th of July for the Negro.”
Episode 3, June 24: Transgender entertainer Honey West, who has contributed her talent and service to numerous LGBTQA and AIDS service agencies like Season of Concern, sings live and talks about her career with Anthony and Carla.
Episode 2, June 17: Carla, Anthony and Dr. Marcus are joined by WHKP radio host and “the Mayor of Hyde Park,” Mario Smith, plus a live performance by spoken word artist, producer and open mic champ Jeronimo Speaks.
Episode 1, June 10: Anthony and Carla talk with Tracie D. Hall, Executive Director of the American Library Association, the first female African-American executive director in ALA history, one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2023.
Listeners to the live broadcast are encouraged to join the conversation by calling the WCPT hotline, (773) 763-9278. To contact Collaboraction Radio, or for Chicago arts and social justice organizations interested in submitting event PSAs, please email radio@collaboraction.org.
Collaboraction Radio is sponsored by Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation and the Social Innovation Group, founded by Dr. Marcus Robinson, Collaboraction’s former Executive Director and a frequent contributor to the show. For more, visit drmarcusrobinson.com.
View the rate card for additional sponsor and advertising opportunities.
To learn more about Collaboraction, visit collaboraction.org or follow the company on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Twitter.
Collaboraction Radio: Meet the Hosts
Anthony Moseley (he/him) has been the Artistic Director of Collaboraction since 1999, using theater as a tool of knowledge, empathy, dialogue and action. Through this work, Moseley has commissioned and collaborated with thousands of artists to build a more equitable future for Chicago through projects including Sketchbook Festival, Peacebook, Encounter and The Light youth theater ensemble. As a writer/director he created Crime Scene: a Chicago Anthology and its four sequels, This is Not a Cure For Cancer, Connected, A Blue Island in the Red Sea and co-created and co-directed the Emmy Award-winning The Lost Story of Emmett Till: Trial in the Delta and its live theatrical adaptation. Anthony is also a MC, Public Speaker, Auctioneer and SAG actor having worked on numerous film and tv projects.
Carla Stillwell has been an award-winning actor, playwright, producer, artistic director and teacher for three decades. Currently, she is Collaboraction’s Managing Director, where she won a Regional Emmy for her work as producer on The Lost Story of Emmett Till: Trial in the Delta, a collaboration with NBCUniversal/Chicago. Stillwell began as a theatre artist at age 10 in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood, continued her studies in high school with the Chicago Park District’s after-school programming, and went on to attend Columbia College as a Theatre-Music double major. In 1995, she was cast in a show with an Afrikan Centered theater company new to Chicago called MPAACT, which became her artistic home for 22 seasons, serving both as resident playwright and artistic director. In 2019 she founded The Stillwell Institute for Contemporary Black Arts, with a mission to recruit, develop and support contemporary Black artists and to teach art making in the Black community as a healing practice, a vehicle for social change and a viable career opportunity. In 2021, she joined the adjunct staff at The Theatre School at DePaul University.
Become a CollaborActivist
Becoming a CollaborActivist not only supports Collaboraction’s work, which hires hundreds of artists to create social change work, but also offers access to community and content to support your growth as an agent of social change.
CollaborActivist memberships include exclusive access to the Co-Lab, a digital portal at collaboraction.org which allows members to create a profile, connect with other members, attend virtual workshops and meet-ups, and screen members-only video content with more than 40 videos. Sign up to be a CollaborActivist at collaboraction.org/memberships.
Collaboraction:
Changing the map and removing barriers within the theater industry
Collaboraction is a 25-year-old, ethno-diverse company that uses theater and performance to incite social change on Chicago’s most critical issues. Collaboraction produces live and digital performances, anti-racism workshops, and youth programs that incite change and grow equity in Chicago.
Collaboraction’s work includes Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till, SKETCHBOOK, PEACEBOOK, Moonset Sunrise, The Light Youth Ensemble, Crime Scene, Forgotten Future and Gender Breakdown.
In addition to live performances, community building and video production, the company centers and presents its work in Chicago neighborhoods historically overlooked like Englewood, Austin and Lawndale. In 2022, Collaboraction was one of the first theaters in the U.S. to be certified by On Our Team, a national trade organization advocating for pay equity and transparency in the live theater industry.
Most recently, Collaboraction’s co-production with NBC Chicago of The Lost Story of Emmett Till: Trial in the Delta won a Chicago/Midwest Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement, and two Silver Anvil Award Honorable Mentions from the American Bar Association.
Under the leadership of Artistic Director Anthony Moseley and Managing Director Carla Stillwell, Collaboraction has also been honored for innovation and inclusivity with the Foster Innovation Award from Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the Multi-Racial Unity Award from the First Unitarian Church-Chicago, a Stand For the Arts Award from Comcast and OvationTV, and an Otto Award from New York’s Castillo Theatre.
Collaboraction is supported by The Chicago Community Trust, the National Endowment for the Arts, Illinois Humanities, Paul M. Angell Foundation, Marc and Jeanne Malnati Family Foundation, Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation, the Bayless Family Foundation, Spreading Hearts, AV Chicago, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
For more information, visit collaboraction.org.