Lookingglass Theatre Company invites audiences to a transcendent summer sunset waterside ritual on July 27th at 7PM.
By establishing an annual artistic ritual featuring music, movement, and word, Lookingglass Theatre commemorates the start of the 1919 Chicago race riots, incited by the tragic murder of Eugene Williams, a Black teenager stoned to death by a White man, George Stauber, after drifting into a “Whites Only” section of Lake Michigan. Sunset 1919 is meant to peacefully honor the lives of Black people impacted by the deadly racial attacks that swept the nation that summer, the roots of which stretch back across centuries, and the fruits of which we continue to pluck – a moment in an unbroken line.
This year’s event will feature grounding rituals from Fawn Pochel; original spoken word by Marvin Tate, movement from Ugochi Nwaogwugwu, and live music from Dr. Adam Zanolini; the laying of 50 white carnations at Eugene Williams’s memorial marker; a DJ set and dance party featuring DJ Lady D. Curated & Coordinated by Artistic Producer: Culturalist and Strategy Designer Arkey Adams, Ensemble Member and Artistic Producer: New Works Kareem Bandealy, Ensemble Member and Mellon Playwright in Residence, J. Nicole Brooks.
Guests can RSVP here: https://lookingglasstheatre.org/event/sunset-1919-2022/.
Watch the 2020 short film produced by Lookingglass Theatre Company: Sunset 1919: A World Premiere Short Film at https://lookingglasstheatre.org/event/sunset-1919-2022/
Getting There and Parking
The site is accessible by foot, chair, bike, motor vehicle, and public transportation. It is located roughly .3mi north (along the Lakefront Trail) of the 31st Street Beach main entrance. If driving, paid parking is available at the site location in the lot between Fort Dearborn Drive and the Lakefront trail (accessible by turning north from 31st Street). Paid garage parking is also available at 31st Street Beach (from which attendees would walk/wheel approximately .5mi northward on the Lakefront Trail to reach the site). Cyclists can access the site by biking the Lakefront Trail to roughly 2900 S, however there are no bike racks in the immediate vicinity. If arriving by CTA, disembark at Rhodes & 31st on the #31 bus and walk/wheel (.7mi) east to 31st Street Beach and north along the Lakefront Trail to the site, or disembark at King & 31st on #3 bus and walk/wheel (.9mi) east to 31st Street Beach and north along the Lakefront Trail.
About the Artists
Arkey Adams (she/her) (Artistic Producer: Culturalist and Strategy Designer, Co-Curator of Sunset 1919: A Ritual) With over 15 years of diverse experience in Chicago's philanthropic community, Arkey first joined Lookingglass in the development department. Acknowledging that Arkey’s experience in the philanthropic community was perfectly complimented by her deep commitment to the city of Chicago’s artistic sector, is now a member of the Artistic Team. From her earliest memories of going to see legendary folk artist Ella Jenkins as a student at Mahalia Jackson Elementary School, Arkey considers her primary authority to be that of an audience member. She considers art as text. To that text, Arkey deploys a thick description lens, to develop a broad interpretive reading of Lookingglass Productions and strategic wrap around programming. Arkey has partnered with organizations around the world, but her heart belongs to local organizations like Access Living, The Field Museum, The DuSable Museum, The Chicago History Museum, The National Museum of Mexican Art, Rootwork Gallery. She is passionate about cultural literacy, accessibility, and intersectional frameworks. Arkey has been appointed to the 2021 Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium Steering Committee. Arkey studied Anthropology and Philosophy at Northwestern University and York University. Her first seat in the Lookingglass Audience was in 2007!
Kareem Bandealy (he/him) (Lookingglass Ensemble Member, Co-Curator of Sunset 1919: A Ritual) has previously appeared at Lookingglass in Lookingglass Alice, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas, Blood Wedding, Moby Dick (2015 & 2017), The Little Prince, Big Lake Big City, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, The Last Act of Lilka Kadison, and Peter Pan (A Play). His play, Act(s) of God, had its world premiere at Lookingglass in early 2019. Other Chicago credits: The Cherry Orchard, A Christmas Carol (2014–2022), Rock N’ Roll, Gas For Less, and King Lear at Goodman Theatre; The Wheel at Steppenwolf Theatre Company; Oklahoma! at Paramount Theatre; Mother of the Maid at Northlight Theatre; The Good Book and The Illusion at Court Theatre; Julius Caesar, Hamlet, The Caretaker, and Heartbreak House at Writers Theatre; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Edward II, and Romeo & Juliet at Chicago Shakespeare Theater; A Disappearing Number and Blood and Gifts at TimeLine Theatre Company; Othello (as Othello) at The Gift Theatre, and many others. Regional credits include The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Three Musketeers and The Tempest at Illinois Shakespeare Festival; Love’s Labours Lost at Notre Dame Summer Shakespeare; Julius Caesar and Stuff Happens at PICT Classic Theatre, and four seasons with Orlando Shakespeare Theater. He has appeared in several films including The Merry Gentleman directed by Michael Keaton, on TV in Chicago Fire (NBC). Kareem is a recipient of the 2011 3Arts Artist Award and is a 2022 Lunt-Fontanne Fellow. He is also the Artistic Producer: New Work at Lookingglass Theatre Company, and he lives in Albany Park with his two children Reza and Anouk.
J. Nicole Brooks (she/her, they/them) (Ensemble Member) is an actor, writer, director, and educator based in Chicago. Brooks’ writing practice includes playwriting, screenwriting, essays, and poetry. As a theatre artist, Brooks is an Ensemble Member and Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence at the Tony Award winning Lookingglass Theatre Company. Other artistic affiliations include artistic membership at Collaboration and Sideshow Theatre Company. As a playwright, Brooks has created original and adapted works including Black Diamond: The Years the Locusts Have Eaten, Fedra Queen of Haiti, HeLa, Black Moon Lilith, 1919, and the award–winning Her Honor Jane Byrne. Brooks has also served as director and associate director mounting successful theatre productions of Mr. Rickey Calls A Meeting, Thaddeus & Slocum A Vaudeville Adventure, and Sex With Strangers. Honors include TCG Fox Foundation, 3Arts, Mellon Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Kilroy List and the American 2021 Steinberg/ American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award for Her Honor Jane Byrne and the Chicago Public Library Foundation 21st Century Award. Brooks is also an award-winning actor featured in theatrical productions at Goodman Theatre, Lookingglass, Court Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, and Theatre at Boston Court. Recent television credits include guest recurring roles on the cult fav South Side (HBO Max), The Chi (Showtime), Chicago Fire (NBC), and the critically acclaimed chapter four of Fargo (FX Network) starring opposite Chris Rock. Brooks also appeared in the box office hit Candyman (Say My Name) directed by Nia DaCosta produced by Jordan Peele. @doctaslick
Darlene Jackson aka DJ Lady D (she/her) (DJ) is hailed as “Chicago’s House Music Queen” by Chicago Magazine, has toured North America, Europe, Asia and Russia as an international DJ, producer, remixer, and in 2004 became a music publisher when she launched her independent record label and marketing brand, D’lectable. Well known for her charismatic sets of house, techno and disco, her appearances at SXSW, Lollapalooza, Burning Man, Chosen Few and for fan-filled, influencer, charity and celebrity events such as for Dave Chapelle, Queen Latifah and more, have solidified her trailblazing career. A member of the Screen Actors Guild, and a voting member of NARAS (The Grammy’s). Jackson first acted professionally in “The Marva Collins Story” (with Cicely Tyson and Morgan Freeman) and as a renowned DJ has been a featured subject in numerous print, television and film media including the music documentaries Girl, The Godfather of Disco, and Slipcue. Her story also is captured in the books, Do You Remember House by Micah Salkind, How To DJ Right by Frank Broughton, and Disco Demolition: The Night Disco Died by Dave Hoekstra. As a host, producer, writer, and researcher, Jackson has worked with various media outlets including the Chicago Tribune, URB, Discoid, Chicago Public Media, Vocalo.org, NPR WBEZ, and BBC radio. You can currently hear Jackson on the radio the fourth Friday of every month on Vocalo.org 91.1 FM-Chicago. Jackson holds a Master’s Degree from Northwestern University and as a Creative Industry Liaison currently advises students and designs and curates diversity and career/industry programs for The Career Center at Columbia College Chicago.
Ugochi Nwaogwugwu (she/her/hers) (Movement Artist) is a multidisciplinary creative. An internationally renowned poet, singer, writer, poetry instructor and founder of Spirit Speaks, Inc., Ugochi has executive produced, written and co-arranged three album projects; African Buttafly, A.S.E. and Love Shot. Chicago Music Awards named Ugochi and her band African Soul Ensemble (A.S.E.) “Best Africa@n Entertainer in 2005 & 2022.” Her poems have been published in “Storm Between Two Fingers” & "Too Young, Too Loud, Too Different," both international anthologies released in the UK. She is also featured in “Golden Shovel Anthology,” honoring Gwendolyn Brooks, “The Eternal Year of African People,” and “Wherever I’m At” released nationwide. Ugochi is a beloved member of her poetry community in Chicago and a member of Malika’s Poetry Kitchen in London, England. Ugochi has created an original pan African poetry form called, “Ike,” (pronounced EE-kay) #Ikepoem, paying homage to her Igbo heritage of Nigeria and fostering black appreciation worldwide. She has also written newsworthy blogs and essays for publication including, “Not My President” published by Third World Press. In addition, Ugochi is a playwright, activist, racial healing practitioner with Truth Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT), Treasurer of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM)and Recording Academy Chicago Chapter Governor.
Fawn E. Pochel (They/Kwe) (Grounding Ritual Leader) An advocate for social and environmental justice, Fawn Pochel is the co-founder of the First Nations Garden located in Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood. Fawn has over a decade of community organizing and advocacy experience focusing on raising awareness of Native Peoples living in Chicago. Fawn has worked closely with communities across the city to incorporate land-based pedagogies and Indigenous worldview into curricula and policy while working towards dismantling systems of white supremacy. Fawn is currently the programs coordinator for Northeastern Illinois University’s Angelina Pedroso Center for Diversity and Intercultural Affairs. In their free time Fawn prides themselves on being an Auntie to an autonomous grassroots collaborative, Chi-Nations Youth Council, whose mission is to create safe space for Native Youth through Arts, Activism and Education.
Marvin Tate (he/him/they, Pookie and Nem) (Spoken Word Artist) is a Chicago native, born and raised on the city’s west side. He is an award-winning Poet and Performer. His works have appeared and been heard on stages internationally and locally, including National Public Radio’s “This American Life,” Def-Jam Poetry, and on the BBC Radio program “The Poetry Detective.” He has recorded or shared the stage with the following Artists: The late, International Anthem Recording Artist, Jamie Branch’s, Jazz Drummer, Pitch-Fork Music Founder, and Band leader, Mike Reed, multiinstrumentalists, Ben LaMar Gay, Angel Bat Dawid, Bill Mckay, Leroy Bach and Visual Artists and performer, Theaster Gates Jr., The Black Monks of Mississippi, Temple of Doom, Feminist- and legendary Porn Actress, Annie Sprinkle, Alabaster Deplume, Bitchin Bajas, The Separatist Party, Circuit Des Yeux, Funkidellic, Tim Kinsella and Angel Olsen. Lastly, Tate is the founder of the legendary, experimental soul band, D-settlement. Their 3-vinyl boxset (American Dream Records) was voted “The Best Of” in Pitchfork, Band Camp and NY Times in 2022. Presently, is “The Artist in-resident" at Theater Y.
Adam Zanolini (he/him/his) (Musician, Executive Director of Elastic Arts Foundation) is a multiinstrumentalist, ethnomusicologist, writer, and arts organizer based in Chicago. He is the Executive Director of Elastic Arts Foundation in Chicago and former Associate Director of Arts for Art, presenter of the annual Vision Festival of avant-jazz in New York City. He is also co-founder of the Participatory Music Coalition. He is an active member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and he serves on the Board of the Live the Spirit Residency, producer of the annual Englewood Jazz Festival. Adam plays flute, double bass, saxophone and other instruments, performing regularly with PMC, the AACM’s Great Black Music Ensemble, Sura Dupart's Sidepocket Experience, with Angel Bat Dawid and the Brothahood, and Gira Dahnee in addition to his own projects, including the Heliacal Rising of Sothis. He received his PhD in music with a certificate in Africana Studies from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in 2016. Adam’s highest ambition is to be a community musician: to cultivate and share knowledge through music in order to help heal, strengthen, and empower the Black community.
Thank You to Our Season Sponsors
- BMO Harris Bank
- Hearn HMS Media
- Shirley Ryan Ability Lab
- Waldorf Astoria
Chicago Event Partners
- CRR19
- Read and Run Chicago
- Firebird Community Arts
- Weinberg/ Newton Gallery
Learn More about the 1919 Chicago Race Riots
City On Fire: Chicago Race Riot 1919 (WBEZ)
Chicago 1919- Winner of the 2020 Outstanding Public History Project Award National Council on Public History (Newberry)
Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project
Ensuring the Chicago Race Riot Is Not Forgotten (TIME Magazine)
Mapping the 1919 Chicago Race Riots (U Chicago)
Red Chicago (PBS)
The Red Summer of 1919 (National WWI Museum and Memorial)
About Lookingglass Theatre Company
Inventive. Collaborative. Transformative. Lookingglass Theatre Company, recipient of the 2011 Regional Theatre Tony Award, was founded in 1988 by eight Northwestern University students. Now in its 35th Season, Lookingglass is home to a multi-disciplined ensemble of artists who create storycentered theatrical work that is physical, aurally rich and visually metaphoric. The Company, located in Chicago’s landmark Water Tower Water Works, has staged 70 world premieres, received 161 Joseph Jefferson Award Nominations, and produced work all across the United States. In 2016, Lookingglass received the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions and in 2017, was the recipient of the League of Chicago Theatres’ Artistic Achievement Award.
Lookingglass continues to expand its artistic, financial, and institutional boundaries under the guidance of Artistic Director Heidi Stillman, a 29-member artistic ensemble, 22 artistic associates, an administrative staff, and a dedicated board of directors led by Chair Diane Whatton.
For more information, visit www.lookingglasstheatre.org.
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#LookingglassTheatre Event Listing for Sunset 1919
- Sunset 1919: A Ritual Thursday, July 27
- Gathering begins at 7PM
- Eugene Williams Memorial Marker
- 125 Fort Dearborn Drive
- Chicago, IL 60616
Curated & Coordinated by Artistic Producer: Culturalist and Strategy Designer Arkey Adams, Ensemble Member and Artistic Producer: New Works Kareem Bandealy, Ensemble Member and Mellon Playwright in Residence, J. Nicole Brooks, and featuring
- Grounding by Fawn Pochel
- Spoken Word Artist Marvin Tate
- Movement Artist Ugochi Nwaogwugwu
- Musician Adam Zanolini
- DJ Lady D
The Chicago Race Riots of 1919: Its roots stretch back centuries. Its fruits we continue to pluck. Lookingglass, in music, movement and word, honors Black lives stolen.
Sunset 1919 is a free community event, open to the public. Guests can RSVP here: https://lookingglasstheatre.org/event/sunset-1919-2022/
More information: www.lookingglasstheatre.org/event/sunset-1919-202