MUSE 2017

Marsha Estell

Loy Webb

Loy A. Webb is a Chicago born theatre journalist and playwright, who is an inaugural Tutterow Fellow at Chicago Dramatists. Her work has been featured at Black Ensemble Theatre as a part of their Black Playwrights Initiative, American Theater Company (Big Shoulders Festival 2014), 20 Percent Theatre Company Chicago (Snapshots Festival 2014 and 2015), University of North Dakota, GI60 International One Minute Play Festival (2015), Modern-Day Griot Theatre Company New York and the Black Lives, Black Words International Project, in which she is an associate artist. As a theatre journalist, she is a member of the Association of Women of Journalist-Chicago, a mentor with the AWJ-Chicago/Goodman Theatre’s Cindy Bandle Young Critics Program, and a contributing theater critic for Newcity, an independent Chicago arts paper. Her short play, I AM a Woman is featured in the hip-hop anthology Wish to Live: The Hip-hop Feminism Pedagogy Reader, and her play Saving Inge is featured in the anthology One Minute Plays: A Practical Guide To Tiny Theatre. Loy holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and J.D. from The John Marshall Law School. 

An excerpt from Loy’s play Ode to Young Royalty will be performed on Thursday July 13.

Tsehaye Hebert

The bonafide gumbo girrrl grew up deep down where a curve of the mighty Mississippi  paused, leaving an afterthought before it went on to meet the Gulf of Mexico.  In that silt and beguiled by story, she finds her voice.   She asks, “With Mardi Gras as a baseline, how can anyone define hyperbole?”  Hébert returns to the stage with her signature take on the world and its events. (Alliance-Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Award; Cultural DC SourceFest Top Twenty; SAIC RhinoFest Award; Native Voices and Visions Award; New Works/New Vision Midwest Playwrights Project.) 

An excerpt from Tsehaye’s play Holtzclaw 263 will be performed on Thursday July 13.

In the Spirit

Over twenty years ago, storyteller, Emily Lansana and vocalist, Zahra Glenda Baker came together to form Performance Duo: In the Spirit. Based in Chicago, they have developed an extensive repertoire of stories that carry their audiences on enthralling journeys. Each performance celebrates the power of the word to connect, uplift and transform. They have been recognized for their commitment to community and their vision for change. They have worked with people of all ages, faiths, and cultures from homeless shelters to universities. In each place they remain focused on the belief that creative expression can be an important vehicle for transformation.

In the Spirit celebrates the triumphs of the Black experience using pieces that highlight significant moments in our history. These may include: traditional African music and
stories, folktales and songs from the period of captivity, the Great Migration,
the Civil Rights Movement and dramatizations of individual heroes and heroines.

Their extensive repertoire includes: African and African American Folktales (The Cow-Tail Switch, Those Who Ride the Wind, Anansi the Oldest, Brother Tiger and the Big Wind ) Stories from History (The Selma March, Civil Rights Sit-In, Henry Box Brown)
Inspirational Stories (Waangari Maathai, Open Hand Open Heart ), Original Tales (Miss Maebelle, One is Many), Personal Stories (Family memories, Love Stories, Honoring our Fathers)

Emily and Zahra have performed and led workshops throughout this country and are available in a variety of venues: schools, museums, hospitals, community centers & festivals. Performance & Workshop highlights include: National Association of Black Storytellers Festival-PA, MN, NC, VA, Rhode Island Black Storyteller’s FUNDA Fest, Illinois Storytelling Festival, National Storytelling Festival, Amherst College Storytelling Festival, Mohegan County Storytelling Festival, NY, Minneapolis Black Storytellers Festival-MN, Detroit Storytelling Festival, The Ritz Theatre and LaVilla Museum, FL,  Iowa State University, Chicago Navy Pier, Chicago Historical Society, The Art Institute, Chicago Children’s Museum, Chicago Humanities Festival, The Field
Museum, DuSable Museum of African American History, Chicago State University,
Northwestern University, DePaul University, Chicago Public schools, parks & libraries.

In the Spirit will be performing on Saturday July 15 .

Deja Harrell and Caitlyn Johnson

Deja

Deja Harrell is a writer/actor who just recently received a B.A. in Creative Writing from University of Illinois- Champaign. She began acting in elementary school participating in plays and performing for her family. She’s studied at Second City and Act One Studios. Her interest for screenwriting began at the age of 13 when all of her favorite shows on Disney Channel starring kids who looked like her went off air. She took matters into her own hands and decided to create a show about a brown girl with multiple personalities. However, it wasn’t until college that she would later discover that the writing done in middle school was her passion. Now at 22, she’s written, produced and starred in her first web series, Seeds.

Caitlyn

Caitlyn Johnson is a film student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Growing up, Caitlyn has always held a strong interest in cinema and has been making short films from a very young age. Since beginning her film studies, Caitlyn has become active in the local film community in Champaign, IL and has worked on several projects as intern with Shatterglass Studios. Additionally, Caitlyn has done videography work for the Regional Dance Development Initiative, Brown Theater Collective, as well as committee director and now representative of Illinifest Student Film Festival. Starting this Fall, Caitlyn will be continuing her film studies in Prague, Czech Republic at the Film and TV Academy of Performing Arts. Once completed with her time at the University of Illinois, Caitlyn hopes to continue creating films and furthering her skillset as a cinematographer.

The Seeds webseries trailer will play on Sunday July 16.

L11

L11 is a singer/songwriter from Minneapolis, MN. Moving to Chicago in 2013, L11 has emerged herself in the Chicago music scene by collaborating with Columbia College as a music management major, AEMMP Records, Culturati Artist Development, and the Smartmouf Entertainment collective.

L11 will be performing on Sunday July 16.

Candace Hunter

Candace Hunter, a native of Chicago, studied the plastic arts /performance arts at Barat College of the Sacred Heart.  A child of formally educated parents – a mother with wanderlust, a COBOL speaking father – Candace traveled throughout Europe and northern Africa before the age of ten. Seeing the wee small girl in the enormous “Watchman” at the Louvre, the foot of the pyramids at Giza, and the ceiling of the Basilica in Rome at such an early age, cemented the idea of beauty, grandeur and of service.Hunter’s active practice, creates worlds in which she honors family, sacred text, justice and, water scarcity through a variety of media. Often working in fully realized series, “Prayer Circles: Sacred Text and Abstract Thought” invited disparate communities to examine art together, “Dust in Their Veins” continues to enlighten audiences on water scarcity and its dire effects on women and children globally, “Hooded Truths” places the ubiquitous modern hoodie on many unspoken American truths, “So Be It. See To It” visually translates eight of Octavia E. Butler’s books, and lately, “Loss/Scape” – an attempt to create a visual understanding of loss, specifically the loss of human capital from the western shores of Africa from the early 1500’s through to 1860.

Ms. Hunter has been recognized by Diasporal Rhythms as one of their Honorees for the 2014-16 Cycle and most recently honored to be a 3Arts Award Recipient (2016).

Candace will be performing on Thursday July 20.

Shanta Nurrullah

Shanta Nurullah is a storyteller, musician, writer, and teacher. She has been performing since 1972, presenting concerts and workshops in educational and cultural institutions across the country and abroad. Shanta’s performances of stories and songs of African people have graced the stages of ethnic arts festivals, performing arts series, museums, churches, and virtually any place where people gather for enjoyment, information, community-building, and/or inspiration. Drawing from a large repertoire of stories, her performances evoke, surprise, and sometimes even tears. The art of storytelling is not reserved for young audiences alone. Shanta is a storyteller and musician who has found large and enthusiastic among college students, senior citizens, and families in her travels from Chicago to various parts of the country.

Combining original and world music with the spoken word, Shanta has been featured at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee, and in China, India, Canada and The Yukon. She has also appeared at the National Festival of Black Storytelling, the National Geographic auditorium, Columbia University, The Chicago Jazz Festival, and the Chicago Humanities Festival. She has released several recordings and has won numerous awards. With other members of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) she co-founded Sojourner and Samana, two all-woman groups in which she played percussion, bass and sitar.

Kahala will be performing on Sunday July 16.

K’Hala Elizabeth

K’hala Elizabeth is a singer songwriter born in Dallas and raised on the Chicago south and west side. She began writing and singing at the age of three and got her first guitar at seven and since then has continued to pursue music.

K’Hala will be performing Thursday July 20.