I never expected to still be here. Some mornings, I shoot up from bed confused, breathless, lost between the dream world I just escaped and the realization that I am still here. My body is whole, my mind is intact, my spirit…struggling. You see, I occasionally have nightmares of being…

Or: What Chicago Theatre Could be… /peh-LO-tah/ | Marc Bamuthi Joseph | MAPP International Productions This latest multi-disciplinary performance work by award-winning poet-performer Marc Bamuthi Joseph links culture and…mappinternational.org There I stand: Through clapping, breath held, frozen in a state of wonder. Moments pass. Finally, I turn to my friend and yell, “that! was a musical!” It is simultaneously the most reductive and profound statement that I can make. We spend the next…

I Fucked Up And Watched That Dash-Cam Footage Again… To be honest, I watch every time. Every angle. I tell myself I need to do it. If this person lost their life, the least I can do is bear witness and speak on it, right?” I think a part of…

What follows is the text of a message I sent to The Goodman Theatre last night — Hello Goodman Theatre Staff and Associates, My name is Bear Bellinger. For those who don’t know me personally, I am an actor/writer/advocate in the Chicago community and also a Black man. I am…

Or: The Myth of Meritocracy and Our Adherence to “Classic” Art. Fuck Shakespeare. Fuck Twain. Fuck Miller. Fuck Poe. Fuck Steinbeck. Fuck Rodgers. Fuck Hammerstein. Fuck Wilder. Fuck Mamet. Fuck Williams. Fuck Vonnegut. And FUUUUUUCK Salinger. Wooooooo! That felt good. Just needed to get that out. Now, look, it’s not…

Man that title is clichéd. It’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day. My timeline flooded with the usual quotes and counter-quotes. I sat here wondering: What should I say? *Crickets* Which MLK quote is apropos at the dawn of our new presidency. What would he say? What did he say? How…

The Words You Don’t Want To Hear — Is ya’ll good? Do you get it now? You’ve been allies for years, espousing all of the liberal talking points, do you now understand just how far our country, as a whole, has to go? Yes? Good! Because this right here is your fault. This election isn’t on the shoulders…

I’m 30. I am in my 30s. I have made it to my third decade of life and to the next level of adulthood. Sorry to keep repeating myself, it is just a reality that is hard to really let sink in. It isn’t hard because I am one of…

People like to think that they truly care about their servers/bartenders. Who’da thunk it? Here’s the thing: 99% of you don’t. You care enough to be courteous with them and share in a short anecdote or joke. You care enough to let them off the hook if one or two…