Congo Square Theatre Company Celebrates 25th Anniversary Of Producing Transformative Black Theater In 2023-24 Season

Founded in 1999, Congo Square Theatre Company (Congo Square), one of the nation’s premier African American ensemble theater companies, celebrates its 25th Anniversary in 2023-2024 with a powerful theatrical season honoring the myriad experiences that make up Black culture. Anchored by two live performances, the season begins with the Rolling World Premiere of Inda Craig-Galván’s dark comedy about housing inequality in a Chicago suburb, WELCOME TO MATTESON!, and closes with the Chicago Premiere of August Wilson’s autobiographical one-man show, How I Learned What I Learned, starring Chicago’s own Harry Lennix. Congo Square’s popular digital shows continue with the third and final season of the old-fashioned radio melodrama, The Clinic, and the fourth season of the hit online sketch comedy show, The Blackside. Congo Square will officially celebrate its milestone anniversary with a bigger-than-ever 25th Anniversary Homecoming celebration and its annual free Festival on the Square.

This season, Congo Square continues its Radical Generosity model for live performances in which, partnering with community organizations throughout the city, up to half of all tickets for each performance are donated or heavily discounted to traditionally underserved groups. To learn more about discounted community partner tickets, or to become a sponsor, email communitypartner@congosquaretheatre.org.

“We are thrilled to be celebrating our 25th Anniversary with a diverse season that is packed with talent,” said Congo Square Artistic Director Ericka Ratcliff. “At Congo Square, we are focused on three things: radical generosity, radical community, and radical expansion. As we’ve done since 1999, we will continue to uplift, support, and expand our community of artists and audience members through innovation and collaboration this season and for the next 25 years.”

“We are also looking back at our roots this season,” added Congo Square Executive Director Charlique C. Rolle. “August Wilson was not only one of America’s most beloved playwrights, he was also one of Congo Square’s earliest supporters and mentors. We are proud to honor this impactful early relationship in Congo’s history with a production of Wilson’s memory play, How I Learned What I Learned, starring Congo Square Board member, the great Harry Lennix. The play will be produced in association with The Goodman Theatre, the first theater in the country to have produced every play in Wilson’s American Century cycle. As we look back, we also look forward to Congo Square’s future as we continue to build meaningful relationships with the best Black theater-makers in Chicago and the world.”

2023-24 Programming in chronological order

The Clinic: Season Three

September 1 – October 6, 2023

Audio series

Congo Square’s audio series returns for a third and final season starting September 1 with new episodes dropping weekly until the dramatic series finale on October 6.  In the old-school radio melodrama, The Clinic, Dr. Latisha Bradley’s discovery will revolutionize the medical field, but her enemies will stop at nothing to keep things the way they are. Episodes will be released at congosquaretheatre.org/the-clinic. Seasons one and two are available for streaming now.

Rolling World Premiere: WELCOME TO MATTESON!

September 10 – October 1, 2023 (opening night September 29)

Northwestern University Chicago Campus Abbott Hall Wirtz Theatre, 710 N DuSable Lake Shore Dr.

A dark comedy by Inda Craig-Galván, WELCOME TO MATTESON! follows two Black couples over the course of a dinner party; one couple has lived in the Chicago suburb of Matteson for years, the other has just moved in after being forcibly relocated from the Cabrini-Green housing projects. A uniquely Chicago story, the play explores universal themes of gentrification, housing justice, and inter-class relationships. Directed by Congo Square Theatre Artistic Director Ericka Ratcliff, the play features Congo Square Ensemble Members Ronald L. Conner,  Anthony L. Irons, and  Alexis J. Roston. Congo Square’s production of WELCOME TO MATTESON! is part of the National New Play Network’s Rolling World Premiere program in which a new play will be premiered by multiple companies over an 18-month period allowing the playwright to collaborate and make adjustments while working with unique perspectives from each company. WELCOME TO MATTESON! will receive its World Premiere at New Jersey Repertory Company, Long Branch, New Jersey (Suzanne Barabas, Artistic Director; Gabor Barabas, Executive Producer).  Tickets for WELCOME TO MATTESON! will go on sale August 1, 2023. General admission tickets are $45 and Radical Generosity tickets are $75 - covering the cost of a single ticket and sponsoring a second community member ticket. For tickets, visit congosquaretheatre.org

Pearl Cleage Festival: Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous

October 8, 2023

Location to be announced

The Pearl Cleage Festival is a citywide celebration honoring the work of Atlanta’s Poet Laureate, revered poet, activist, playwright, mentor, and educator Pearl Cleage. Festival events will take place across the city in September and October during the run of Cleage’s Nacirema Society at the Goodman Theatre. In addition to Congo Square, other participating companies include Black Ensemble Theater, Definition Theatre, ETA Creative Arts Foundation, Ma'at Production Association of Afrikan Centered Theatre (MPAACT), and Remy Bumppo Theatre Company. Congo Square’s contribution to the festival is a reading of Cleage’s 2019 comedy Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous. In Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous, two Black women performers from two different generations must confront assumptions about each other and themselves in time for opening night.

The Blackside: Season Four

October 13 – December 9, 2023

Digital video series

Congo Square’s popular online sketch comedy series, The Blackside (formerly Hit ‘em on the Blackside), returns for a fourth season this fall. Audiences can expect more of the witty, pitch-perfect, and timely humor that made sketches from the first three seasons like “Black History Game Show” and “Black Survivalist” so funny and poignant.  Episodes will be released weekly on Congo Square Theatre’s website, social media, and YouTube channel starting October 13 with the final episode airing on December 9. The first three seasons of The Blackside are available on Congo Square’s YouTube channel.

Chicago Premiere: How I Learned What I Learned

Spring 2024

Location to be announced

August Wilson’s autobiographical play, How I Learned What I Learned, follows Wilson’s journey as a young Black writer from Pittsburgh to one of the most celebrated American Playwrights of the 20th century. Written three years before his death, the one-man show recounts numerous stories from the author’s long career and the lessons they taught about what it means to be a Black artist in America. Congo Square Board Member, and star of stage and screen, Harry Lennix will perform the play. Most recently, Lennix has been seen as Harold Cooper on NBC’s acclaimed series Blacklist, and as General Swanwick/Martian Manhunter in numerous films and TV shows in the DC Extended Universe.  How I Learned What I Learned is produced in association with the Goodman Theatre and runs concurrently with Goodman’s production of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.

25th Anniversary Homecoming

June 21, 2024

Location to be announced

Congo Square’s annual Homecoming benefit is the not-to-be-missed party of the season. In celebration of 25 years of unapologetic Black theater-making, the 2024 Homecoming benefit promises to be even bigger, Blacker, and more bodacious than ever before. Featuring food and drink, live entertainment, and one of the biggest gatherings of Chicago’s Black theater artists, the evening will also include an awards ceremony honoring three artists who’ve impacted Chicago’s theater scene.

Festival on the Square

June 2024

Various locations to be announced

Congo Square’s annual Festival on the Square honors the original Congo Square marketplace in New Orleans, where people of color have built community through music, dance, art, and commerce for centuries. These FREE events feature elevated play readings – including readings from plays by the outgoing and incoming Next Up Fellows – performed in community hubs across the city.

Congo Square Industry Training Institute

Congo Square’s ensemble-led Congo Square Industry Training Institute (CITI) workshops are affordable classes designed for working and aspiring artists to enhance their knowledge of the industry as well as their acting skills. Upcoming courses include Self-Tape for the Working Actor with Tracey N. Bonner; My Big Break: Breaking into the Industry with Javon Johnson; How to Write for TV/Film with Javon Johnson; Secure the Bag: Grant Writing for Individual Artists with Ann J. Douglas; Classical Interpretation with Allen Gilmore and Classical (Re)interpretation with Al Goldfarb. Each four-week workshop is $50.00 for the general public, and free for currently enrolled high school, college, or graduate school students.

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