On Thursday, December 18th I (and my camera) was in attendance for the event at Victory Gardens Theater titled We Must Breathe: A Response from Chicago Playwrights and Poets.
The response was to “the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Oscar Grant, Tamir Rice, John Crawford, Sean Bell, Rekia Boyd, and countless others have brought to light ongoing national issues of race, discrimination and inequality.”
The event was live-streamed by HowlRound and you can watch the entirety of the event if you wish.
All of the pieces were powerful and moving. The performers were great! The atmosphere was electric. I was glad to capture a few shots that I feel represented the evening.
Toward the end of the event, some audience members staged a small memorial on the stage which led to a protest on the streets outside of the Biograph Theater. Protestors ended up blocking the intersections of Lincoln, Halsted, and Fullerton.
WBEZ was also there and did a piece on the event. You can listen to Joanie Schultz on the Morning Shift talking about the event.