Albert Williams





Williams, Albert. "Congo Square celebrates its roots with the satirical Day of Absence" The Chicago Reader23 Jan. 2020, https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/congo-square-celebrates-its-roots-with-the-satirical-day-of-absence/Content?oid=77263864.  








STATEMENT:

My submissions for this year's Publication Celebration are two pieces I wrote in 2020 for the Chicago Reader, for which I've been writing since 1985 -- the same year I joined the Columbia College faculty. One was a January feature about Congo Square Theatre as it geared up to celebrate its 20th anniversary with a staging of a mid-'60s milestone of Black theatre, Day of Absence; the other was a February review of Windy City Playhouse's revival of The Boys in the Band, a landmark late-'60s work of LGBTQ drama. In March, Chicago's theatre scene - like Columbia College, and the nation as a whole - was slammed with the COVID-19 pandemic, and both shows had to cut short their runs. I submit these articles in hopes of better times to return!