Remaking the Exceptional with Acting OutSide

6018 North Kenmore Avenue, Chicago, IL 60660

Monday, June 27 at 6 PM by RSVP

6018North and Acting OutSide host a performance, discussion and activation of Remaking the Exceptional: Tea, Torture, and Reparations. This event is partially supported by Illinois Humanities' Envisioning Justice program. Guests share tea, dinner, and discuss building a liberatory theatrical community.

Acting OutSide are a theater troupe of actors, artists, and abolitionists who are all formerly incarcerated women. The members of Acting OutSide have developed their art practices within the extreme confines of the prison, and who now apply their practice to theater-making on the outside. Acting OutSide includes Monica Cosby, Heather Canuel, Nia Frazier, Sandra Brown, Lauren Stumblingbear, ​​Iviva Paige, and Latanya Sublett.

Remaking the Exceptional examines local and international implications of state violence, while also uplifting acts of creative resistance. Through the voices of torture survivors and activists, this podcast highlights connections between policing and incarceration in Chicago and the human rights violations of the Global War on Terror, while also celebrating the struggle for justice and reparations.

When someone sits, sips, and reflects over a cup of tea there is space to ask questions about one’s relationship to the world: a world that is filled with dehumanization, war, and destruction; a world that is filled with moments of beauty, love, and resistance.

—Aaron Hughes and Amber Ginsburg, Tea Project, 2021

Sitting, sipping, and reflecting over a cup of tea with others can create the space for conversations on difficult and at times painful subjects. It also can create opportunities to envision a new set of social relations. This activity invites people to listen to an episode of the Remaking the Exceptional podcast over a cup of tea; to reflect and discuss the difficult topics the episode raises in a group; and to collectively imagine restoration, reparations, and justice.

6018North is an artist-centered, sustainable, non-profit platform and sustainable venue for innovative art and culture in Chicago. We challenge what art is, whom it’s for, and where and how it’s created. 6018North champions the creation of adventurous work that connects multiple disciplines and audiences while promoting artistic excellence. We support emerging and established local and international artists to create innovative, multidisciplinary work that connects artists and audiences in transformative ways. As a nimble lab for incubating, modeling, and experimenting, we leverage new ways of connecting artists and audiences to advance and sustain artists and Illinois’ creative ecosystem. 

This program is partially supported by a RE:ACTION Micro-grant from Illinois Humanities through its Envisioning Justice program.

6018North projects are partially supported by an anonymous donor advised fund at The Chicago Community Foundation, a CityArts Innovation Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, a Gen Ops Plus Grant from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, IL Humanities, Illinois Arts Council Agency through an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, Illinois Arts Council Agency Youth Employment Grants, Joyce Foundation, The MacArthur Funds for Culture, Equity, and the Arts at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Terra Foundation for American Art, and individual donations. For more info visit us at 6018North.org.