Third Coast Creatives

Reading the pages of Jessica Hopper’s latest book, Night Moves , (University of Texas Press) I found myself reliving my younger days as a creative living and hustling on the streets of Chicago.   As a free lancer working in theater, dance, movies, and anything else I could find, I identified with Hopper’s journey to define her creative self while struggling to make ends meet.   In hindsight, being broke had its benefits.   Being forced to traverse the City by foot or public transportation, Chicago opened up in ways I could never experience being cooped up in a Honda. Through Night Moves, I rediscovered those somewhat faded memories of good times and bad.   The book is a compilation of vignettes of Hopper’s exploration of the City between 2004 to 2008.   It revisits when Hopper fell in love with Chicago, block by block, on a bicycle.   More than that,  Night Moves is a snapshot of Chicago that no longer exists as Hopper and I knew it. A Chicago-based music critic and the author

Nichelle Nichols smiles when she thinks back to the beginning of her professional career as a teenager in Chicago.   She was recruited by Duke Ellington to dance and choreograph for his upcoming national tour.   By the time the tour ended, Nichols was Duke’s lead singer.   “It was unbelievable,” says Nichols.   “It was like a dream come true and that’s the type of opportunities Chicago offers young folks in the arts.”    Nichols is excited to return to her hometown as part of 2018 Wizard World Chicago.   “It feels fantastic.   I still have a lot of family in Chicago.   It’s great to come home with people I love.” Nichelle Nichols A talented singer/dancer/actress, Nichols is probably best known for her groundbreaking role as Communications Officer (later Commander) Uhura aboard the USS Enterprise in the original Star Trek television series (1966-69) as well as the succeeding motion pictures.   As a bridge officer, she became the first African American female character on Amer

Sequins, taffeta, and jeweled tiaras filled the Chicago Improv…and that was just in the audience.   On stage Laura Osnes (Cinderella on Broadway), Susan Egan (original Belle in Beauty and the Beast) and Courtney Reed (original Jasmine in Disney’s Aladdin) were joined by Music Director/Fairy Godfairy Benjamin Rauhala to host a Broadway Princess Party.   Through two sold-out performances, these talented artists performed the most beloved ‘Princess songs’ of stage and screen, reminiscing about their favorite fairy tales and most cherished characters. The Broadway Princess Party is the brainchild of New York-based music director Rauhala and two-time Tony nominee Osnes.   Returning home from a visit to Disneyworld, Rauhala thought, wouldn’t it be fun to have a Broadway Princess Party?   What about a show composed of songs made famous by all those princesses, a show complete with some gossip and banter about what it would it was actually like to play these characters.   “I just tho