10 On Tuesday with Kristiana Rae Colón

BroadwayWorld Chicago caught up with local playwright Kristiana Rae Colón, whose latest play TILIKUM opens at Sideshow Theatre Company on Thursday.

Show you first wrote (and was it produced)? the first play i wrote was but i cd only whisper, a reimagining of the story of beau willie brown from ntozake shange's poem in for colored girls... i started it when i was 17 years old in a high school summer writing workshop, as a persona poem in the voice of beau willie brown. adapting that poem into a full-length play became my creative bachelor's thesis at the university of chicago, where it had a workshop production. it later had a world premiere at the arcola in london and an american premiere at the flea in new york.

Where are you originally from? Chicago

When did you first know you wanted a career in theater? i've been writing and acting since i was small. when i was less than 5 i would write dialogue for my stuffed animals and have them act it out. i acted in my first production at eta creative arts when i was 11. in high school i wrote and directed a a hip-hop adaptation of the wiz. it was also in high school when i started understudying roles in my mentor idris goodwin's early plays. he was the first personal example i had of a poet rapper playwright making a living like an everyday person. it was his example that inspired me to crossover into playwriting as my primary literary focus, and once i experienced my first production process, i was addicted.

What's your dream production? my dream is to one day have more than one play running at all times somewhere in the world, all over the world

Favorite post-performance haunt? the nearest place I'm most likely to see black people

Living or dead, who would you drop everything to see perform? um. free mumia.

What's your greatest vice/guilty pleasure? naps

What are you currently listening to/watching/reading? i just started fledgling by octavia butler and i'm crawling my way through women who run with the wolves

The one song you don't ever want to hear someone perform at an audition: the star spangled banner

Describe the Chicago theater community in three words: neoliberalism in rehab

See Sideshow Theatre Company's production of Kristiana Rae Colón's TILIKUM through July 29 at Victory Garden Theater's Richard Christiansen Theater, 2433 North Lincoln Avenue. For tickets, visit VictoryGardens.org.