Lookingglass Theatre Company's SUNSET 1919: A RITUAL to Return in July

Lookingglass Theatre Company will present the return of the fifth annual Sunset 1919: A Ritual on Sunday, July 27 at 7 p.m., Eugene Williams Memorial Marker, 125 Fort Dearborn Drive, 1/4 mile north of 31st Street Beach. Sunset 1919 is co-curated by Ensemble Members Kareem Bandealy and J. Nicole Brooks. In addition to this community art ritual, Lookingglass also has Summerglass Camps, August 4 – 15; free Ice Cream Circus! performances in neighborhood parks throughout Chicago, August 17 – 24, and Lookingglass’ inaugural new works festival: GglassFest, September 5 - 13 this summer. Details are included below and may also be found at LookingglassTheatre.org.

Now in its fifth iteration, Sunset 1919 is an annual community art ritual performed in honor of Eugene Williams, a Black teenager who was killed for crossing an imaginary racial line on the waves of Mishigami (from Ojibwa “Great Water”). Sunset 1919 was first curated and coordinated in 2020 by Ensemble Member and Creative Producer Kareem Bandealy and Ensemble Member and Mellon Playwright in Residence J. Nicole Brooks and it offers a communal moment to acknowledge Indigenous roots and for Black artists to merge movement, music and word in a free, spirit-guided ritual. 

This year’s Sunset 1919 also includes the unveiling of the completed Eugene Williams Memorial Mural by Pugs Atomz that will be displayed at Lookingglass’ home in the Water Tower Water Works, 163 E. Pearson St. at Michigan Ave. and honoring former Sunset 1919 co-curator Arkey Adams. Adams passed away earlier this year and had an outsized impact on Lookingglass and this ritual in particular.
The 2025 Sunset 1919 artists include Yaw Agyeman, word; Pugs Atomz, muralist; Kareem Bandealy, co-curator; J. Nicole Brooks, co-curator; Naydja Bruton, music; Caitlin Edwards, music; Kopano Muhammad, movement; DJ PatriciaCVIII, release; Anthony Michael Tamez, grounding; and Glenn Felix Willoughby, photo/video.

In addition to Sunset 1919, Lookingglass offers the following programs, performances and special events this summer:

Lookingglass Theatre Company presents
Iraq, But Funny

Must Close July 20 
Joan and Paul Theatre at Water Tower Water Works, 163 E. Pearson St. at Michigan Ave.
Written by Ensemble Member Atra Asdou 
Directed by Dalia Ashurina
Featuring Susaan Jamshidi, Gloria Imseih Petrelli, James Rana, Sina Pooresmaeil and Atra Asdou
Performance Schedule: Wednesdays at 7 p.m., Thursdays at 1:30 and 7 p.m., Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays at 1:30 and 7 p.m. and Sundays at 1:30 p.m. 
The running time is two hours and 25 minutes including one intermission.
Joan and Paul Theatre at Water Tower Water Works, 163 E Pearson St. at Michigan Ave.
Tickets are $30 - $90
 

The highly recommended raucous satire about five generations of Assyrian women reclaiming their stories, as narrated by a British guy. Making its world premiere at Lookingglass Theatre, Ensemble Member Atra Asdou’s original dark comedy jauntily marches through the Ottoman Empire to modern-day U.S.A. exploring history, family and dysfunction.

Ice Cream Circus! 

in partnership with Actors Gymnasium and Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Parks
Sunday, Aug. 17 at 5:30 p.m., Gill Park, 825. W. Sheridan Rd. 
Tuesday, Aug. 19 at 5 p.m., Seneca Park, 220 E. Chicago Ave. 
Thursday, Aug. 22 at 6 p.m., Trumbull Park, 2400 E. 105th St. 
Friday, Aug. 22 at 6 p.m., Kennicott Park, 4434 S. Lake Park Ave. 
Sunday, Aug. 24 at 3 p.m., Actors Gymnasium, 927 Noyes St., Evanston 
Free

Lookingglass Theatre and Actors Gymnasium team up once to again, as part of the Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Parks, to bring  an original, circus-infused story that showcases the transformative magic of a simple act of kindness. Conveyed without spoken language, and through dance, clown and circus, Ice Cream Circus! is designed for all generations and for all language backgrounds. 
GglassFest 

New Works Festival

Friday, Sept. 5 at 6 p.m. - Season Proposal #1
Saturday, Sept. 6 at 11 a.m. - Season Proposal #2
Saturday, Sept. 6 at 6 p.m. - Season Proposal #3
Saturday, Sept.  13 at  11 a.m. - Season Proposal #4
Saturday, Sept. 13 at 6 p.m.- Season Proposal #5
Lookingglass Theatre, 163 E. Pearson St. at Michigan Ave.