HeLa
by J. Nicole Brooks
November 18 - December 23, 2018
Sideshow Theatre Company
Greenhouse Theater Center
scenic designer Yu Shibagaki
costume designer Noël Huntzinger
lighting designer Sim Carpenter
sound designer Michael Huey
"Jive-ass planet. The pale blue dot is becoming lesser.”
1951: A mother of five visits the “colored” gynecology ward of Johns Hopkins, knowing something unusual is happening in her body. 1981: A child watches Carl Sagan’s Cosmos on a basement television in Chicago as her auntie plays bid whist upstairs with the neighbors. The Distant Future: A gold-plated flying saucer hovers over the Earth, its pilot watching and waiting patiently as stars gently twinkle in her hair. All three stories connect, collide and expand, blending Afrofuturism with the true story of Henrietta Lacks and one little girl’s love of science. This winter, journey from East Baltimore to Chicago’s West Side to outer space, as J. Nicole Brooks’ new play explores who has the power over the stuff we are made of.
Press
★★★1/2 (out of 4)
"Rich and emotionally satisfying... a complex meditation on what makes our lives matter — even after we’ve ceased to be."
Chicago Tribune
Reader Recommended!
"A transcendent play... [a] heartfelt examination of race, medicine, and basic humanity in America... that will undoubtedly be performed countless times in the future. I felt fortunate to witness it so soon after its inception. If you don't feel something after seeing it, check your pulse."
Chicago Reader
"Mind-blowing... Nicole Michelle Haskins is a force to be reckoned with. A profound work of theater that connects us all to the stuff we are made of."
New City
"Recommended! Brooks’s ear for canny, raucous dialogue comes vividly through in both the Sun Ra-drenched space scenes and the rapid-fire, referential jokes about black Chicago life in the ’80s. It’s delivered by the cast with verve, too—particularly rising star Haskins."
Storefront Rebellion
"Uproariously funny and deeply devastating. A truly wonderful stage experience... lasting, effective, and one-of-a-kind."
Theatre by Numbers
"Highly recommended! The performances across the board are excellent... both the experience of watching the show and the time I’ve spent mulling over its images and themes have been by turns haunting and lovely."
Chicago Theatre Review
"Cunningly detailed... Throughout HeLa, Henrietta [Lacks]’s unrequited legacy of miracle cures pulsates with promise. A five-star labor of love!"
Stage and Cinema
