After thoroughly enjoying the shameless perversity of Kokandy Productions’s Cruel Intentions, under Adrian Abel Azevedo’s direction, I found Azevedo’s Rent at Porchlight to bring a stark, often heart-wrenching dose of relevance to his now-known talent for embodying nostalgia. Musicals can be tough when you have the cast recording memorized, but this production of the late Jonathan Larson’s Tony- and Pulitzer-winning musical won me over, thanks to its capable cast, memorable set, and impressive ability to be both of the early 90s and jarringly present. The stage is literally a giant VHS tape on which live video of the actors is occasionally projected. (Ann Davis designed the set.) This theme of documentation, memory, and capturing moments in tragic times strikes the nerve we felt in the not-so-distant early days of COVID, as well as the current discourse around monkeypox, which has been disproportionately harmful (both physically and ideologically) to the LGBTQ+ community.

Rent Through 12/11: Thu 7:30 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 3:30 and 8 PM, Sun 2 PM; also Thu 11/10 10:30 AM, Thu 11/17 1:30 PM, and Fri 11/25 3:30 PM; open captions Sat 11/19 and 11/26 3:30 PM;  Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn, 773-777-9884, porchlightmusictheatre.org, $45-$79

Yet Rent is so much more than a snapshot in time of the devastating HIV/AIDS crisis. From Angel and Tom Collins (Eric Lewis) to Mimi (Alix Rhode) and Maureen, Rent portrays queer relationships with joy and complexity, celebrating how unique, though ultimately similar, our soulmate connections truly are. This cast nails the ensemble moments, from the vulnerability of “Will I?” to the radical energy of “La Vie Boheme.” Josh Pablo Szabo is an electric Angel, commanding the stage in life and channeling the cast’s collective passion in passing. Lucy Godínez makes a strong case for Maureen’s performance art to be its own, separate production. Finally, David Moreland as Mark and Shraga D. Wasserman as Roger give the best-friend energy that helps land the plane on hope for the future.

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After thoroughly enjoying the shameless perversity of Kokandy Productions’s Cruel Intentions, under Adrian Abel Azevedo’s direction, I found Azevedo’s Rent at Porchlight to bring a stark, often heart-wrenching dose of relevance to his now-known talent for embodying nostalgia. Musicals can be tough when you have the cast recording memorized, but this production of the late Jonathan Larson’s Tony- and Pulitzer-winning musical won me over, thanks to its capable cast, memorable set, and impressive ability to be both of the early 90s and jarringly present. The stage is literally a giant VHS tape on which live video of the actors is occasionally projected. (Ann Davis designed the set.) This theme of documentation, memory, and capturing moments in tragic times strikes the nerve we felt in the not-so-distant early days of COVID, as well as the current discourse around monkeypox, which has been disproportionately harmful (both physically and ideologically) to the LGBTQ+ community.

Rent Through 12/11: Thu 7:30 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 3:30 and 8 PM, Sun 2 PM; also Thu 11/10 10:30 AM, Thu 11/17 1:30 PM, and Fri 11/25 3:30 PM; open captions Sat 11/19 and 11/26 3:30 PM;  Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn, 773-777-9884, porchlightmusictheatre.org, $45-$79

Yet Rent is so much more than a snapshot in time of the devastating HIV/AIDS crisis. From Angel and Tom Collins (Eric Lewis) to Mimi (Alix Rhode) and Maureen, Rent portrays queer relationships with joy and complexity, celebrating how unique, though ultimately similar, our soulmate connections truly are. This cast nails the ensemble moments, from the vulnerability of “Will I?” to the radical energy of “La Vie Boheme.” Josh Pablo Szabo is an electric Angel, commanding the stage in life and channeling the cast’s collective passion in passing. Lucy Godínez makes a strong case for Maureen’s performance art to be its own, separate production. Finally, David Moreland as Mark and Shraga D. Wasserman as Roger give the best-friend energy that helps land the plane on hope for the future.

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The 28th Black Harvest Film Festival, hosted at the Gene Siskel Film Center, invites Chicago to experience a rich selection of films devoted to amplifying Black storytelling and promoting the careers of young filmmakers. But this year, the monthlong celebration differs from the previous 27, following the death of beloved cofounder Sergio Mims, who passed away in October at 67. The 2022 festival will serve as a tribute to Mims’s cinematic legacy, featuring an impressive lineup that includes 19 feature films, four short film programs, and more than 15 filmmaker and cast appearances. 

“The Black Harvest Film Festival has always been a reunion of filmmakers and film lovers,” says Jean de St. Aubin, executive director at the Gene Siskel Film Center. “This year, with the passing of Sergio Mims, it will be bittersweet. But we rejoice in what Sergio has created—a monthlong celebration of Black storytelling that has thrived for 28 years and counting. I look forward to seeing our loyal [Black Harvest] audience, welcoming new friends, and sharing Sergio’s stories along with those on the screen.”

Black Harvest opened on November 4 with a ceremony dedicated to Mims’s memory—one defined by his multifaceted passion for film as an educator, a critic, a curator, and a film lover. During the reception, the festival awarded the Black Harvest Film Festival Legacy Award to Chicago casting director Sharon King and announced the Richard and Ellen Sandor Family Black Harvest Film Festival Prize winners. 

“Opening Night celebration feels like a reunion each year, and is an exciting and joyful kickoff to the entire festival—complete with award presentations, short film screenings, and a reception,” de St. Aubin says. “It is my favorite day of the year at the Gene Siskel Film Center.”

Before the Black Harvest Film Festival launched 28 years ago, the Film Center hosted the Blacklight Film Festival with Floyd Webb; however, mounting economic and personal reasons led to its untimely end. This left Chicago without a film festival dedicated to screening international Black filmmaking, until Barbara Scharres, the former director of programming at the Film Center, called Mims to help create the Black Harvest festival. 

The inaugural Black Harvest festival started as a ten-day event with 22 screenings, and now, the festival hosts 41 screenings and a massive itinerary of events. And Mims’s legacy lives on in the festival, which he helped curate during the last month of his life. The selection represents the robust filmmaking occurring worldwide, highlighting underrepresented stories and giving Chicago a glimpse of what Mims called “lots of Black joy.”

“Sergio’s great enthusiasm and his overwhelming, populist embrace of Black film in all its manifestations are the things that I believe will endure in the spirit of the festival,” Scharres says, sharing Mims’s role in Chicago film. “Black Harvest continues to be a festival that makes wide-ranging selections, and is exceptionally open to considering the work of first-time filmmakers and those in the early stages of their careers.”

Mims’s legacy is defined by his willingness to support emerging filmmakers, and the Black Harvest Film Festival is imbued with this mission. Since its inception, the festival has emphasized the importance of supporting filmmakers of color, especially in the early stages of their careers. The festival provides a platform for filmmakers to engage with their audiences and vice versa. 

“We were seeing careers grow and flourish before our eyes,” Scharres says. “For young filmmakers, Black Harvest often functioned as their very first opportunity to present their work before a live audience and receive feedback. My hope for the future is that Black Harvest will continue to be the very alive and interactive forum for Black film that it has always aimed to be.” 

Black Harvest Film FestivalIn-person through 11/20, virtual through 11/27Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. StateFestival passes $60, Film Center members $30; single tickets $12, Film Center members $6siskelfilmcenter.org/blackharvest

Black Harvest’s selections range from deeply inspiring documentaries to thrilling horror movies, providing any interested film lovers with their genre of choice. The feature films include the psychological horror Nanny (November 15), following a Senegalese immigrant hired by an affluent New York couple; the coming-of-age film Jasmine Is a Star (November 19), telling the story of a 16-year-old girl with albinism; and the heart-wrenching Mars One (November 11 and 12), exploring the bonds of family and love when faced with challenging changes. 

On November 12 and 20, the festival will screen Rewind & Play, a fascinating documentary centered around the famed jazz pianist Thelonious Monk. The film illuminates the casual racism and jarring disrespect the beloved musician experienced on French TV in 1969, alongside his performance at the Salle Pleyel concert hall. 

Accompanying the new feature films, Black Harvest will also host several restoration and anniversary screenings. The revived films include Malcolm X (November 19), screened on 35mm, and the 50th anniversary 4K restoration of Sidney Poitier’s directorial debut Buck and the Preacher (November 9)—a reimagined classic Western. The festival will also revisit the comedy Cooley High on November 16 in memory of Mims, following a tribute to the late cofounder. 

The festival also screens four original shorts programs including Sisters in Scene (November 17), presenting six stories of Black femininity, self-expression, and survival; Cine Lado a Lado (November 10 and 15), featuring complex stories about multifaceted African identities; From the Block (November 11 and 13), promoting Chicago-based filmmakers; and Figures & Guardians (November 12), showcasing emotional stories about guardians, mothers, fathers, and the people who raised us.

Closing out the impressive selection of in-person screenings, the Black Harvest Film Festival will host its annual 90s costume night with a screening of Boomerang on November 20. The essential 90s romantic comedy starring Eddie Murphy and Halle Berry was handpicked by Mims. Following the in-person screenings, the festival will host virtual screenings from November 21 to 27. 

“The 28th festival is a tribute to Sergio’s dogged determination to suggest the best for our screens, to ensure emerging filmmakers were in the same spotlight as the established auteurs, and his efforts to make local filmmakers feel like stars and our audience to feel like a family,” says Rebecca Fons, the Gene Siskel Film Center’s director of programming. “We will miss him immensely—his bold opinions, his wit, his knowledge, and his camaraderie—and dedicate each moment of Black Harvest to his memory.”

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The 28th Black Harvest Film Festival, hosted at the Gene Siskel Film Center, invites Chicago to experience a rich selection of films devoted to amplifying Black storytelling and promoting the careers of young filmmakers. But this year, the monthlong celebration differs from the previous 27, following the death of beloved cofounder Sergio Mims, who passed away in October at 67. The 2022 festival will serve as a tribute to Mims’s cinematic legacy, featuring an impressive lineup that includes 19 feature films, four short film programs, and more than 15 filmmaker and cast appearances. 

“The Black Harvest Film Festival has always been a reunion of filmmakers and film lovers,” says Jean de St. Aubin, executive director at the Gene Siskel Film Center. “This year, with the passing of Sergio Mims, it will be bittersweet. But we rejoice in what Sergio has created—a monthlong celebration of Black storytelling that has thrived for 28 years and counting. I look forward to seeing our loyal [Black Harvest] audience, welcoming new friends, and sharing Sergio’s stories along with those on the screen.”

Black Harvest opened on November 4 with a ceremony dedicated to Mims’s memory—one defined by his multifaceted passion for film as an educator, a critic, a curator, and a film lover. During the reception, the festival awarded the Black Harvest Film Festival Legacy Award to Chicago casting director Sharon King and announced the Richard and Ellen Sandor Family Black Harvest Film Festival Prize winners. 

“Opening Night celebration feels like a reunion each year, and is an exciting and joyful kickoff to the entire festival—complete with award presentations, short film screenings, and a reception,” de St. Aubin says. “It is my favorite day of the year at the Gene Siskel Film Center.”

Before the Black Harvest Film Festival launched 28 years ago, the Film Center hosted the Blacklight Film Festival with Floyd Webb; however, mounting economic and personal reasons led to its untimely end. This left Chicago without a film festival dedicated to screening international Black filmmaking, until Barbara Scharres, the former director of programming at the Film Center, called Mims to help create the Black Harvest festival. 

The inaugural Black Harvest festival started as a ten-day event with 22 screenings, and now, the festival hosts 41 screenings and a massive itinerary of events. And Mims’s legacy lives on in the festival, which he helped curate during the last month of his life. The selection represents the robust filmmaking occurring worldwide, highlighting underrepresented stories and giving Chicago a glimpse of what Mims called “lots of Black joy.”

“Sergio’s great enthusiasm and his overwhelming, populist embrace of Black film in all its manifestations are the things that I believe will endure in the spirit of the festival,” Scharres says, sharing Mims’s role in Chicago film. “Black Harvest continues to be a festival that makes wide-ranging selections, and is exceptionally open to considering the work of first-time filmmakers and those in the early stages of their careers.”

Mims’s legacy is defined by his willingness to support emerging filmmakers, and the Black Harvest Film Festival is imbued with this mission. Since its inception, the festival has emphasized the importance of supporting filmmakers of color, especially in the early stages of their careers. The festival provides a platform for filmmakers to engage with their audiences and vice versa. 

“We were seeing careers grow and flourish before our eyes,” Scharres says. “For young filmmakers, Black Harvest often functioned as their very first opportunity to present their work before a live audience and receive feedback. My hope for the future is that Black Harvest will continue to be the very alive and interactive forum for Black film that it has always aimed to be.” 

Black Harvest Film FestivalIn-person through 11/20, virtual through 11/27Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. StateFestival passes $60, Film Center members $30; single tickets $12, Film Center members $6siskelfilmcenter.org/blackharvest

Black Harvest’s selections range from deeply inspiring documentaries to thrilling horror movies, providing any interested film lovers with their genre of choice. The feature films include the psychological horror Nanny (November 15), following a Senegalese immigrant hired by an affluent New York couple; the coming-of-age film Jasmine Is a Star (November 19), telling the story of a 16-year-old girl with albinism; and the heart-wrenching Mars One (November 11 and 12), exploring the bonds of family and love when faced with challenging changes. 

On November 12 and 20, the festival will screen Rewind & Play, a fascinating documentary centered around the famed jazz pianist Thelonious Monk. The film illuminates the casual racism and jarring disrespect the beloved musician experienced on French TV in 1969, alongside his performance at the Salle Pleyel concert hall. 

Accompanying the new feature films, Black Harvest will also host several restoration and anniversary screenings. The revived films include Malcolm X (November 19), screened on 35mm, and the 50th anniversary 4K restoration of Sidney Poitier’s directorial debut Buck and the Preacher (November 9)—a reimagined classic Western. The festival will also revisit the comedy Cooley High on November 16 in memory of Mims, following a tribute to the late cofounder. 

The festival also screens four original shorts programs including Sisters in Scene (November 17), presenting six stories of Black femininity, self-expression, and survival; Cine Lado a Lado (November 10 and 15), featuring complex stories about multifaceted African identities; From the Block (November 11 and 13), promoting Chicago-based filmmakers; and Figures & Guardians (November 12), showcasing emotional stories about guardians, mothers, fathers, and the people who raised us.

Closing out the impressive selection of in-person screenings, the Black Harvest Film Festival will host its annual 90s costume night with a screening of Boomerang on November 20. The essential 90s romantic comedy starring Eddie Murphy and Halle Berry was handpicked by Mims. Following the in-person screenings, the festival will host virtual screenings from November 21 to 27. 

“The 28th festival is a tribute to Sergio’s dogged determination to suggest the best for our screens, to ensure emerging filmmakers were in the same spotlight as the established auteurs, and his efforts to make local filmmakers feel like stars and our audience to feel like a family,” says Rebecca Fons, the Gene Siskel Film Center’s director of programming. “We will miss him immensely—his bold opinions, his wit, his knowledge, and his camaraderie—and dedicate each moment of Black Harvest to his memory.”

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National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month takes place every September, but it’s important to be proactive and keep the conversation about mental wellness going strong throughout the year. But if you know someone struggling with depression or thoughts of suicide, approaching them about it can feel daunting.

With that in mind, Nature’s Grace and Wellness has compiled some Do’s and Don’ts to consider when sparking a conversation with someone about their mental health.

Do let them know that you’re there to listen without judgment. You’re initiating this conversation because you care about them and you’re concerned about their well-being and safety. 

Don’t be afraid to be direct and ask hard questions, such as: Are you planning on harming or killing yourself or others? Do you have access to weapons in your home or elsewhere?

Do ask the person what is causing their immediate distress. Asking “what” questions, as opposed to “why” questions allows them to pinpoint the factors contributing to their situation without feeling pressured to justify their feelings.

Do be an active listener. Active listening techniques, such as asking open-ended questions, and using words of affirmation (“I see”) and non-verbal cues (nodding or leaning forward) can help build trust and improve communication.

Don’t try to diagnose or suggest treatment options.

Don’t center yourself. Many people tend to show empathy by sharing similar experiences or interjecting, but this can inadvertently take the focus away from the person in need of support. 

Do remind the person that they are not alone. 

Do guide the person to reputable resources and doctors, or if necessary, a hospital emergency room.

Don’t leave the person alone if there is immediate danger or the situation feels “off. Trust your intuition.

Do call 911 to request an ambulance and a Crisis Trained Officer in the event of a non-violent mental-health crisis,

Do call 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (formerly the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) as needed for 24/7 support.

Don’t be afraid to discuss your mental health. Opening up to a doctor, therapist, or a trusted friend or loved one is an act of bravery that can help us become stronger and healthier. 

Do continue to be proactive and Spark the Conversation about sucide prevention.

If you or a loved one are in crisis or having thoughts of suicide, please dial 988, call 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or text TALK to 741741. If 911 is needed, ask specifically for an ambulance and for a Crisis Intervention Trained (CIT) police officer. To learn more about Nature’s Grace and Wellness, visit naturesgraceandwellness.com.

Be sure to follow @naturesgraceil on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Visit https://chicagoreader.com/special/spark-the-conversation/ to read other stories in our series.

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Their premise is not half bad: a “still relatively new” (as they describe themselves) theater company uses a fictional 125th-anniversary “jubilee” to bring together a collection of short sketches, some drawn from previous shows, some original to this one. Unfortunately, most of the comedy sketches, created by Sid Feldman and directed by Wm Bullion, are not particularly funny. And the performances are so rough and broadly performed that the little comedy in the material gets lost in the noise. 

The IneptidemicThrough 11/19: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 7 PM, Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark, conspirewithus.org, $25 ($15 students/seniors)

The noise, though, is the point. You see, the Conspirators set as their mission to perform in the loud, broad, way, way over the top “neo-commedia” style concocted 30 years ago by, among others, the folks at the late, lamented (by some) New Crime Productions. As part of the style, the actors wear garish, aggressively nonnaturalist gray-and-white makeup reminiscent of pre-WWII German cabaret theater, and all of their movements are accompanied, Kabuki-style, by a live percussionist.

This unusual, highly artificial aesthetic only works with material written specifically for this restricted style—the New Criminals tried it with a stage adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and sank like a stone—and demands a lot more from actors than this particular show’s cast can deliver. A couple of sketches really shine here—in particular a vicious little satire slashing at former President Trump just soars. But most of the time, the material—and the audience—is not well served by the show’s performance style.

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Drawing from a well that’s 500 years old and who knows how deep takes nerve. Yet that’s what Laughing Stock attempts with this contemporary take on commedia dell’arte. You could say that theater, and, by extension, TV and movies, have never really escaped the archetypes and tropes set in Italy so long ago, but to put on the old masks and employ the exaggerated gestures is a lot more than a nod to the past. So what does this company bring to the well-worn scenario of family, friends, and servants plotting a patriarch’s demise to make off with his riches? Well, there’s that ponderous subtitle and a lot of attendant dialogue about who should and should not inherit or prosper after a wealthy person’s passing. 

Over My Dead Body; Or, How to Distribute Generational WealthThrough 12/4: Thu-Fri 8 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 3 PM, Athenaeum Center for Thought & Culture, 2936 N. Southport, athenaeumcenter.org, pay what you can ($25 suggested donation)

I have no doubt of the company’s earnestness. They devised their play to comment on a real-life societal problem in 2022. But their words bog down a production which is at its best in wordless moments. Director Antonio Fava has brought not only decades of experience from the old country but also his beautiful handmade leather masks. It’s remarkable how evocative a figure crossing a mostly bare stage with one of these elemental expressions can be. That medieval magic still works when it’s not interrupted by blather and explanation. Those fixed grimaces, squints, and caterwauls convey more than a mountain of words. I wish Laughing Stock trusted the masks to do more of the work they were designed to do.

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