Eta Creative Arts

Eta Creative Arts Chicago's leading African American cultural performing arts institution since 1971. https://linktr.ee/etacreativearts

09/04/2026

Produce pick up

08/31/2026

Happy closing to the amazing cast and crew of for colored girls!!!

It has been an amazing run & we are so proud of this retelling of the original Broadway production!!!!

08/30/2026

Honey Water @ eta’s 55th anniversary gala!

LEGACY AWARD - JACKIE TAYLORJackie Taylor is the founder and CEO of Black Ensemble Theater (BET). She founded the theate...
08/27/2026

LEGACY AWARD - JACKIE TAYLOR

Jackie Taylor is the founder and CEO of Black Ensemble Theater (BET). She founded the theater in 1976, building it from a small community arts organization into a nationally recognized Black cultural institution.

Founder & CEO: Taylor has led Black Ensemble Theater for five decades and remains its chief executive.

Playwright/producer/director: Taylor has written and produced more than 100 plays and musical biographies, many centered on influential Black musicians and cultural figures, including The Marvin Gaye Story, The Jackie Wilson Story, All in Love is Fair, The Other Cinderella, Don’t Make Me Over ( The Story of Dionne Warwick), and a myriad of other acclaimed productions.

Actress: Taylor has been featured in several major films, including Cooley High, Hoodlum, Barbershop 2, Losing Isaiah, and To Sir With Love: Part 2. She has worked with such greats as Sidney Poitier, Laurence Fishburne, Vanessa Williams, Bill Dukes, and Glynn Thurman, to name a few.

Institution builder: She raised substantial capital to establish the Black Ensemble Theater Cultural Center and created a permanent home for Black theater on Chicago’s North Side.

Mission-driven leadership: BET’s stated mission is to eradicate racism and its damaging effects through theater arts and community engagement.

Mentor and educator: Her work has included arts education, community engagement, and opportunities for Black artists and theater professionals.

Chicago theater leader: American Theatre describes Taylor as a central figure in Chicago’s Black theater community, while WBEZ has characterized her as a major force in the city’s arts scene.

Taylor has received numerous awards for her work. Taylor has been named one of the top 50 Performers by New City 2014 publication. She was named a Chicago Defender 2016 Women of Excellence Honoree.

Join us as we celebrate and honor Jackie’s legacy and impact to American theater and particular Black theater in Chicago.

Purchase tickets here: https://www.etacreativearts.org/about-1

Eta Creative Arts Foundation
7558 S. South Chicago Ave.
Saturday, August 29, 2026
6pm

TRAILBLAZER AWARDEE- LYDIA R. DIAMONDLydia R. Diamond is an award-winning Chicago-born playwright, director, educator, a...
08/26/2026

TRAILBLAZER AWARDEE- LYDIA R. DIAMOND

Lydia R. Diamond is an award-winning Chicago-born playwright, director, educator, and former professional actress whose work has made a significant contribution to contemporary Black American theater. She is particularly notable for bringing complex questions of race, class, gender, history, identity, and relationships to the stage.

Major works

Stick Fly — Diamond’s best-known work and her Broadway breakthrough. It premiered in Chicago with Congo Square Theatre Company and later had a Broadway run at the Cort Theatre (now James Earl Jones Theatre).

** Stick Fly is an important work in the contemporary Black theatrical canon because Diamond uses an upper-middle-class Black family to explore issues that are often complicated by assumptions about what Black identity and Black success look like.

The Broadway production was particularly significant because it featured an accomplished ensemble including Phylicia Rashad, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Mekhi Phifer, Dule Hill, Rosie Benton, and Tracie Thoms.**

Smart People — explores race, science, relationships, and perceptions of racial identity.

Toni Stone — tells the story of Toni Stone, the first woman to play professional baseball in the Negro Leagues. The play premiered Off-Broadway in 2019.

The Bluest Eye — Diamond’s theatrical adaptation of Toni Morrison’s novel.

Harriet Jacobs — based on Harriet Jacobs’s autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

Voyeurs de Venus - Explores the legacy of Saartjie Baartman and the historical treatment of Black women’s bodies.

Diamond received the 2020 Horton Foote Playwriting Award and has also received or been nominated for numerous honors, including the Joseph Jefferson Award, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, National Arts Club Kesselring Prize, and Lorraine Hansberry Award for Best Writing.

Join us as we celebrate and honor Lydia’s impact to American theater and television!

Purchase tickets here: https://www.etacreativearts.org/about-1

Eta Creative Arts Foundation
7558 S. South Chicago Ave.
Saturday, August 29, 2026
6pm

Get your tickets to eta’s 55th Anniversary Gala today! This year’s theme is “Honoring the Voices of Black Women Playwrig...
08/26/2026

Get your tickets to eta’s 55th Anniversary Gala today!

This year’s theme is “Honoring the Voices of Black Women Playwrights” as we also celebrate the 50th anniversary of for colored girls who considered su***de when the rainbow is enuf written by Ntozake Shange.

Trailblazer Awards: Loy A Webb, Nambi E. Kelley, Lydia Diamond
Legacy Award: Jackie Taylor

Following the cocktail reception, awards ceremony, and a special presentation of 'For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf,' guests will enjoy a live musical performance by Honey Water.

The after show musical performance will start at 10pm.

55th Annual Fundraising Gala
Saturday, August 29, 2026
6:00pm
$150.00

Eta Creative Arts Foundation
7558 S. South Chicago Ave

Tickets are available here: https://www.etacreativearts.org/about-1

Address

7558 S South Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL
60619

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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