UPDATE Friday, March 13: this event has been canceled. Refunds available at point of purchase.
Cabrini was a hot topic when Byrne took office in 1979, but the neighborhood—bounded by North and Clybourn Avenues to the north, Chicago Avenue on the south, Larrabee on the east, and Halsted on the west—had been branded as the worst-of-the-worst in city living for over a century.
Brooks watched Byrne’s adventure unfold on television. “I was too young to really understand the politics of it. I do remember all the adults, gathered around the TV, always talking. Saying it was a stunt. Saying she must be crazy.
“Any time one of the kids from the projects came onto our block, that meant you had to be on defense. Sometimes you had to fight. I feel really shitty saying that. We’re all victims of institutionalized, racist housing policies. Yet here we were dividing ourselves again—saying, ‘Oh, those people over there, stay away from them.’
Brooks was tough enough and smart enough to fend off the shit. She ignored the Carter School elementary teacher who told her she would never get into a performing arts high school. She graduated from the Marie Curie Metropolitan High School’s program in the performing arts and then earned a BFA from Northern Illinois University.
Byrne was met with well-deserved skepticism from iconic Cabrini activist Marion Stamps (also a character in the play). Stamps had receipts to back her wariness. Byrne’s mentor was none other than Richard J. Daley—architect-in-chief for segregation in 20th-century Chicago. Daley oversaw the construction of the Robert Taylor Homes Brooks’s mother so vividly described. He also built a highway (the Dan Ryan) that effectively cut them off—along with much of the south side—from the rest of the city.
2/26-4/12: Wed-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 2 and 7:30 PM, Sun 2 PM; also Thu 3/12 and 3/26, 2 PM; Sun 3/22 and 4/5, 7:30 PM; Sun 3/8, 6 PM only; Sat 2/29 and 3/7, 7:30 PM only, Lookingglass Theatre, 821 N. Michigan, 312-337-0665, lookingglasstheatre.org, $35-$85.
