Staceyann Chin. Photo by Tracy Baim

Lesbian spoken word artist Staceyann Chin will be in town March 7 for a rare performance.

Chin is a Jamaican-born lesbian poet, writer, political activist, performance artist, & Mother to 7 year old Zuri. On Thursday, March 7, 2019, Stacyann Chin, will grace us with a rare Chicago appearance on the eve of International Women’s Day in “Crossfire: An Evening with Staceyann Chin”. The event takes place at Lutheran General Church, 1430 South Blvd. in Evanston, at 7pm. Doors open at 6:30pm. There is a free parking lot across the street and the church is wheelchair accessible. Tickets can purchased on a sliding scale basis ($20-$25) via PayPal to ChallengeRacism@gmail.com or send an email to reserve a seat and pay at the door.

She has been performing since 1998 and has acquired a full resume of performances, writings and awards. In 2009, Scribner published her memoir, “The Other Side of Paradise.” Her poetry has been published in numerous publications. Early on, she was the winner of the 1998 Lambda Poetry Slam, the 1998 and 2000 Slam This, and WORD: The First Slam for Television. She also took the American Amazon Slam title in Aarhus, Denmark in 2000. She was the Winner of the 1999 Chicago People of Color Slam. In 2003, she received the Drama Desk award as co-writer and original performer in Russell Simmons’ Tony Award-winning Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. In 2006, she was nominated for the GLAAD award for Outstanding New York Theater: Broadway and Off Broadway.

Ms. Chin was the recipient of the 2007 Power of the Voice Award from the Human Rights Campaign, and she was selected by the Center for Women and Gender at Dartmouth College for the Visionary-in-Residence Award. The list continues with the 2008 Safe Haven Award from Immigration Equality, the 2008 Honors from the Lesbian AIDS Project,the 2009 New York State Senate Special Human Rights Award and the 2013 American Heritage Award from American Immigration Council. In 2015, Ms. Chin was named by Equality Forum as one of their 31 Icons of the 2015 LGBT History Month. Inn 2017, she was nominated for the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play for her performance in “Motherstruck.”

Please join us to witness the inspiring magic of Staceyann Chin.

—From a press release