Overview
The COVID Monologues is a video project that documented voices from Chicago’s West Ridge community and beyond, an area of the city heavily impacted by early COVID-19 pandemic transmission rates. Seven residents collaborated with teaching artists to transform their experiences of national crises into dramatic monologues. These stories act as an archive of the stay-at-home period, commenting on deep-seated healthcare inequities, financial stresses, personal anxieties, and challenges with remote learning. While rooted in the specific struggles of West Ridge, a community on Chicago’s far north side, this work resonates with universal experiences of the early COVID-19 pandemic.
Screening History
- September 18, 2021 | Silk Road Cultural Center, hosted online, Chicago, Illinois
- September 20, 2021 | Silk Road Cultural Center, hosted online, Chicago, Illinois
Creative Team
Written by
- Jamil Khoury
Directed by
- A. George Bajalia
Executive Producers
- Malik Gillani
- Jamil Khoury
Director of Photography
- Drew Pientka
Editor, Script Supervisor and Assistant Director
- Deann Baker
Set Design
- Dan Stratton
Costume Designer and Props Master
- Kelsey C. Melvin
Original Compositions
- Peter J. Storms
Production Manager
- Corey Pond
Dramaturg
- Neal Ryan Shaw
Location Sound Mixer
- Dustin Barta
Post-Production Sound
- Nate Green
Assistant Camera and Grip
- Travis Legge
Gaffer
- Nicki Beck
Make Up and Hair
- Neva Stroud
Script Development Support provided by
- Madrid St. Angelo
- A. George Bajalia
- Gordon Chow
- Nora Fiffer
- Malik Gillani
- Virginia Lee Marie Martinez
- Neal Ryan Shaw
Cast
- Gordon Chow as MULTICULTURALISM
- Virginia Lee Marie Martinez as POLYCULTURALISM
Essays & Commentary
Special Thanks
- About Face Theatre
- Eric Branholm
- The Field Foundation of Illinois
- The First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple
- Elizabeth Gingerich
- Hannoun Rugs from Morocco
- Elise Hausken
- Becky Klein
- Jeanette Kleymeyer
- Claire Melvin
- Allison Schuette
- The Siragusa Family Foundation
- Writers Theatre
- Valparaiso University, Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2014 Planning Committee
- Elizabeth Wuerffel
- Roger Wykes