Digital assets for SideFX Houdini. Contribute to keerah/Houdini-assets development by creating an account on GitHub.

With keerah opening this week with Definition Theatre, and Hayward coming up with Gift in October, Walker is a writer to watch.

With keerah opening this week with Definition Theatre, and Hayward coming up with Gift in October, Walker is a writer to watch.

Assets for SideFX Houdini. Contribute to keerah/Houdini-assets development by creating an account on GitHub.

Netta Walker's world premiere at Definition relies too much on literature and music to communicate the feelings of the characters.

Zero-dependency FFmpeg-based batch framework for repetitive and bulk high-quality transcoding in one click - keerah/SendTo_FFmpeg

Assets for SideFX Houdini. Contribute to keerah/Houdini-assets development by creating an account on GitHub.

Listen to this h0t track on youtube

Known for: True Blood, Queen Sugar, 13 Sins

Transfer capture weights from one bone to another. GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

HYDE PARK — Actor Netta Walker is making her debut as a playwright with Definition Theatre’s “keerah” — a summer romance set in the gentrifying Logan Square neighborhood in the 2010s. The story follows Ciara, a Black American poet from Florida, and Cormac, an Irish writer on a J1 visa, through a summer romance with unanticipated consequences. They bond over their shared love of language and literature “until immigration, bad decisions, and unspoken truths tear them apart,” according to the play’s synopsis. Directed by McKenzie Chinn and starring Walker in its leading role, ”keerah” opened with previews last week. It runs through June 28 at Definition Theatre, 1160 E. 55th St. Buy tickets here. Netta Walker and Beck Nolan in “keerah” at Definition Theatre. Credit: Joe Mazza, Brave Lux Walker, who’s lived in Logan Square for nearly a decade, said she was inspired by the “cultural overlap” between the people of color she moved in with and J1 visa holders who were also making their way to the neighborhood. J1 visas are given to foreign nationals coming to America through work or education exchange programs. Walker wrote the first draft of “keerah” about four years ago, later submitting one of those scenes for Definition’s Amplify program, which commissions new works by BIPOC and Chicago writers. Definition selected the play as its 2024 winner, kicking off a nearly two-year process of developing the work. In developing the play, Walker and Chinn dove into the worlds of folklore and superstition across cultures — from Black American histories to Irish literature to Greek mythology. Walker and Chinn, who describe themselves as superstitious, found parallels between Black American and Irish lore — like the belief in the existence of fairies, the idea of banshees and the symbolism of black birds. “All of these things that carry meaning or portents, and just the ways in which these two different cultures use those entry points to understand our experience in the world, is a really … exciting thing to infuse into this play,” Chinn said. “There are some kind of mystical and spooky moments that happen in the play, and part of our workshopping process was really identifying the meaning of those moments, not just in and of themselves, but … really making them an intrinsic, core part of how we’re understanding that story,” she said. The cast of Netta Walker’s debut play “keerah” at Definition Theatre. It runs through June 28 in Hyde Park. Credit: Provided/Sulyiman Walker also sees Chicago and Dublin as “sister cities.” Throughout her time in Chicago’s theater scene, she’s worked with a variety of Irish theater companies and plays. “keerah” has also been performed with Irish speaking casts in scratch nights in London. “I am a fan of [Irish] voices and the way that they structure work,” she said. “I’m a fan of [Irish playwright Martin] McDonagh, Enda Walsh and Sally Rooney. I just think that their connection to honesty within text is really fascinating to me, and the Irish community of Chicago is always so down to talk about that, which I think is so special.” To the credit of her father who “was a huge Greek mythology fan,” Walker also taps into classic Greek literature, especially the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, which Walker has been “obsessed with … for a very long time.” Parallel themes between the myth and Walker’s play include the complexity of love, what we are willing to sacrifice for it and a woman’s agency within a romantic relationship, Chinn and Walker said. “You can be from very different parts of the world and still find connection within story … which is what I really love about getting to explore this play and these characters,” Walker said. “They use literature that is so distinctly different and from different places … and they find a legitimate connection between one another in that. … I think that’s something that we could definitely benefit from as a species, just finding that connection within people.” And at its core, “keerah” is “a complicated love story, but it’s a love story,” Chinn said. McKenzie Chinn directs “keerah” by Netta Walker at Definition Theatre in Hyde Park. Credit: Provided/Sulyiman “In certain moments, we experience them as lovers who come from seemingly different backgrounds … At a certain point they are estranged. At another point, they are absolutely adversaries,” she said. “We get to see quite an evolution in their relationship as the stakes between them shift over time. “Life can be really chaotic and messy and kind of colors out of the lines a lot of the time,” Chinn said. “I think the ways in which we make that experience better for ourselves is by shaping it into a story that feels more expected. … So we see that happen over the course of the play, but not without very big consequences.” For Walker, it also feels like “I’m doing a good old Chicago play” reminiscent of the city’s pre-pandemic storefront scene, she said. The play was supposed to go through another round of workshops this summer, but Walker and Definition Theatre decided to speed up the process. “This is a story for right now. It is so deeply human [and] socially and politically relevant,” Chinn said. “I felt an urgency in bringing the story to life now. And I think that I’m so grateful, because a lot of times plays will get stuck in development for a really, really long time. … It felt really lovely to be able to identify something strong and ready, and to just have the resources available to bring it to people.” Walker — who’s a regular in CW Network’s “All American: Homecoming” and an ensemble member at the Gift Theatre — also has a new play making its way to a Chicago stage this fall: “Hayward,” which was published last summer. > View this post on Instagram * * * **Support Local News!** **Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, **an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods. Already subscribe? **Click here to gift a subscription** , or you can **support Block Club with atax-deductible donation.** **Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:** ## Field Trip! The Smart Museum Celebrates Alma Thomas' Dazzling Abstracts – The Block Club Chicago Podcast 1. Field Trip! The Smart Museum Celebrates Alma Thomas' Dazzling Abstracts 19:35 2. Why Women Have More Strokes Then Men — And How You Can Survive One 21:20 3. 'Broadview 6' Charges Dropped After Feds Admit To Errors And Misconduct 24:44 4. Sidebar: Tipped Wage Hike Paused + DOJ's New 'Anti-Weaponization' Fund 41:25 5. How Lowrider Bikes Are Bringing Together Teens Impacted By ICE Raids 21:02

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