<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=45byrz_1GpqS8ek00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=45byrz_1GpqS8ek00" width="640" height="537" ></figure>Perceptions Theatre and Coalescence Theatre Project bring award-winning playwright Kelundra Smith’s darkly comic drama about five Black women healthcare workers to Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood.Perceptions Theatre has partnered with Coalescence Theatre Project to develop and showcase new plays by more artistically diverse voices on Chicago’s storefront theatre stages.Kelundra Smith, a playwright returning to Chicago after her successful run of the award-winning “The Wash” (2025) at eta Creative Arts Foundation, wrote “Other Paths To God.”The play is directed by Myesha-Tiara, an award-winning director and founder of Perceptions Theatre in South Shore, and produced by India Nicole Burton, the new associate artistic director of Coalescence Theatre Project.“Other Paths To God” runs November 5 through November 15; Thursdays-Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 2:00 p.m. at Definition Theatre in Hyde Park (1160 E. 55th St.).In this National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere, there are five nurses, $3 million and one crazy scandal.The ICU nurses at Morey Medical Center don’t need another complication, but when money goes missing and fingers point in their direction, everyone’s on their worst and most outrageous behavior.This wild ride through the lives of five resilient women in healthcare is funny, poignant, and just the right amount of scandalous, while revealing that the path to healing and redemption is never a straight line.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3Iskag_1GpqS8ek00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3Iskag_1GpqS8ek00" width="640" height="278" ><figcaption>From left to right: Myesha-Tiara (Perceptions Theatre); Kelundra Smith (Atlanta-based playwright, writer) and India Nicole Burton (Coalescence Theatre Project, producer).&nbsp;Photo Courtesy Perceptions Theatre.&nbsp;</figcaption></figure>For this group of ICU nurses at an Atlanta public hospital, their craziest day at work is about to get even crazier. Renee’s just returned from leave under secretive circumstances; Coleen’s a breath away from divorce; Rel wants a baby; Kai’s digging herself out of wedding debt after being left at the altar, and supervisor Amy’s caught up in a mystery over missing money.It will be Smith’s second time working with Perceptions Theatre, which was named “Best Storefront Theatre On A Mission” by Chicago Magazine in 2023. Coalescence Theatre Project, a Bloomington-Normal-based company with recent productions in Chicago, joins the collaboration as the producing company for this play.Its associate artistic director, India Nicole Burton, wrote “Panther Women: An Army For The Liberation,” which was presented by Perceptions Theatre and directed by its founder, Myesha-Tiara.“It is inherently important that we share our own stories as Black women, artists and the various roles we have taken on in the history of our society,” says Myesha-Tiara.“Other Paths To God” was commissioned by the Horizon Theatre Company in Atlanta, Georgia, as part of their project called Black Women Speak (BWS). The initiative was intended to get nine new plays by Black playwrights produced all over the country. “Other Paths To God” is the second of those plays to be funded this year.The play will be presented as a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere by the National New Play Network, an alliance of professional theaters that collaborate in innovative ways to develop, produce and extend the life of new plays.Burton has been a recipient of the NNPN Producer in Residence program and is currently an associate member of the NNPN Midwest network.Smith’s connection to Chicago runs deep; her father was born here, and many of her relatives and friends live there. “Chicago is a city that I consider to be a second home,” says Smith.“I was curious as a writer how front-line workers being regarded as heroes were manifesting in their actual lived experience in the workplace, and this project healed aspects of my relationship to labor and work as a Black woman.” Smith’s desire with this project was to take a deeper look at the healthcare system, inspired by the fact that some of her relatives work as nurses and administrators.November 7th: Industry Night; November 12th: Blackout NightTalkbacks (for Sunday shows after matinees are 20-30 minutes total for each):November 8th: Director, Playwright and Actors.For tickets, visit coalescencetheatre.org.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1ImH2z_1GpqS8ek00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1ImH2z_1GpqS8ek00" width="787" height="1050" ><figcaption>Elaine Hegwood Bowen, M.S.J.</figcaption></figure></div></body>

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Perceptions Theatre and Coalescence Theatre Project bring award-winning playwright Kelundra Smith’s darkly comic drama about five Black women healthcare workers to Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. Perceptions Theatre has partnered with Coalescence Theatre Project to develop and showcase new plays by more artistically diverse voices on Chicago’s storefront theatre...

Storefront Theatres Join Forces for New Play

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Perceptions Theatre and Coalescence Theatre Project bring award-winning playwright Kelundra Smith’s darkly comic drama about five Black women healthcare wo

Storefront Theatres Join Forces for New Play

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