Tania Richard’s solo play, Black Girl from a White Suburb, is now showing at American Blues Theater. The performance begins and concludes with breathing exercises, highlighting the personal and introspective nature of the show. Richard starts with yoga stretches on a rug, inviting viewers to share a brief, private moment.
In the play’s finale, Richard invites the audience to breathe with her in unison, offering a collective moment of reflection. Her warm, interactive performance presents a mix of humorous and painful memories, leading to this poignant ending.
Richard, a Chicago actress with credits at esteemed theaters like Goodman and Steppenwolf, is an artistic affiliate at American Blues and serves as the inclusion and belonging consultant there. The play is adapted from her 2025 memoir, Black Girl from a White Suburb: Finding My Light, Using My Voice, directed by J. Nicole Brooks.
Her parents, originally from Haiti, moved to Canada for medical school and then to Chicago for residencies. They settled in Western Springs, a white-majority suburb, based on colleagues’ advice as an ideal place to raise a family. There, Richard often found herself as the only Black student, recalling high school where another Black student, a football player, only dated white girls.
Richard’s artistic journey, typical for many in the field, showed her autonomy and belonging through writing and performing. Despite facing microaggressions in middle school drama, she found empowerment playing the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland, noting her race felt erased by the green makeup.
While many plays about anti-Black racism focus on overt injustices like lynching or police violence, Richard’s narrative provides a subtler view on growing up Black in America. Despite the privileges of living in a well-off suburb with well-educated parents, she encountered frequent indignities, embodying a quiet yet pervasive form of violence.
Richard recalls the 1991 Rodney King beating and the subsequent acquittal of officers during her role in the all-Black cast of The Song of Jacob Zulu at Steppenwolf Theatre. Her memories from that powerful evening capture her emotional depth.
The theme of breath resurfaces as Richard ties the tragic words “I can’t breathe” from Eric Garner and George Floyd to her own experiences with medical racism. After contracting COVID-19 and pneumonia in 2020, she struggled with long-COVID and asthma until receiving care from a Black doctor. Here, breathing symbolizes yet another layer of discrimination.
While Richard’s call to action at the play’s end could be expanded, her journey to voice her story is both challenging and inspiring. Black Girl from a White Suburb may not be the most dramatic memoir-style show, but its ordinariness holds a genuine truth. Richard’s invitation to the audience feels personal, as though she is welcoming them into her thoughtfully arranged office to share her tale—a tale worth hearing.
Emily McClanathan, freelance critic, rates: “Black Girl from a White Suburb” 3 stars.
When: Through October 4
Where: American Blues Theater, 5627 N. Lincoln Ave.
Running time: 1 hour
Tickets: $34.50-$64.50 at 773-654-3103 and americanbluestheater.com