Your Chicago Guide’s tickets for two to the press viewing of Mexodus courtesy of the production.
America forgot how to be… America. Again.
History is our most influential teacher, but also our sternest judge and our harshest critic when we fail to learn. Here, at Your Chicago Guide, we generally stay clear of politics. However, every so often a play comes along that moves us to say: “ENOUGH!” On Saturday, that play was Mexodus. If you take away one piece of our advice this year: run, don’t walk, to see the show. GO! NOW!
Mexodus, the groundbreaking and award-winning hip-hop musical made its Chicago premiere at the historic Studebaker Theater inside the Fine Arts Building. Written and performed by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson, Mexodus is presented by Studebaker Theater, P3 Productions and Audible, in collaboration with Teatro Vista Productions.
Told through live looping, bold storytelling and sick beats, Mexodus reimagines the underground railroad heading south to Mexico—unearthing a powerful, untold chapter of American history. Called an “electrifying theatrical experience” by The New York Times, “thrilling” by The Washington Post and “genius in motion” by the San Francisco Chronicle, this is theater you feel in your body and your bones. Created and performed by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson, this groundbreaking musical follows a freedom seeker and an unlikely ally as they forge a remarkable bond that transcends borders.
A Black man and a Latino man walked out onto the stage filled with instruments, microphones and equipment. What they have created, correction, what they create live in front of the audience’s very eyes, is nothing short of spectacular. The story, both haunting and hopeful, of Henry, the runaway slave, and Carlos, the Mexican rancher, is one that is hard to forget. The music and magic the artists craft on stage is storytelling at its absolute finest.
“Did you know this shit? We didn’t know this shit!” We quote the Musical here, but really, how many of us know the story of the underground railroad going south? We are willing to bet, not that many. History the Great Educator shows up full force in Mexodus, and she is not pulling any punches. The bond between an escaped slave and a Mexican soldier who fled the war with the Spanish in favor of ranching, that bond grows stronger and more powerful.
“Will you help me? Or will you take that pinche dinero?” Slave chasers are at the door, and the bounty is on Henry’s head. Carlos faces a moral dilemma, while Henry hides beneath the floorboards. How many enslaved people sought refuge across the Rio Grande? Hundreds of thousands. Fleeing murderous, cruel owners in their search for freedom, these brave souls found it in Mexico.
Mexodus is here only for a short time, through November 21st, 2026. It is a piece of art and a history lesson that must be seen, must be heard, must be passed down through generations. Because America forgot how to be America again. A new wolf pack of slave catchers is on the loose, and they are STILL hunting brown and black bodies. History will judge them harshly and coldly. But it will also judge those standing idly by. We must not look away.
Mexodus is playing through November 21st, 2026, at the Studebaker Theater inside the Fine Arts Building, on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue (410 South Michigan Avenue). Buy your tickets here.