Your Chicago Guide’s tickets for two for the press viewing of Terry Guest’s OAK courtesy of Raven Theatre.
Just in time for the spooky season, Chicago’s Raven Theatre kicked off its 43rd season with the Chicago premiere of playwright Terry Guest’s Southern Gothic OAK, directed by Mikael Burke. The show is currently on stage through November 9th, 2025.
Three kids, an old woman with a shotgun, and a mysterious creek monster. Set firmly in the Southern Gothic tradition, Terry Guest’s OAK dives into the world of three Black kids as they navigate a community where children aren’t safe, and the adults fail to protect them. The show is haunting and anxiety inducing, rightfully so.
Throughout the production, a fuzzy news cast on an old television keeps asking the question: “It’s 7pm, do you know where your children are?” Because it is snatching season in this small town in Georgia, and that means no child is safe from the mysterious creek monster. The legends abound, the scary lore is passed from generation to generation, but who has actually seen it and lived to tell about it?
OAK features Jazzy Rush, Brianna Buckley, Stephanie Matt’s, and Donovan Sessions, all giving powerhouse performances as the endangered children. Tempted by nighttime adventures, breaking the parents’ rules, they navigate the haunting Southern night. Will they live to see the sunrise?
But what we found most haunting of all is the background soundtrack of that staticky news cast. Repeating over and over, the news focuses on the disappearance of a local white girl. The search and rescue efforts dispatched on her behalf are detailed and significant. Those efforts ARE the headline news. But the disappearances of Black children barely warrant a mention, much less effort. It’s snatching season. Keep your children close, or face the consequences. Sounds familiar?
We learn of the creek monster survivors throughout the story. More importantly, we learn of how they survived. The most powerful word in the English language is NO. Asserting the power of NO is what saves. But why is it so difficult to say it? Sounds familiar?
Overall, the haunting correlations of Terry Guest’s OAK to our current everyday reality are blinding and deafening. Our children aren’t safe. It’s snatching season. Just say NO. Sounds familiar. Well worth your time, Terry Guest’s OAK will leave you haunted. It’s snatching season. Do you know where your children are?..
Terry Guest’s OAK is currently on stage at the Raven Theatre, 6157 North Clark Steet, in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. Tickets are available here.