Your Chicago Guide’s tickets for two to the press viewing of Tambo & Bones courtesy of Refracted Theatre Company.
Refracted Theatre Company brings the production of Tambo & Bones to the Chicago audiences. Dave Harris’ genre-defying play that transcends time and usurps cliché, directed by Mikael Burke, Tambo & Bones runs through November 11, 2023 at The Den Theatre. Part minstrel show, part rap concert, part treatise on race, Tambo & Bones defies expectations and disrupts the status quo.
Tambo and Bones find themselves in a tricky situation: they are trapped in a minstrel show. How do you get out of that? Might have to attack the playwright who put you there. Might need to become a famous rap legend. Might need to start something. Definitely need to let them know you’re a real person. You’re a real person. You’re a real person? From the fearlessly defiant, fresh American voice of playwright Dave Harris, Tambo & Bones is a dark comedy (and a rap concert) that pulls back the curtain on every theater experience the audience has had before.
It’s mad hard to feel like a real person when you’re trapped in a minstrel show. Tambo and Bones’ escape plan: get out, get bank, get even. A rags-to-riches hip-hop journey, this new comedy roasts America’s racist past, wrestles America’s racist present, and explodes America’s post-racial future — where what’s at stake, for those deemed less-than-human, is the fate of humanity itself. With constant wit and self-awareness, Harris acknowledges all the hardships and prejudices Black people face daily. But much more than a lesson in unfairness, this triptych is form-shifting and endlessly surprising.
No spoilers, but the play ends with a last act of violence that makes the final scene one of the most affecting. Unique, challenging and oh-so necessary, it is a moment that will stay with you long after the show. Beware that Tambo & Bones production includes flashing lights, haze, loud noises (including gunshots and sounds of violence), strong language and racial slurs, and graphic depictions of physical violence.
Refracted Theatre Company’s mission is to disrupt socially accepted narratives by telling the “other side of the story.” By upending audience expectations through innovation and adaptation, Refracted inspires meaningful discourse centered on empathy and humanity. The company is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 2019 in New York City by Graham Miller and Tova Wolff. Refracted is proud to have been one of the only theaters in the country that produced two full seasons of live theatre during the pandemic, harnessing its powers of creativity and innovation. Now with roots firmly in Chicago, Refracted invites you to get involved as it redefines what theatre can be in order to build a world fueled by curiosity and compassion.
Tambo & Bones is now playing through November 11, 2023, at The Den Theatre, 1331 North Milwaukee Avenue, in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood.