The Wizards by Ricardo Gamboa - Concrete Content - Fall 2023 - APO Cultural Center

In 2018, Ricardo Gamboa wrote The Wizards through the Goodman Theatre Playwright Unit. In 2023 Gamboa, Dion and Sean James William Parris came together to produce this play and formed Concrete Content. The Wizards is an immersive play about the histories and people that haunt us. The Wizards follows Amado and Sam, a Brown and Black genderqueer couple that move back to Amado’s hometown of Chicago after surviving a hate crime in New York the day after the 2016 presidential election. In their new apartment in the city’s gentrifying Pilsen neighborhood, the two find a Ouija board that puts them in touch with the ghost of four boys who were members of The Wizards, a Mexican-American Motown cover band on the Southside during the 70s. The Wizards is a supernatural thriller about the histories and people that haunt us.

LOOK MORE AT OUR SPECIFIC PRODUCTION CONTENT HERE

*Katrina received The Chicago Reader Best of Award for Best Stage Director after directing this play. The play sold out for two months, selling out our extension in under 24 hours.

“Dion pursues an atmospheric style that reveals omens in flickering midcentury modern lamps and records of Mexican American empowerment in Chicano-inspired murals. In her director’s note, she writes to the audience, “You may even be physically uncomfortable.” But as disturbing as white supremacy is, I can say that I did not feel uncomfortable once. The Wizards made me cringe, rage, laugh, and (almost) cry, but its greatest strength was its ability to make me feel safe. “ - Boutayna Chokrane, The Chicago Reader

Survived By - The Theatre School at DePaul University - A Devised Show - Spring 2022

Over the course of six weeks, Katrina worked with four DePaul acting students to create a devised play that asked, “When remembering those who passed, are obituaries enough? How do we tell and holld onto the stories of those who have passed?” The play used the obituaries of over 15 Chicagoans who had passed away as base text. Katrina led the students through a process that included interviews with death doulas, field trips, moment work, and in-depth research, to premier this 70 minute original work.

punk by Michael Allen Harris - The New Coordinates - Fall 2017 - The Den : video samples available by request

"...the perfect example of activist theater done right." -Hayley Slamon, PerformInk

"PUNK is thought provoking and wrenching, yet not heavy handed, or without humor and charm. It's well worth an evening out." -Bonnie Kenaz-Mara, ChiIL Live Shows

zipped and pelted by Lucas Baisch - The Wulfden - Summer 2015 - The Chicago Fringe Festival

in the news:

Teen Vogue (article): How Theater Programs are Adjusting to Online Learning - Yasmin Zacaria Mikhaiel

Jack Shop Talk (video): Interview with Bri Ng Shwartz

The Chicago Reader (review): We can all learn a lot about water politics from the young artists who created Parched - KT Hawbaker

New City (article): Players 2019: The Fifty People Who Really Perform for Chicago - Sharon Hoyer

Scapi Magazine (interview): Challenging Invisibility: An Interview with Free Street Theater’s Melissa DuPrey and Katrina Dion - Yasmin Zacaria Mikhaiel