The Frunchroom

One of our readers for tonight’s show is unable to make it due to illness. So we’re bringing back one of our 2017 readers: Tina Jenkins Bell.

Tina is a published fiction writer, journalist, academic, fiction editor for an online zine, blogger, and literary activist.

In 2020, she was nominated for an Illinois Literary Arts award. She writes a popular blog for the Chicago Writers Association and has had numerous work published, including: her soft sci-fi short story, “To the Moon and Back,” (Hypertext Journal); a mini memoir, “Devil’s Alley,” (Us Against Alzheimer’s); a collaborative hybrid, entitled “Looking for the Good Boy, Yummy,” (Black Lawrence Press); and a short story, “The Last Supper,” (Revise the Psalm).

Bell has also had two plays produced as staged readings for large audiences, including Cut the Baby in Half (Greenline Theater) and A Conversation Between Lorraine Hansberry and Gwendolyn Brooks (a collaborative effort produced by the Chicago Humanities Festival).

An active reader and presenter in the literary community, Bell is working on her second novel, Family Legacies.

The Frunchroom is open again tonight at 730pm at Beverly Arts Center. Brought to you by the Beverly Area Arts Alliance. A $5 donation is requested at the door, which benefits the Alliance and the BAC.

Read more about this edition of The Frunchroom here.

RSVP on Facebook here.

The Frunchroom is about re-centering the South Side narrative around the people who make it great. And Shermann “Dilla” Thomas knows what makes Chicago and the South Side great.

Chicago historian Dilla, as he is affectionately called, is a fascinating blend of modern historian, cultural worker, and public employee.

Dilla has become a Chicago social media sensation by going viral on Tiktok. His 60-second history videos on everything Chicago have been viewed over 8 million times, and he has amassed a following of 150K followers across all social media platforms. Dilla has been featured on all manner of Chicago media and has also appeared nationally on both The Today Show and The Kelly Clarkson Show. Dilla is a proud lifelong resident of Chicago’s South Side. He lives by the saying that everything dope about America comes from Chicago.

Through the power of storytelling, Dilla is helping to change the narrative locally and nationally about Chicago’s value to the world. He has been named 2022 Chicago Tourism Ambassador of the Year by Choose Chicago, the tourism agency of the city. He is a recipient of the prestigious Chicago Public Library Foundation’s 21st Century Award, as well as a Studs Terkel Uplifting Voices recipient. Dilla was voted 2021 best Chicago Twitter and best Chicago Tiktok pages by Chicago Reader magazine. He has presented Chicago history lessons and lectures to major institutions, corporate groups, and represented Chicago around the world. He is also a member of the Black Chicago History Initiate Steering Committee.

See Dilla and our other readers in The Frunchroom this Thursday at 730pm at Beverly Arts Center. Brought to you by the Beverly Area Arts Alliance. A $5 donation is requested at the door, which benefits the Alliance and the BAC.

Read more about this edition of The Frunchroom here.

RSVP on Facebook here.

For our 8th anniversary show, we’re bringing in some storytellers who have been on our must-have list for a while.

Megan Stielstra is the author of three collections: Everyone Remain Calm, Once I Was Cool, and The Wrong Way to Save Your Life, the Nonfiction Book of the Year from the Chicago Review of Books. Her work appears in the Best American Essays, New York Times, The Believer, Poets & Writers, Tin House, Longreads, Guernica, LitHub, The Rumpus, and elsewhere.

A longtime company member with 2nd Story, she has told stories for National Public Radio, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Steppenwolf Theatre, and regularly with the Paper Machete live news magazine at the Green Mill. She teaches creative nonfiction at Northwestern University and is an editor-at-large with Northwestern University Press.

See Megan and our other readers in The Frunchroom this Thursday at 730pm at Beverly Arts Center. Brought to you by the Beverly Area Arts Alliance. A $5 donation is requested at the door, which benefits the Alliance and the BAC.

Read more about this edition of The Frunchroom here.

RSVP on Facebook here.

Authors are a regular part of The Frunchroom and we’re pleased to welcome one of Chicago’s best multi-talented writers this Thursday.

Erika L. Sánchez is the daughter of Mexican immigrants. Her debut poetry collection, Lessons on Expulsion, was published by Graywolf in July 2017, and was a finalist for the PEN America Open Book Award.

Her debut young adult novel, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, published in October 2017 by Knopf Books for Young Readers, was a New York Times bestseller and a National Book Awards finalist. It is now being made into a film directed by America Ferrera. Most recently Sánchez published a critically acclaimed memoir-in-essays titled Crying in the Bathroom with Viking Books.

Sánchez was a Fulbright Scholar, a 2015 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent fellow from the Poetry Foundation, a 2017-2019 Princeton Arts Fellow, a 2018 recipient of the 21st Century Award from the Chicago Public Library Foundation, and a 2019 recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.

We’re thrilled to welcome her to the Beverly Arts Center at 730pm this Thursday. Brought to you by the Beverly Area Arts Alliance. A $5 donation is requested at the door, which benefits the Alliance and the BAC.

Read more about this edition of The Frunchroom here.

RSVP on Facebook here.

We’re thrilled to be back at the Beverly Arts Center this Thursday with five more storytellers.

Michelle “Chellee” Rashad is raised and rooted in the Greater Englewood community. She is a compassionate leader on a mission to revitalize her neighborhood by investing in youth development and strengthening the support systems of families to build a more prosperous community.

As the fearless leader of Imagine Englewood if (IEi), Michelle has redesigned and developed youth programs to provide trauma-informed care, leveraged strategic partnerships to expand supportive services and activated vacant lots in the community to promote healthy living.

She helped build the award-winning, and nationally recognized, Greater Englewood Toastmasters Club, enhancing the communication and facilitation skills of residents and local leaders. She has developed valuable connections between students and community partners as the Appointed Local School Council’s community representative for Lindblom Math & Science Academy (her alma mater).

Her community-organizing superpower helped resurrect her block club after over 20 years of inactivity. As president of The Great 68th block club, she fosters community among her neighbors, curates safe activities for youth, and addresses public safety concerns in collaboration with law enforcement and local government officials. As a recognition of her heart work, Michelle was honored by the Chicago Foundation of Women as the recipient of their 2021 Pioneer Impact Award.

Michelle is most fulfilled by spending time with her family and being fun Auntie Chellee. She graduated from Howard University with a bachelor of arts in Telecommunication Management and Business Administration and is currently a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (Chicago Chapter). Michelle is a graduate of Black Bench Chicago and the Civic Leadership Academy fellowship at the University of Chicago.

And she’s at The Frunchroom this Thursday at 730pm at the Beverly Arts Center. Brought to you by The Beverly Area Arts Alliance.

A $5 donation is requested at the door, which benefits the Alliance and the BAC.

Read more about this edition of The Frunchroom here.

RSVP on Facebook here.

The Frunchroom is back at the Beverly Arts Center for its 8th Anniversary Show this Thursday, April 13th at 730pm.

Co-produced by the Beverly Area Arts Alliance, The Frunchroom features the best storytelling about the South Side of Chicago.

Hosted by Scott Smith, The Frunchroom features five stories about the South Side of Chicago.

They’re the stories that don’t often make headlines but represent the point of view of people who live here. The Frunchroom features writers, readers, artists, and performers who are from the South Side or have something to say about it through personal stories, sharp commentary or historical perspective.

(Clockwise from top left: Michelle “Chellee” Rashad, Tina Jenkins Bell, Erika L. Sánchez, Shermann “Dilla” Thomas, Megan Stielstra.)

Our storytellers are:

Tina Jenkins Bell
Writer, Journalist, Editor

Michelle “Chellee” Rashad
Englewood hero and radical rester

Erika L. Sánchez
Lover of Italian beefs. Dipped. 

Megan Stielstra
Competitive axe-thrower

Shermann “Dilla” Thomas
Chicago urban historian

A $5 donation is requested at the door, which benefits the BAC and the Beverly Area Arts Alliance.

The unique mix of art, cocktails, and stories is presented in partnership with The Beverly Area Arts Alliance, the organization responsible for local arts events like the Beverly Art Walk and the Uprising Craft Market. 

The Frunchroom has played to packed houses since it began in April 2015 and has called the Beverly Arts Center home since October 2017.

Previous readers include local residents and business owners; radio and podcast hosts, teachers, poets, politicians and artists. In addition, the show has featured reporters and anchors from the Chicago Tribune, South Side Weekly, Bloomberg News, WBEZ-FM, and WGN-TV.

Did you miss our triumphant post-COVID return to the Beverly Arts Center in July? If you did, mark your calendar for Tuesday, September 13th at 730pm because this show is not to be missed.

Guests for the September show are:

Tara Betts: author (Refuse to Disappear, Break the Habit and Arc & Hue), poet, editor, and founder of The Whirlwind Learning Center

Rebecca Healy: teacher, photographer, and artist

Dion McGill: National Guard veteran and host of Off The Beaten Podcast

Joe Meno: author of Hairstyles of the Damned and Book of Extraordinary Tragedies

Psalm One: hip-hop artist and author of Her Word Is Bond

This show is brought to you by the Beverly Area Arts Alliance. And don’t forget: it’s Beverly Art Walk Week!

Join us on Tuesday, September 13th at 7:30pm. A $5 donation is requested.

Two years ago we used to hang out in The Frunchroom and listen to people tell stories about the South Side.

We’re gonna do that again.

Join us on Thursday, July 14th at 730pm at the Beverly Arts Center for a reunion of past Frunchroom readers as we prepare to bring you all-new readers this fall.

A Beverly Area Arts Alliance production featuring:

Adrienne Gibbs
Arts and entertainment writer

Rayshauna Gray
Creator, researcher, pétroleuse

Bill Savage
Editor, writer, Northwestern professor

Jen Sabella
Co-founder of Block Club Chicago

Claire Zulkey
Evil Witches editor, Funny Ha-Ha producer

$5 donation requested.