Have you experienced The Sandra Delgado Experience?
If not, don’t miss The Sandra Delgado Experience, a live music event like none other, one-night-only, Friday, December 8 at 8 p.m. at the Epiphany Center for the Arts, 201 S. Ashland Ave. in Chicago.
The Sandra Delgado Experience (credit: Leo Mascaro)
Tickets to The Sandra Delgado Experience, presented by Collaboraction Theatre Company as part of its House of Belonging live event series, are on sale now at epiphanychi.com. General admission seats are $35. Front section VIP table seating packages range from $90-$240.
The Sandra Delgado Experience (credit: Leo Mascaro)
The Sandra Delgado Experience (credit: Leo Mascaro)
Sandra Delgado is a Chicago cultural icon, and she brings the strengths she has cultivated over the past 20 years as a theater artist, director and playwright to curate this special evening of live musical entertainment.
Delgado embraces the now while celebrating the heart of soul of Latine culture, weaving song, story and sublime moments of personal connection into an incomparable, hypnotic tapestry that leaves audiences craving “una mas.”
Delgado performs high-energy cumbias, heart-soaked boleros and shares mystical moments, joined by musicians from all over Chicagoland, including members of the La Havana Madrid house band. Throughout the evening, Delgado releases waves of joy and love over the audience, for a rousing, almost spiritual celebration of her bilingual and bicultural existence. “This is the show I needed I didn’t know I needed” is a frequent refrain after audiences experience The Sandra Delgado Experience.
On December 8, Delgado’s set list will include two new original songs, “Azul Celeste” and “Es Mi Verdad.” Both are part of her smash hit play with music, La Havana Madrid, but have never been performed in Chicago.
“Es Mi Verdad” (“This is My Truth”), lyrics by Delgado, music by Cristian Amigo, is an homage to the late Myrna Salazar, Delgado’s first talent agent, former Executive Director of the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance, and the inspiration for the character of “Myrna” in La Havana Madrid.
Screen video clips of The Sandra Delgado Experience
Exclusive perk for Collaboraction’s “Collaboractivists”
Among Delgado’s many accolades and credits as an actor, music artist, writer, director and producer, she is also a founding company member of Collaboraction, a critically acclaimed, non-profit Chicago arts organization that creates theater for social change to engage people in empathy, thought, dialogue and action.
That’s why Collaboractivists, members of the company’s community who have signed on to support the company’s work as an agent of social change, will get early entry to a pre-show gathering in Epiphany Hall starting at 7 p.m., before the general public, to mix and mingle with other community members, enjoy drink specials and get first dibs on general admission seating.
Not a Collaboractivist? Sign up for Collaboraction’s membership program for as little as $1 a month before December 8 to take advantage of this special member perk and more benefits.
To learn more about Collaboraction, visit collaboraction.org, tune into Collaboraction Radio, live, every Saturday at 4 p.m. on WCPT AM 820, Chicago's Progressive Talk, subscribe to the Collaboraction Radio podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, or follow Collaboraction on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Twitter.
The Sandra Delgado Experience (credit Joel Maisonet)
The Sandra Delgado Experience (credit: Joel Maisonet)
The Sandra Delgado Experience (credit: Leo Mascaro)
About Sandra Delgado
Sandra Delgado is a Colombian-Chicagoan artist who creates joyful spaces of connection for all. Her new self-produced theatrical concert series, The Sandra Delgado Experience, is back for a third time in Chicago, and debuted this past summer at the Public Theatre’s legendary Joe’s Pub in New York City.
Delgado is best known for her smash-hit show La Havana Madrid, a musical celebration of the city’s Latino community set in a long-gone Caribbean night club that drew throngs of newly-arrived Latinos to the city’s north side in the 1960s.
Thanks to a generous grant from Apple to develop a new Latine musical, Delgado is also developing her newest work, The Boys and the Nuns, with the Latiné Musical Theatre Lab in New York and CalState Fullerton.
Another Chicago history play set in the same Lakeview neighborhood as La Havana Madrid, but two decades later in the 1980s, The Boys and the Nuns is inspired by the true story of a group of LGBTQ activists from Chicago’s Boystown community who fought City Hall to pass the “Gay Rights Ordinance,” backed by a group of Catholic sisters who banded with the activists while embroiled in their own fight for equal rights within the church.
Working with composer Michael McBride, Delgado explores identity, belonging and faith, while weaving in music of the 1980s, from Spanish language power ballads and Latin Freestyle, to synthy new wave and Chicago’s home grown house music.
A respected veteran of the stage, her acting highlights include work at Steppenwolf and The Goodman Theatre in Chicago and The Public Theatre in New York. Awards include a United States Artist Fellowship, NALAC Grant, Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Literature, 3Arts Award, Joyce Award, TCG Resident Actor Fellowship, and the 2017 Latina Professional of the Year Award from the Chicago Latino Network.
She serves her city as a board member of The Chicago Public Library and is one of the women honored in Kerry James Marshall’s largest public mural, “Rushmore,” at the Chicago Cultural Center. Her audioplay, if you belong to me as I belong to you, is on Audible as part of a collaboration with the Oscar winning film, Women Talking.
Collaboraction: Changing the map and removing barriers in the theater industry
Collaboraction is a 27-year-old, ethno-diverse company that uses theater and performance to incite social change on Chicago’s most critical issues. Collaboraction produces live and digital performances, anti-racism workshops, and youth programs that incite change and grow equity in Chicago.
Collaboraction’s work includes Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till, SKETCHBOOK, PEACEBOOK, Moonset Sunrise, The Light Youth Ensemble, Crime Scene, Forgotten Future and Gender Breakdown.
Last June, Collaboraction debuted a new platform to gather Chicagoans and people worldwide around the company’s digital campfire, Collaboraction Radio, a live radio show, every Saturday from 4 to 5 p.m. CT on WCPT 820 FM, Chicago’s Progressive Talk. Each week, co-hosts Anthony Moseley and Carla Stillwell, and contributor Dr. Marcus Robinson, lead a fast-paced hour of conversation, comedy, storytelling, spoken word, digital theater, with live guests and in-studio performances by Chicago artists. Audiences can also watch and interact with the show’s livestream on Facebook or YouTube. If you miss a show, find past episodes via the Collaboraction Radio podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
In addition to live performances, radio, community building and video production, Collaboraction centers and presents its work in Chicago neighborhoods historically overlooked like Englewood, Austin and Lawndale. In 2022, Collaboraction was one of the first theaters in the U.S. to be certified by On Our Team, a national trade organization advocating for pay equity and transparency in the live theater industry.
Under the leadership of Artistic Director Anthony Moseley and Managing Director Carla Stillwell, Collaboraction has also been honored for innovation and inclusivity with the Foster Innovation Award from Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the Multi-Racial Unity Award from the First Unitarian Church-Chicago, a Stand For the Arts Award from Comcast and OvationTV, and an Otto Award from New York’s Castillo Theatre.
Most recently, Collaboraction’s co-production with NBC Chicago of The Lost Story of Emmett Till: Trial in the Delta won a Chicago/Midwest Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement, and two Silver Anvil Award Honorable Mentions from the American Bar Association.
Collaboraction is supported by The Chicago Community Trust, the National Endowment for the Arts, Illinois Humanities, Paul M. Angell Foundation, Marc and Jeanne Malnati Family Foundation, Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation, the Bayless Family Foundation, Spreading Hearts, AV Chicago, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
To learn more, visit collaboraction.org.
About Epiphany Center for the Arts
Conceived with the vision to return Epiphany to a place for people to once again congregate in, the shuttered, historic Church of the Epiphany has been preserved and adapted into an iconic cultural hub ‘For the Good of Art, Entertainment and Events.’
Thoughtfully designed, its exemplary 42,000 square foot campus boasts three distinct venues and a stunning array of amenities, including art studios, classroom, exhibit space and gallery, a commercial and catering kitchen, café, VIP suite and a collection of artistically appointed outdoor spaces; a charming quarter-acre courtyard, spacious terrace and stunning patio. Epiphany’s diverse and inclusive art programming serves to unite communities and artists alike while "Bringing Chicago Together."
Epiphany Center for the Arts is located at 201 S. Ashland Ave. in Chicago’s West Loop community. For more, visit epiphanychi.com.