An Untamed State by Roxane Gay

The prolific Gay demonstrates her exceptional talent with 2014’s bracing, harrowing account of Mireille Duval Jameson, a wealthy Haitian American who gets kidnapped by a band of mercenaries while on vacation in the Caribbean. It’s not easy reading by any means, but Gay’s ability to write humanely about the complicated web of economic privilege, racism, … Read more

Ike Holter

Holter broke out with 2012’s Hit the Wall. But the follow-up to his kinetic take on the Stonewall riots shows that the Minneapolis native is a blaze, not a flare. With Exit Strategy—produced earlier this year at Jackalope Theatre—he brought white-knuckle intensity to the emotional and politically incendiary topic of the public school closings in Chicago. Watching … Read more