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

Ian Abramson

The 25-year-old Logan Square resident delights in peppering the Twittersphere (@iantherage) with droll one-liners such as “I tried to get my checking account to check on my savings, but it didn’t have any interest.” The regular on the standup scene has lately been running around town staging madcap pranks. In one, he put a comedian … Read more