Sydney Chatman (she/her) is a director, educator, mentor, producer, writer, and founding director of Fly Black Girl Education & Theatre. Using theater as a medium to conjure hope, justice, freedom, and joy, Chatman has been a teaching artist for 24 years. During this time, she has written and directed numerous plays that focus on social justice and youth empowerment. By integrating the arts into her teaching practice, she has established herself as a prominent figure in the education community and a unique voice in storytelling for Black children. She advocates for new works that support, challenge, empower, and create opportunities for Black children.
In 2008, she founded The Tofu Chitlin’ Circuit and created an innovative programs series such as The A La Carte (a monthly, thought-provoking theater discussion for South Side audiences) and Tuxedo Junction (community field trips to see plays and other artistic performances). Chatman has been a leader in the Chicago theater landscape, writing a theater-directing blog, serving as a featured panelist at Goodman Theatre, and serving as a board member for the Black Arts & Culture Alliance of Chicago. She was a community partner with the Green Line Performing Arts Center in the Washington Park neighborhood and an arts cohort member with the Community Program Accelerators at The University of Chicago. She is committed to giving back to her hometown of Gary, Indiana, as a volunteer for the Gary International Black Film Festival.
Rooted in her community, she has collaborated on theatrical performances with the Adler Planetarium, Hyde Park Jazz Festival’sBack Alley Jazz, The Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, Court Theatre, and Victory Gardens Theatre.
Black Girls (Can) Fly!
Featured Artworks
Members of Tofu Chitlin' Circuit perform an excerpt from their play "Black Girls (Can) Fly!"
Image by Daris Jasper, courtesy of Arts + Public Life
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Call Us By Our Name, 2015
Video by Delisher Bankole
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Black Boy, 2015
Video by Brill Barrett with M.A.D.D. Rhythms
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The Birmingham Children's Crusade of 1963, 2018
Video by Sydney Chatman
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Black Girls (Can) Fly!, 2017
Video by Simanticos Dance Company