keerah
by Netta Walker
directed by McKenzie Chinn
May 29—June 28, 2026
at Definition Theatre, 1160 E. 55th St
About
A winner of Amplify Series Four (2024), keerah follows two aspiring young writers who meet in a Chicago neighborhood on the cusp of gentrification. Ciara, a Black American poet, and Cormac, an Irish writer on a J1 visa. They connect over their shared love of language, literature, and the art of cruelty. What begins as fun flirtation transforms into an intense summer romance—until immigration, bad decisions, and unspoken truths tear them apart.
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In keerah, love is big and messy.
It’s shaped by the wounds of its characters’ pasts, their hopes for the future, and resists being packaged into a nice, tidy story. How, then, do we make sense of the chaos we often find in love and the ways in which it, for better or worse, transforms us?
How do we give ourselves: a story
Drawing from Greek mythologies, cultural lore and mysticism, and the parallels between and Black American and Irish histories, keerah invites us into a whirlwind love story that helps give our most fraught and disorienting experiences meaning that serves us, that we can cling to, that we can live with…until we can’t.
Reveling in the tension between how we change over time and how we stay the same, keerah is a sprawling contemporary romance that seeks to understand love against a backdrop of social issues currently underpinning our everyday lives - among them race, class, gentrification, and migration - and the ways in which those forces shape our (mis)adventures.
But at the heart of all it is the persistent nature of love, the kind that feels like lightning in a bottle, the kind that - even when it does - never truly leaves, and becomes the seed of our personal mythology.
— McKenzie Chinn
Preview
Photos by Joe Mazza, Brave Lux
Artists
Ciara (U/S)
Sierra Phan
Cormac (U/S)
Hayden Michael Burke
Finn / Rhys (U/S)
Fintan Swift
Lucy (U/S)
Marlee Feacher
Asst. Director
Ireon Roach*
Production Manager
Jordan Stewart-Curet
Stage Manager
Ariel Beller*
Asst. Stage Manager
Jessica Moore
Scenic Designer
Isa Noe
Costume Designer
Janelle Smith
Lighting Designer
Garrett Bell
Asst. Lighting Designer
Christopher Warzynski
Sound Designer
Aaron Harris Woodstein
Asst. Sound Designer
Issac V. Jo
Props Designer
Nga Sze Chan
Projections Designer
Erin Pleake
Casting
AJ Links
Intimacy Director
Jyreika Guest
Dramaturg
Ireon Roach*
Dialect Coach
Isabel Quintero
Co-Technical Directors
Jason Scott Clark
Mark Audrain
Head Electrician
Will Rehmus
Lead Scenic Charge Artist
Caitlyn Girten
Asst. Scenic Charge Artist
Blaine Fuson
Scenic Charge Artists
Victor Hugo
Alexa Wiljanen
Overhire
Carla Chambliss
* Definition Ensemble Member
In alphabetical order
Info
Run time
2 hours with a 15 minute intermission
Additional Discounts
Learn more about $15 student tickets
Accommodations
Let us know you have any requests or needed accommodations for a performance. Email us
Large Groups
For groups exceeding 10 people, connect with us for select discounted rates + perks. Email us
Questions?
The quickest way to get a hold of staff is via email. We do our best to reply within a timely occurrence, but that may take a few business days. Email us
