East Texas Hot Links

“If you want to see Chicago ensemble acting at its best, go see the new production of East Texas Hot Links.” — Chicago Sun-Times, ★★★★ (of four)

“Here you have a group of performers of a maturity unlike any other current show in Chicago, a director who knows every beat of the play and a compelling piece of dramatic writing.” — Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, ★★★1/2 (of four)

“Spicy and explosive, the must-see East Texas Hot Links lives up to its name. The latest offering from director Ron OJ Parson at the Court Theatre is a savory treat for even the most discerning theatrical palate…There isn’t a weak link in this hot cast.” — Chicago Reader, Reader Recommended

Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, East Texas Hot Links is simultaneously a gripping character study, a lyrical masterpiece, and a juggernaut of suspense. It is 1955 in the piney woods of East Texas and racial tensions are high, yet the Top o’ the Hill Café remains a haven. There, regulars share stories, joke, unwind, and trade friendly barbs. The café is a refuge that keeps the outside world at bay, until a mysterious omen forces the outside in.

Court’s 2024/25 season opener is a tribute to Resident Artist and Director Ron OJ Parson’s (Two Trains Running) first production in Chicago, his deep collaboration with playwright Eugene Lee, and the founding of Onyx Theatre Ensemble, the storied theatre company that first produced East Texas Hot Links in Chicago thirty years ago. By returning to Top o’ the Hill Café decades later, Parson asserts East Texas’s place in the modern theatrical canon and honors the legacy of Onyx.

Please note: This production contains simulated smoking, flashing lights, gunshots, and water-based smoke and haze.

Photo of Alfred H. Wilson, Kelvin Roston Jr., Willie B., David Dowd, AnJi White, Geno Walker, and Juwan Lockett by Michael Brosilow. East Texas Hot Links is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com. Accessibility equipment loaned by Cultural Access Collaborative with special thanks to the Chicago Academy of Sciences / Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.

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Ron OJ Parson’s residency is made possible by