poetic grit & culturally resonant storytelling
“At Pulse, we are committed to boldly reimagining classics and contemporary narratives, exploring the human condition with raw honesty and unconventional perspectives. We strive to dismantle theatrical conventions, fostering an artistically progressive space for collaborators and audiences alike. We lead with love and kindness, while challenging our artists to reach their full potential. As Artistic Director, I envision an open, transparent, and artist-forward space, guided by a blossoming artistic board. This will empower artists' visions to flourish, which I believe is the path to individual, collective, and commercial success.”
-Aaron Reese Boseman, Executive Artistic Director/ Co-Founder
2026/2027 SEASON
The Healing Pulse: Mental Health in Black Homes
DETROIT ‘67 by DOMINIQUE MORISSEAU
PREVIEWS | SEPTEMBER 11-20, 2026
RUN | SEPTEMBER 21-NOVEMBER 1, 2026
RITUAL & RHYTHM SERIES
CITY OF WATER by ISIS ELIZABETH
RHYME DEFERRED by KAMILAH FORBES x CHADWICK BOSEMAN
This season, Pulse turns inward.
The 2026/2027 season centers mental health within Black communities and households : the silences, the survival, the strength, and the stigma. We are interrogating the reverence of American theatre by refusing to sanitize pain or romanticize resilience. Instead, we ask: What does healing look like when the door is closed? Who gets to rest? Who gets to unravel? Who gets to be held?
For generations, Black families have carried grief, brilliance, faith, rage, humor, and endurance; often without space to name the weight. This season creates that space.
We are exploring:
Generational trauma and inherited silence
Masculinity and emotional suppression
Black joy as resistance
Faith, therapy, and cultural stigma
Caretaking, survival, and softness
The cost of being “strong”
True to our values, this work will be visceral and honest, but guided by love. Our trauma-informed practice ensures that the container is strong enough for the stories we tell and the conversations they spark.
Pulse remains both platform and sanctuary. This season is not about spectacle. It is about recognition. It is about truth-telling. It is about breaking archetypes of the “strong Black family” and expanding what vulnerability can look like onstage and off.
We believe theatre is a living pulse. |
This season, the pulse is healing.
MISSION STATEMENT
At Pulse Theatre Company Chicago, we tell stories, old and new, with poetic grit, bold imagination, and deep compassion. We challenge convention, dismantle limiting archetypes, and create space for narratives that have been overlooked.
We are an artistically progressive home where collaborators and audiences can gather, take risks, and grow together. Pulse is both platform and sanctuary, with a strong commitment to centering and uplifting BIPOC and queer artists.
OUR CORE VALUES
We believe theatre is a living pulse: urgent, vulnerable, and profoundly human. We honor the traditions of American theatre while boldly challenging its conventions and interrogating its reverence, dismantling limiting archetypes, and creating space for narratives that have been silenced or sidelined. Our work is rooted in visceral honesty and guided by love.
Pulse is both platform and sanctuary. We cultivate an artistically progressive home where artists and audiences gather to risk, question, heal, and dream together. We are especially committed to uplifting BIPOC and queer artists; ensuring they are not only welcomed, but centered, protected, and celebrated.
We select projects that genuinely resonate with both our artists and our community. We believe meaningful storytelling requires breaking repetitive casting norms and expanding how stories are embodied and shared. To spark change, we are willing to ruffle feathers, because growth demands it.
We continuously seek new voices and emerging talent, fostering a safe, nurturing, and creatively rigorous environment where everyone has the opportunity to evolve.
TRAUMA-INFORMED PRACTICE
At Pulse, care is part of the craft.
We believe powerful work requires a steady heartbeat beneath it. Before we go deep, we prepare the room. If material or exercises may feel intense, you will know in advance. You are always free to modify or step back, without apology, without consequence. Your presence here is not contingent on sharing personal trauma. Your story belongs to you.
We create clear, accessible pathways to voice concerns, ask for support, or shift the process when needed. Listening is part of our practice.
Being trauma-informed does not mean the work is soft.
It means the container is strong.
It means we move with awareness.
It means we lead with love: so the pulse can deepen without breaking.
AARON REESE BOSEMAN | Executive Artistic Director/ Founder
ISIS ELIZABETH | Associate Artistic Director
