THE HULA-HOOPIN’ QUEEN with Young People’s Theatre of Chicago

This spring Distant Era photographed The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen with Young People’s Theatre of Chicago.

A Year with Young People’s Theatre of Chicago

The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen is the fourth production Distant Era has had the good fortune to photograph with Young People’s Theatre of Chicago, following Elephant and Piggie’s We Are in a Play, A Year with Frog and Toad, and The Hobbit. Costume designer Cindy Moon—with whom I previously worked on Blank Theatre Company’s A Bright Room Called Day, Sweet Charity, and Passion—brought us together last fall, and the rest has been a dream. I’m honored and I’m grateful to artistic director Randy White and general manager Kira Nutter for such fulfilling creative collaboration all year long.

The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen

The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen is a children’s book published in 2014 by Thelma Lynne Godin and illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton. Evanston playwright Gloria Bond Clunie adapted the book into a play, with music by Thomas Johnson.

The story takes place on 139th Street in Harlem, where close friends compete for the crown of the best hula-hooper as life events continue to move forward around them. Themes of friendship, envy, pride, duty, respect, and humility weave through the narrative, presented in a way that’s accessible to younger and older audiences alike.

First Rehearsal

For this production, Young People’s Theatre of Chicago brought me out for the first rehearsal of The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen in early March. We captured some behind-the-scenes images of the first meeting, followed by hula-hoop instruction by associate director and movement director Tuesdai B. Perry.

At the end of our hula-hoop workout, I thought it might be fun to try to capture some movement on the hoops, so I handed my new flash to general manager Kira Nutter, who has been my key grip for several Young People’s Theatre of Chicago sessions. For these shots, I dragged the camera shutter at a very slow speed and set my flash so that it triggered at the end of the exposure, freezing whatever it illuminated. With the actors’ help and Kira’s help, we captured some really fun hoop movement at the end of that first rehearsal.

The Production

A little less than a month later, we returned to photograph the full production of The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen.

I was amazed to see how much the set (by scenic designer Annie Smith) resembled the world I had imagined when listening to the first reading. Colorful paper lanterns and hula hoops decorated the ceiling of the space, immersing the theater in the world of the play.

Whereas in The Hobbit, with its vast, scenic vistas, I needed to use to a wider angle lens (which resulted in me nearly being trampled by goblins on more than one occasion!), the world of The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen was just right for me to zoom wide and close, keeping a slight distance from the stage (just enough to keep me from getting hula-hooped). Throughout the play, I zoomed in and out of the action, catching closeups and wide shots of the story in equal measure.

The Character Portraits

After photographing the production, I made some portraits of the actors onstage. I had packed my car full of stands and sophisticated lighting equipment, but on the day of the shoot, a city event stopped traffic for so long that I turned around, drove home, and set out for the theatre via train, with only my camera and flash kit.

But this worked out.

Over the New Year, I invested in a flash compatible with my studio lights and, equally important, an extremely lightweight and portable kit that would hopefully give me the flexibility to travel to any virtually any location and use flash or make portraits in a pinch, without a full lighting setup. Since January, I’ve been testing this out, getting used to it. Those hula-hoop motion portraits from the first rehearsal are one example. I’ve been challenging myself to make portraits with the elements available on location.

Thus, the beautiful set proved a far better background than anything I might have brought, and while I did try to spare Kira the task of holding my light, she did a fantastic job directing it where I wanted it to go. The results are these portraits from The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen, set in the world of the show.

Cast and Creative

Along with artistic director Randy White and general manager Kira Nutter, a thousand thanks to everyone involved in this beautiful production,* which opened to rave reviews. The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen runs through May 31, 2026, at the Greenhouse Theatre in Chicago (tickets available here).

* This is a partial list.

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