Excellent new queer theatre is alive and well, thanks to the likes of RIKKI BEADLE-BLAIR MBE, British actor, director, and playwright, who is also the artistic director of multi-media production company Team Angelica. Yet it is his role as a mentor where he nurtures the next generation of queer theatrical talent that he comes into his own.

His latest protege is CAMERON RAASDAL-MUNRO, whose semi-autobiographical play GANGSTA BABY is about to have its American Premiere at Open Space Arts in Chicago. Written and performed by Cameron Raasdal-Munro, GANGSTA BABY follows Junior, a young gay sex worker in the working-class city of Hastings, UK, as he navigates a volatile and complicated relationship with his homophobic gangster father. With searing honesty, the play tackles urgent issues—sex work, addiction, classism, and internalized homophobia—through the lens of queer identity and masculinity.

Celebrated for its raw power and fearless storytelling, GANGSTA BABY has earned major honors, including “Fringe Show of the Year” and “Best Male Performer of the Year” for Raasdal-Munro’s electrifying performance. Critics praise it as “uncompromising,” “visceral,” and “impossible to forget.”

Here he and Beadle-Blair talked to Queerguru  about how happy they are bringing the work here, to Chicago