The Ragdale Ring Summer Performance Series
September 12 | 4:30 - 7:30 PM
Saturday, September 12, 2026
From 4:30 - 7:30 PM
An evening celebrating visionary design, music – from opera to beats - and vocal improvisation that culminates in a collaborative live performance.
Featuring:
Clarice Assad
Robert Earl Paige and Norman Teague, with Chris Dingwall
Chicago Fringe Opera
Guest artists of Teatro Vista Productions
Ragdale is honored to host the first book event for the much-anticipated Black Designers in Chicago: Culture and Community in the Twentieth Century. Editor Chris Dingwall will moderate a conversation between Robert Earl Paige, the 2026 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award winner (Design Visionary), and Norman Teague, educator, artist and curator, principal of his design studio, and part of an exhibition design team for the Obama Presidential Center. A book signing will precede their artist’s talk, and books will be available for purchase from our onsite partner, Lake Forest Book Store.
A musical extravaganza with Clarice Assad, a Grammy Award–nominated composer, pianist, vocalist, and educator, anchors the second act. Called “[v]ibrant, gear shifting…a charismatic singer” by the New York Times and a “talent quite beyond compare” by All Music Guide, Clarice will create a unique and singular performance with Chicago Fringe Opera, guest artists of Teatro Vista Productions, and audience members using their voices as an instrument.
Campus opens at 3:30pm, and the grounds are available for picnicking and self-guided garden tours.
Program
Saturday, September 12, 2026, from 4:30 - 7:30 PM
3:30 PM Campus opens. Enjoy a picnic and take self-guided tour of the Ragdale grounds and gardens
4:30-5:00 PM book signing in Ragdale House
(copies of Black Designers in Chicago will be available for purchase)
5:30 PM Artist Talk: Robert Earl Paige and Norman Teague with Chris Dingwall
6:15 PM Musical Performances
Satya Chávez, guest artist of Teatro Vista
Chicago Fringe Opera
Clarice Assad
7:30 PM program concludes
Tickets
Adult General Admission - $25
Student, Senior, Artist, Veteran - $15
Children 12 and under- FREE
Event, venue and transportation details
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The Ragdale Ring Summer Performance Series will be held outdoors behind Ragdale House, a historic Arts and Crafts style home designed in 1897 by renowned Chicago architect Howard Van Doren Shaw. The area of the Ragdale Ring is mowed lawn and includes some uneven terrain.
Additional activities may take place at other locations on campus, and Ragdale staff and volunteers can help direct you. Pathways between buildings include paving, crushed limestone, and stone. Ramps are installed at the buildings’ points of entry and exit. Building restrooms are available.
Smoking and vaping are not permitted anywhere on the Ragdale campus, including all buildings and outdoor spaces.
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To request an accessibility service please email info@ragdale.org a minimum of 72 hours before the event.
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Parking in downtown Lake Forest or taking Metra is highly recommended and convenient.
Ragdale provides a complimentary shuttle service between downtown Lake Forest (Forest Avenue Lot at 690 Forest Avenue, Lake Forest, Illinois) and Ragdale’s campus (1230 N Green Bay Road, Lake Forest, Illinois). There is no public parking on Ragdale’s campus for this event.
The free shuttle will operate between downtown Lake Forest and Ragdale during these times:
Saturday, September 12, the shuttle will run every 15 minutes from 3:30 - 8:30 PM
Shuttle service will also be available to Metra riders and local residents.
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Metra riders should use the Union Pacific North service (UP-N) between Chicago and Kenosha and ride to the Lake Forest stop (691 N. Western Ave., Lake Forest). Visit Metra.com for current schedule.
Metra riders are welcome to use the free shuttle operating from the Forest Avenue Lot (690 Forest Avenue, Lake Forest, Illinois), which is a 5-minute walk from the train station.
Walking to Ragdale from the Metra station takes about 25 minutes.
About the artists
Grammy Award–nominated Brazilian-American composer, pianist, and vocalist Clarice Assad is one of the most widely performed and commissioned voices in contemporary music today. Winner of the 2026 Andrew Imbrie Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the 2025 Meier Achievement Award, she has created more than 130 works for institutions including Carnegie Hall, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the LA Philharmonic. Her music has been recorded by Yo-Yo Ma, Dame Evelyn Glennie, and the Takács Quartet—whose world premiere of her string quartet NEXUS at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall was celebrated by the New York Classical Review and featured in The Strad under the headline “Let’s Clarice It Up.” Her album Archetypes—recorded with her father, guitarist Sérgio Assad, and Third Coast Percussion—earned two Grammy nominations in 2022. As a performer, she has appeared at Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, and Jazz at Lincoln Center, sharing stages with Bobby McFerrin and Paquito D’Rivera. Currently Composer-in-Residence with the Allentown Symphony and the Albany Symphony, Assad is also the creator of VOXploration, an acclaimed music education program presented worldwide. She is based in Chicago.
Image Credit: Marcelo Macaue
Robert Earl Paige is an artist, designer, and educator whose work disregards boundaries between fine art, craft, and design. After earning a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and working for Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, Paige transitioned to creating commercial objects and fashion, partnering with Fiorio and Sears to produce scarves and interior décor. In the 1970s, his signature Dakkabar Collection, home furnishings inspired by West African textiles, was sold in over 100 Sears stores nationwide, introducing Black visual culture into mainstream design. A participant in the Black Arts Movement, Paige champions community engagement in art and culture, and his practice reflects a love of color, a commitment to design principles, and a belief in making art accessible for everyday people. Repurposing is central to his work, transforming found fibers, cardboard, and paper into new creations that invite others to embrace curiosity and making. His works have been exhibited at Salon 94 Design, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and the SMART Museum of Art, and he has held residencies at the DuSable Museum of African American History, Schomburg Center, and Hyde Park Art Center. In 2026, Paige was awarded the Cooper Hewitt "Design Visionary" National Design Award.
Norman Teague is an artist, designer, and educator based in Chicago. He is also the founder and principal of Norman Teague Design Studio. Teague’s studio approaches design as a form of critical inquiry, one that asks how furniture, objects, and public-space interventions can influence, inspire, and actively engage the user. We treat design not as a neutral act, but as a cultural responsibility. Through his practice, he explores the systematic complexities of urbanism, the layered histories of black and brown neighborhoods, and the everyday cultural rituals that shape how people move, gather, celebrate, and build.
Teague has included in group and solo exhibitions in Venice, Italy, New York City, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and Chicago, among others. In 2023, Teague participation of Re+Prise in the Everlasting Plastics US Pavilion for the Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2023-24 Teague curated Jam Sessions at MOMA. He has also conducted numerous workshops, including Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Penland School of Crafts, and Lagos, Nigeria as a resident with Dance Gathering studios. Notably, Teague is part of the Obama Presidential Center artists/designer commissioned team, alongside others to shape a significant cultural institution.
Teague has been featured in Architect, The New York Times, The Reader, Wallpaper, and Dezeen and designboom. He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois, where he teaches in the School of Design Industrial Design Department. Teague holds an associates degree in pre-architecture from Harold Washington College, a BA in Art from Columbia College Chicago, and an MFA in Design Objects from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Chris Dingwall is Assistant Professor of Design History in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. Along with Daniel Schulman and David Hartt, he is the co-editor of Black Designers in Chicago, which is based on the exhibit they co-curated for the Chicago Cultural Center in 2018. His scholarship has been supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Study in the Fine Arts, and he writes extensively if slowly about the history of African American art, design, and material culture in the United States.
Chicago Fringe Opera is dedicated to presenting innovative vocal works with an emphasis on new and contemporary styles, engaging with the Chicago community through intimate and immersive performance experiences, and fostering and empowering local artists.
Representing Chicago Fringe Opera for this event are members Khary Laurent (also known as K. F. Jacques), Alex Salas, and Yuri Basho Lane.
Khary Laurent (also known as K. F. Jacques) is a Chicago-based classical singer and hip-hop producer whose work bridges traditions of opera and contemporary music. He has appeared on The Rosie Show (OWN), WGN News, ABC7 News, and toured widely across the U.S. and Europe. As head composer and lead performer of The Rosina Project—a “hip-hopera” remix of The Barber of Seville—Laurent has been featured in the Pivot Arts Festival, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Chicago Tribune. His recent film, Telekinetik, commissioned by Catapult Opera, blends science fiction and social commentary, while his earlier work L’Assassino (Resonance Works Pittsburgh) reimagines Verdi’s villain Sparafucile. Laurent’s Corsair, created for Chicago Fringe Opera’s Tales From a Safe Distance, earned “Best New Local Opera Production” from the Chicago Reader and “Best Music Video” from the Aladerri International Film Festival. He holds a Master of Music from Roosevelt University and recently appeared as bass soloist in Damien Geter’s An African American Requiem at the Harris Theater.
Alex Salas is a Chicago based soprano with a focus on new works. Alex was most recently seen in Chicago Fringe Opera’s “City of Works,” featured in Lincoln Square with music composed by Elizabeth Rudolph and text by Laura Stratford. Previous engagements with Chicago Fringe Opera include “Love Wounds'' showcasing music composed by Christopher Cerrone in 2019, where Chicago Classical Review described Alex’s voice as “pure and lovely in tone.” Alex is a founding member of Forte Chicago, an operatic improv ensemble, last seen at the 2019 Chicago International Puppet Festival, performing “Distant Flight of Birds”, cabarets, and fully devised shows. Since Forte’s inception in 2015, Alex has been seen devising, directing, and performing in every show. Alex holds a BA in Music Education from Florida Atlantic University, and an MM in Voice Performance from Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, where operatic credits include Contessa di Folleville in Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims, Novice in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, and Daughter in Torke’s Strawberry Fields. Alex is a soprano section leader at Church of the Holy Comforter in Kenilworth, IL.
Yuri Basho Lane is a Chicago-based actor, beatboxer, harmonica player, teaching artist and lecturer on the history of the vocal arts. Yuri has toured the U.S., Europe and Middle East with his internationally acclaimed solo shows including "From Tel Aviv to Ramallah, a Beatbox Journey" and "Soundtrack City". Yuri was an early YouTube sensation with his ability to beatbox and play harmonica at the same time. Yuri’s theatrical work can be seen at www.yurilane.com, and check out his new videos and vegan culinary creations on Instagram #beatboxharmonicaman.
When the Chicago theater world wasn’t ready for us, Teatro Vista Productions made space. For 35 years, we’ve told true stories that reflect our community. We’re not just building on this amazing legacy; we’re strengthening and expanding it for the future. Today we continue to actively engage in advocacy that seeks to increase the authentic representations of us on stage and screen.
Teatro Vista Productions believes we are stronger together — across disciplines, across experiences, across mediums, across diasporas. We center our collective of artists at the heart of everything we do. We empower our artists to create with their own authentic voice by providing the tools and resources they need to thrive in the industry. Our work is timely, relevant and authentically reflects our community. Now, as always, We Are Theater With A View.
Featuring Teatro Vista Productions' Guest Artists Satya Chávez, Laura Murillo Hart and Marcela Ossa Gomez
Satya Chávez (They/She/He) is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist whose work as a composer, sound designer, actor, and live-looper has been developed and produced across the United States. Their work is recognized for its innovative use of live-looping, blending original composition, immersive sound design, and performance to create new theatrical forms.
Chávez's original musicals include Refuge, recipient of an NNPN Rolling World Premiere, the Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award, multiple Jeff Awards, and support from the MAP Fund and Venturous Theater Fund. Additional musicals include ADELITAS (New York Theatre Workshop), Fruition (Goodman New Stages Residency), The Olive Tree (TheatreSquared), Brighter Futures (Paramount Theatre), and Seattle History Remix (Seattle Children's Theater).
Their original scores and sound designs include Where Did We Sit on the Bus? (Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Kravis Center, Cleveland Playhouse, Steppenwolf), The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Goodman Theatre), Memorabilia (Jeff Award for Sound Design), ¡Bernarda!, God Complex, and Both (Teatro Vista), Corduroy (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), The American Project (Albany Park Theatre Project), and more.
Chávez is a 2026 Princess Grace Honoraria, the inaugural Jeff Impact Fellow, a recipient of the 2022 True West Award for Achievement in Colorado Theatre, and a 2025 Roe Green Fellow. Learn more at satyachavez.org.
Laura Murillo Hart (she/her) is a Colombian-American actor, singer, and teaching artist with a love for all things beautiful and strange. She specializes in devising human stories through an absurd, fantastical theatrical lens. Recent credits include Circus Quixote with Lookingglass Theatre. Laura holds a BFA in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University and an MFA in Physical Theatre from Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre. She is the founding member of Foggy Notion Physical Theatre. Learn more at lauramurillohart.com.
Marcela Ossa Gómez (she/they) is a Colombian American multidimensional artist: a musician, vocalist, singer/songwriter, actor, poet, and mover. She gradated with an Associates Degree with an emphasis in Jazz Vocal Performance and a BM in Vocal Performance from Chicago College of Performing Arts. They recently released a new single called “Agridulce” which she frequently performs live, amongst her other original music, in music venues around Chicagoland. You may have also seen them recently in projects with CLATA and Pocket Theatrics. To follow Marcela on her artistic journey, follow them at @marcelaossago or visit MarcelaOssa.com.
About the book
Black Designers in Chicago: Culture and Community in the Twentieth Century
Edited by Chris Dingwall, David Hartt, and Daniel Schulman
A richly illustrated book focused on Black designers, how they shaped the history of modern design, and how their designs in turn influenced modern Black life.
In twentieth-century Chicago, generations of Black artisans, craftspeople, art educators, clothing makers, commercial illustrators, sign painters, furniture makers, beauticians, graphic designers, art directors, and screen printers made and remade the city into an energetic center for modern design. Ambitious, enterprising, and resolutely modern, these Black designers were workers and intellectuals, activists and entrepreneurs. They created works for commercial and everyday use and helped to build community institutions such as the South Side Community Art Center and businesses like the Johnson Publishing Company. Their works ranged from branding and housewares for major corporations to pamphlets and posters made in the name of civil rights and Black Power. Together, they made Black Chicago into a dynamic design scene, working against racism in their professions while embracing the possibilities of design as a medium of social change.
This book is the first to chronicle their collective history while also celebrating their influence on design as well as African American culture more broadly. Based on extensive archival research and building on a major 2018 exhibition, Black Designers in Chicago presents essays by experts in African American history and design. The book features illustrations of a stunning variety of works—from graphic design to screenprints to textiles and household wares—placing African Americans at the center of modern design history, while highlighting the role of design in the cultural history of Black Chicago.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
About the Ragdale Ring
The Ragdale Ring is a celebrated annual outdoor performance and design competition that draws on the rich tradition of artistic gathering at Ragdale, bringing artists, architects, and community audiences together for live performance, public art, and creative exchange.
Front of House by Gluten, a Virginia-based interdisciplinary design studio, is on view in 2026 as part of Ragdale's 50th Anniversary, re-imagining elements of the historic Ragdale House façade as an immersive landscape of forms where performance, gathering, and architecture converge. Rather than a traditional stage, the installation creates an environment of wonder and direct experience, inviting visitors to engage, explore, and gather in equal measure.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Founded in 1956, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts fosters the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society
50th Anniversary Benefactor Sponsor
50th Anniversary Sponsors
