Who Are You Praying To? Queering Spirit & Spirituality - Chaos invites uncertainty and in uncertain times many people fall back on their faith system. But who/what do you believe in and why? What does it mean to work WITH Spirit through a queer lens outside a heteronormative understanding of the sacred? Let's discuss!
In this first of five Queering Chaos conversations, we will explore spirit and spirituality through a queer lens by talking with various Queer spiritualists on what it means to be embodied in this moment. Featured conversationalists include Rev. Kim Crutcher, Charlene QueMalaBruja Reynoso, Tune in with Tristen, Jade T. Perry, M.Ed. & Dr. Nicole Rawls.
This is part of a larger “Queering Chaos” project, led by Dr. Nicole Rawls about Queers who dare to Queer with the Chaos Man at the steering wheel of the American Empire. Join us every 3rd Tuesday of the month from October (2025)-February (2026) for a Queering Chaos Conversation on various topics!
Doors at 6pm and our discussion begins at 7pm. Dorothy remains open after the event until 11pm.
Tickets are a sliding scale $10-$20. Remaining tickets will be $20 at the door.
Dorothy is 21+ and requires physical ID for all to enter. Dorothy is also ADA accessible with elevator access on Campbell Ave. If you are a guest who requires elevator access, please wait by the black door with our logo in the window on Campbell Ave and call our staff to assist: 773-770-3799
Please note: refund requests are available until 24h before the show (10/20, 7pm). No other refund requests will be honored.
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ABOUT OUR PANELISTS
Rev. Kim Crutcher is a licensed psychotherapist (MAPC, LCPC), community herbalist, Interfaith Minister and artist. As a therapist, Kim uses evidence-based therapies, trauma-informed approaches, and culturally sensitive frameworks with individuals and groups. She has backgrounds in crisis intervention, holistic somatics and narrative healing as well. Kim’s ministry bridges gaps between those of different faiths; and opens doors to the unchurched. She leads private and public rituals for celebration, grief, and self-exploration; and she provides spiritual companionship and support for modern people wanting to explore ancient traditions, to examine timeless questions. Kim’s deepest commitments are to education; especially as a tool of empowerment. Currently, she is the Herbalism Conductor for Urban Growers Collective leading a land based, sensory focused, and somatics centered herbalism program. Kim uses the title ‘conductor’ in this role in homage to Harriet Tubman, and as a reminder to privilege liberation, gift making in herbalism. She is an adjunct professor in the department of Art Therapy at The School of the Art Institute Chicago where she gets to indulge her love of teaching and facilitation. Kim is also a long time artistic associate with MPAACT Theatre and looks forward to a brief return to the director's chair in the Fall of 2025 with an audio recording of Shepsu Aakhu’s Radical Hearsay.
Charlene QueMalaBruja Reynoso has been reading tarot and practicing folk magic for over twenty years. She began with the guidance of her abuelita and learned to attend altars and venerate the ancestors and spirits. Altar building is her devotional art expression. She often offers candles, talismans, and spell workings from these practices to others, along with spiritual guidance through tarot and spirit communication. A queer Boricua, Charlene has a background as an event producer, spiritual educator and guide, mixed media artist and social justice advocate. She consistently participates in community service events and activations around the city. Charlene is an Apetebi and practitioner of IFA, she was the Co-owner of Ojo De Fortuna Gallery/Botánica/Boutique (2019-2020)
Tune In With Tristen: Bodyworker.
Black-Centered Community Healer.
Self-care Activist.
Sound/Vibration facilitator.
Master Manifestor.
Homegrown in St Louis but created in Chicago for over 15 years now and sewing my patch in my community’s quilt every since. Graduating from the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine taught me the power of Holistic care & practices. I was now equipped with the right tools to heal Black & Brown traumas, anxieties and other limiting vibrations. I wanted to bring accessibility to Traditional Chinese Medicine to to release what no longer serves us. While I welcome all vibrationally matched Energies, Black & Brown Queer bodies are my focus. Through touch and sound, I will heal my community. I will nourish and activate the parts of us that are most vital to our evolution and joy. The parts that have been forgotten, neglected and oppressed. I will protect us by advocating self-care, self-love & self-expansion so we can thrive now and liberate our future.
Jade T. Perry, M.Ed. (she/they) is a BlackQueerDisabled femme, writer, educator, interdisciplinary artist, and mystic. JTP is the Co-Founder of the Chicago Hoodoo Society and serves on the board of Parallel Play, a COVID-conscious community arts and care organization. From 2017–2023, JTP was the Co-Founder and Co-Director of The Mystic Soul Project, a nonprofit centering Black and Brown, Queer and Trans spiritual leaders, activists, and healers. Her writing appears in multiple anthologies and platforms, exploring themes of spiritual care, justice, and political education. Through offerings such as coaching, immersive workshops, and spiritual development programs like The Cecilia Weston Spiritual Academy, JTP supports individuals and organizations in practicing liberatory care beyond institutional boundaries. With a background in the higher education industry, JTP now creates transformative virtual & in-person spaces that affirm the wisdom, needs, and thriving of Disabled, chronically ill, Black, Brown, and LGBTQIA+ communities. Learn more at jadetperry.com.
Dr. Nicole Rawls is a Black Queer cultural strategist, anthropologist, and spiritual practitioner who guides individuals and organizations toward liberated futures by reconnecting them to the wisdom of their bodies, stories, and ancestral knowledge. With a PhD in Anthropology from Michigan State University, Dr. Rawls spent over 15 years in higher education as a professor and senior administrator, leading human-centered initiatives, founding institutes, securing over $7 million in grants, and designing nationally recognized programs. She has held roles at institutions including Michigan State University, the University of Bristol (UK), Beloit College, and Brown University before leaving academia in 2021 to fully step into her own creative and strategic vision.Now the founder of two entities—Embodied Futures Lab, her consulting and learning studio, and Dream Praxis Studio, her creative and storytelling space—Dr. Rawls has developed a signature methodology called Embodied Strategic Dreaming. This praxis-based framework blends critical analysis, somatic inquiry, spiritual insight, and liberatory strategy to help people and institutions reclaim their agency and craft bold, human-centered futures. Her current project is examining the ways Queer communities are navigating the current socio-political and economic moment, and what it means to lead with ones queerness in a time of chaos.