What does it mean to be an American? A Chicagoan?
Jitesh Jaggi is a storyteller and writer who moved from India to Chicago a few years ago.
“I’m in my 30s,” he said, “but in American years I’m like five.”
His one-man-show at Steppenwolf – titled Suitcase Stories), which runs Sept. 14 and 16 – explores what it means to leave one home and find another. Rundown host Erin Allen talks with Jaggi about teaching kids how to breakdance on the streets of Mumbai, his move to America and the moment he fell in love with Chicago, and why learning about a person’s immigration experience is time well spent.
“I want people to hear my stories, my show, Suitcase Stories, and take it as a first hand account of an immigrant and kind of a sneak peek into the life of an immigrant, going from nothing, starting from scratch, to five years later feeling very confidently that this is his home and nobody can say otherwise,” Jaggi said. “I feel like I belong here now.”
