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Kyle V. Hiller

Associate editor

BSR Contributor Since January 2, 2019

A West Philly native writer and interdisciplinary artist, Kyle (he/they) is the associate editor of Broad Street Review, the author of The Recital, and host of the gaming podcast SideQuest Enthusiast.

Kyle V. Hiller is a writer and interdisciplinary artist born and raised in West Philadelphia. He is a winner of the 2020 Lenfest Next Generation Fund for journalists and is the author of the 2016 novel The Recital. He's the host of Sidequest Enthusiast, a podcast leveling up diversity and inclusivity in gaming. When he's not doing writerly things, he's studying Japanese, cooking ramen, playing video games, or DJing. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, or check out his website.

By this Author

195 results
Page 1
Jared Chichester as Moses (left) and Davon Johnson as Kitch contemplate what’s waiting for them on the other side. (Photo by Paola Nogueras.)

Theatre Exile and Theatre in the X present Antoinette Nwandu’s ‘Pass Over’

Surviving to the promised land
Theatre Exile and Theatre in the X present ‘Pass Over,’ a story about two young Black men looking to pass over into their imagined promised land. Kyle V. Hiller reviews.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Reviews 4 minute read
One year later, on a different stoop, and unsure if things have changed. (Photo by Holly Yokley.)

As normality attempts to return, mask-wearing arguments often miss the truth

Masking our problems

The past year has brought us a lifetime’s worth of pandemic anxiety and movements for justice, but it all seems to have boiled down to worries about masks. Kyle V. Hiller says something deeper is in play.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Editorials 5 minute read
Academia is still full of professors who won't see their own fallacies. (Image courtesy of InterAct.)

InterAct Theatre Company presents Eleanor Burgess’s ‘The Niceties’

Nothing nice about it
InterAct’s virtual presentation of ‘The Niceties’ hits close to home for college students of color. Kyle V. Hiller reviews.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Reviews 3 minute read
Playwright Kash Goins’s script debates more than a “justifiable homicide.” (Photo by Wide Eyed Studio.)

Arden Theatre Company presents Kash Goins’s ‘74 Seconds...To Judgment: A Radio Play’

Still listening for justice

The Arden adapts its 2019 production of ‘74 Seconds… To Judgment’ into a provocative, meta radio play. Kyle V. Hiller reviews.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Reviews 4 minute read
2020 was a really hard year—we missed so many brunches! (Image via Wikimedia Commons.)

30 years in the future, one white woman honors her actions for social justice

Karen tells America

It’s Stacey Abrams Day 2051, and just like her forbears marched with Dr. King, Karen reminisces about the time she helped America finally change for the better. Kyle V. Hiller imagines.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Editorials 6 minute read
Countertenor John Holiday brings Frances Harper’s poem to life. (Photo courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.)

Opera Philadelphia presents Tyshawn Sorey’s ‘Save the Boys’

Starving for these stories

Opera Philadelphia presents the latest from Tyshawn Sorey with ‘Save the Boys,’ an opera interpretation of a poem by abolitionist and Black women’s rights activist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Kyle V. Hiller reviews.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Reviews 3 minute read
Writer/director Hassan El-Amin (top left) gives notes to ‘Talk About Race’ cast members Elizabeth Heflin, Rene Thornton Jr., Toni Martin, Stephen Pelinski, and Briana Henry. (Image courtesy of REP.)

Resident Ensemble Players presents Hassan El-Amin’s ‘Talk About Race’

There is [not] a Black America
REP’s ‘Talk About Race’ sparks an assortment of conversations through a collection of vignettes in a new audio performance, but does it add anything to those conversations? Kyle V. Hiller reviews.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Reviews 3 minute read
Martin Luther King Jr. speaking against the Vietnam War at the St. Paul Campus of the University of Minnesota in 1967. (Photo via Wikimedia Commons.)

For MLK Day 2021, can we fight our history of miseducation in America?

The truth about unity

This MLK Day, Kyle V. Hiller considers what “unity” actually means, and the education that will get us there.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Editorials 7 minute read
The sun is setting on another year. What are we taking with us? (Photo by Alaina Johns.)

Here’s what 2020 told us about the things we deserve in America

What are we worth?
This year gave us a lot to look back on, but we prefer to ask what about this agonizing, illuminating, terrifying year we’re carrying into the future. Kyle V. Hiller and Alaina Johns consider.
Kyle V. Hiller Alaina Johns

Kyle V. Hillerand Alaina Johns

Editorials 6 minute read
Sixers All-star Ben Simmons poses with the 2021 edition of the team's city jerseys. (Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia 76ers.)

What does the Sixers’ new city jersey tell us about the future of Philadelphia?

Philly love & basketball

The Sixers' unveiling of their new city jerseys came just days after election week. For Kyle V. Hiller, the two events offer a lot to debate about Philly’s identity.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Editorials 6 minute read
Randall Mitsuo Goosby, Khari Joyner, Myra Huang, Alexander Laing, and Lawrence Brownlee perform in ‘Cycles of My Being.’ (Photo by Dominic M. Mercier.)

Opera Philadelphia presents ‘Cycles of My Being’

Songs for hope in Black America
Tyshawn Sorey’s ‘Cycles of My Being’ is a gripping, haunting opera that seeks answers to America’s long history of oppression. Kyle V. Hiller reviews.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Reviews 4 minute read
A new collective experience: when strangers check your (and your friends’) voting plans. (Image courtesy of Alaina Johns.)

In the 2020 general election, do we know why we’re voting?

This vote is personal

Who are politics for? Why should we care? Kyle V. Hiller asks what makes voting important on a personal level, and remembers what got him started.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Editorials 5 minute read
Jurnee Smollet, Jonathan Majors, and Courtney B. Vance stand front and center in HBO’s new series. (Photo courtesy of HBO.)

I didn’t find reverie in ‘Lovecraft Country,’ but that’s not what I’m looking for

Escapism is not for us
The adaptation of the 2016 novel ‘Lovecraft Country’ tackles racism during the Jim Crow era with science fiction, but it also brings to light problems Black storytellers face today. Kyle V. Hiller considers.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Editorials 6 minute read
Antoine K. Stroman’s debut novel portrays an upbringing not often represented in fiction. (Image courtesy of AuthorHouse.)

‘Seeing Things in Black and White’ by Antoine K. Stroman

The Black experience is stranger than fiction
Despite its flaws, Antoine K. Stroman’s debut novella, ‘Seeing Things in Black and White,’ paints the Black experience in a multitude of colors. Kyle V. Hiller reviews.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Articles 3 minute read
These Japanese cats make a happy distraction from tense times in the US. (Image courtesy of Countryman Press.)

‘Catland: The Soft Power of Cat Culture in Japan’ by Sarah Archer

Cultural identity through cats
Philadelphia author Sarah Archer’s new book, ‘Catland: The Soft Power of Cat Culture in Japan,’ is a perfect crossover for history buffs and cat lovers. Kyle V. Hiller reviews.
Kyle V. Hiller

Kyle V. Hiller

Articles 3 minute read