REGINA PHARAOH VICTOR is a cultural critic and artist based in Chicago. Pharaoh founded their arts criticism outlet, Rescripted.org, in 2017, and is in the New City Magazine Hall of Fame for their work. As a freelance critic, Victor has written for Portable Gray, the Chicago Reader, American Theatre Magazine, Playbill, HowlRound, and more. Pharaoh has piloted several cultural initiatives, including McCarter Theatre’s Bard at the Gate, UChicago’s Arts + Public Life Critics’ Table, the HowlRound Theatre Commons’ National Advisory Council, and the Artistic Caucus. Victor was the Chair of Local Programming for the 2024 Theatre Communications Group Conference, where they led a session on the future of criticism. Pharaoh served as a member of the Organizing Team for the Bombay Beach Biennale from 2023-2026, and stewarded ‘The Poetry House.” At the Poetry House, Pharaoh offered donation-based tarot readings to the community, curated the public’s painting poetry on the walls, commissioned artists and writers, and held the annual Poetry Salon. Using the divinatory tools of tarot, storytelling, and poetry, they employ the blk and trans radical imagination to transmute the past, reflect the present, and co-create sustainable futures. Read more about pharaoh’s work at www.pharaohandtarot.com.
Bio as of 8/2026