Chicago Reader

Welcome to the skate park

OnWord Skate Collective embraces skaters of all ages and abilities, prioritizing women, trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people.

by Taryn Allen

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Staff notes

Editor’s note: on feeling “safe”

What will it take for our city to embrace its BIPOC citizens, especially the youngest ones?

by Salem Collo-Julin

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Arts & Culture

A “creative coalition” of BIPOC talent

The New Vanguard embodies the phrase “Think global, act local.”

by Tara C. Mahadevan

Arts & Culture

A Venn diagram for performance

The Physical Theater Festival explores aesthetic intersections.

by Nora Paul

Arts & Culture

It’s not just personal, it’s policy

The new novel A Revolution of the Mind looks at mental health from a Chicagoland perspective.

by Bobby Vanecko

Growing for Good with Green Thumb: Growing Home Inc.

Englewood-based urban farming organization Growing Home Inc. wins grant to provide job training and fresh food access in Chicago

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Credit: On the cover: Photo by DuWayne Padilla

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Welcome to the skate park

OnWord Skate Collective embraces skaters of all ages and abilities, prioritizing women, trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people.

by Taryn Allen

Southern gothic heat

Violet Sky Theatre debuts with Summer and Smoke.

by Kaylen Ralph

Fields of glory

A Chicago legend plumbs the blues and her own history in a new show.

by Catey Sullivan

You say you want a revolution?

Marie Antoinette and the Magical Negroes considers the costs of rising up.

by Kerry Reid

Out of this world fun

Chicago Shakes shows us a good way to feel alienated in It Came From Outer Space.

by Kerry Reid

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Arts & Culture

Choice debates

The Billboard looks at abortion rights from the perspective of Black feminists.

by Kelly Kleiman

Swinging for the Fences with Monty Cole

The writer-director-filmmaker talks about what drew him to August Wilson; plus changes in faces at Broken Nose Theatre

by Kerry Reid

Indulgence and illusions

Lucy Darling opens up the Rhapsody Theater.

by Kerry Reid

Native tongues

Madeline Sayet’s Where We Belong traces her journey to reclaim her Mohegan heritage.

by Irene Hsiao

Film

Music

Sam Thousand, Chicago soul Renaissance man

“I understand that there is a higher calling in my life, to do what I do, and only I can do it the way I do it.”

by Leor Galil July 6, 2022July 6, 2022

Moor Mother’s Jazz Codes needs little decoding

by Hannah Edgar July 6, 2022July 6, 2022

Adam Elliott of Times New Viking returns to cranking out damaged noise-pop with Long Odds

by Luca Cimarusti July 6, 2022July 6, 2022

Food & Drink

The House of Wah Sun abides, in Irving Park

The classic Chinese American restaurant will be reborn in a former Golden Nugget.

by Mike Sula

Umamicue brings Texas barbecue—via Asia—to the next Monday Night Foodball

Check out pitmaster Charles Wong’s menu of new-school barbecue for the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up series at the Kedzie Inn.

by Mike Sula

News & Politics / Columns & Opinion

Trigger’s back

MAGA won’t rest until they make abortions as illegal in Illinois as they are in Mississippi.

by Ben Joravsky

Listen to The Ben Joravsky Show

by Ben Joravsky

Mixed reviews

LGBTQ+ Chicagoans discuss Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s record.

by Aaron Gettinger

Did my ‘bonding hormone’ get stage fright?

Investigating one man’s failure to romantically attach to a vacation rando

by Dan Savage

A flexible position on free speech

Looks like Elon Musk believes in free speech for everyone except his SpaceX employees.

by Ben Joravsky

A note from an editor

The Reader’s Theater and Dance Editor on our Summer Theater & Arts Preview issue.

by Kerry Reid

Donate now

Tap into your inner street artist and receive a special Pride discount when you book a workshop at their Chicago or Evanston location this June. Street art is a familiar sight around Chicago, but the average Chicagoan has probably never imagined painting a mural across an expansive brick wall or adding graffiti to an outdoor…

Magic Ride

“I like to go for anything that draws attention and is kinda funky and out there,” says 20-year-old Joey Prette, already a senior stylist at Free People and a musical theater student at Roosevelt University. “Usually I’d be wearing my flower earrings, but I forgot them today,” they say while sporting green, their favorite color. …

by Isa Giallorenzo

News & Politics / Columns & Opinion

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