Arts & Culture Archives - Chicago Reader

The book cover shows an abstracted body, its limb unconnected, and with no head.

Steeped in history

by Emily McClanathan March 24, 2023March 22, 2023

In the most famous lines of his 1855 poem “Song of Myself,” Walt Whitman writes, “Do I contradict myself? / Very well then I contradict myself, / (I am large, I contain multitudes.)” After reading S. L. Wisenberg’s insightful new book, The Wandering Womb: Essays in Search of Home, it’s clear that she, too, contains […]

Four people sit on orange rolling office chairs. They are wearing a mix of "professional" clothing (jackets and ties) with shorts. At the far left, the person in the chair holds a cement block. The next person to the right is beating against a suitcase with a drumstick. The two people toward the right of the photo are staring ahead, looking a little disgruntled

Theater Review

Fire sale

by Dmitry Samarov March 23, 2023March 23, 2023

What does material success look like to young people in 2023? Is it possible to attain the lifestyle they see in 80s TV shows? Is that something to aspire to? A talented Neo-Futurist troupe takes on capitalism, parents’ expectations, their own hopes and dreams, and whether it’s even possible to just get by in this […]

Two Black men stand facing each other in what looks like a wooden cabin set with rough wooden plank walls. The man on the left is bald, wearing dark trousers, a light shirt, and a dark vest. The man on the right is wearing overalls and a plaid shirt. Both are bearded. They look as if they are caught mid-laugh. The man on the left is holding what looks like a diploma or some sort of certificate. Behind them we also see light green curtains and a set of shelves with various household implements on them. A table with a lace tablecloth and a chair covered in light red patterned upholstery is visible at the lower left.

Theater Review

The pain of history

by Sheri Flanders March 23, 2023March 23, 2023

I cannot recommend this play without caveats. At least to Black people. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad play. As a matter of fact, it’s a very good play. It’s clever, well-written, timely, and it makes good use of unusual devices. The quality of the play is not the problem. The problem […]

Three figures are seen onstage. A young white woman with long brown hair is seated at the left, wearing vaguely medieval clothing and holding a long wooden pole in both hands. She is smiling. Seated next to her toward the right of the photo is a young Black woman in similar garb, who looks alarmed. In front of her is a person wearing a mask like a dragon or unicorn, holding a cane and also wearing glittery sleeves. The floor underneath is filled with patches of bright color, and there is a glittery wall hanging in the background.

Theater Review

Interactive inclusivity

by Kimzyn Campbell March 23, 2023March 23, 2023

Filament Theatre’s Think Fast, Jordan Chase!, written by Sonia Goldberg and directed by Jamal Howard, is full of plot twists which weave in and out of schoolyard and fantasy. Addressing difficult social scenarios that kids encounter, it opens with a plucky Jordan (Christabel Donkor) and her majestic bestie Mahari (Joolz Stroop) on the playground. Relations […]

Kayla Boye, a white woman with dark hair piled on her head, sits at a table in a black slip dress and a pearl necklace. She holds a pair of horn-rimmed glasses in one hand and what appears to be an orange toothbrush in the other. A black plastic garbage bag is on the table in front of her, and a series of lights dangle behind her.

Theater Review

Beckettian summit

by Jack Helbig March 23, 2023March 23, 2023

Dame Peggy Ashcroft considered the role of Winnie in Samuel Beckett’s notoriously difficult Happy Days a “summit part,” one of those roles, like Hamlet or King Lear, that tests an actor’s mettle and proves her alpha status in the pack. (Ashcroft played Winnie in a 1975 production at the Old Vic Theatre in London.) Chicago […]

Theater Review

Utopia for two

by Marissa Oberlander March 23, 2023March 23, 2023

Promethean Theatre’s world premiere of local playwright Trina Kakacek’s two-act dramedy, directed by Anna C. Bahow, is a unique and meaty thought experiment that would benefit from some cleanup and a tighter approach. Between Ida (a winning and scene-stealing Cameron Feagin) and Vivian (Kali Skatchke)—the lone inhabitants of Progress, Ida’s vision of matriarchal utopia rooted […]

Two lines of performers (three per line) stand onstage. They are dressed in vaguely 19th-century garb, holding up metal drinking mugs Their left legs are all raised akimbo and they are leaning to the right of the photo. They are surrounded by cabaret tables and chairs.

Theater Review

Bed to crime to bed

by Kelly Kleiman March 23, 2023March 23, 2023

Directors have two jobs: to help the audience understand what the play is about and to stage it so the audience can see it. Director Fred Anzevino has failed at both here. The Threepenny Opera is, like most Bertolt Brecht works, a critique of respectability: its antihero Macheath is a charming criminal, while its villains […]

Theater Review

Woven tales

by Amanda Finn March 23, 2023March 23, 2023

Hajja Souad’s story, eight decades of life lived, is woven into a narrative of resilience, hope, and the changing tides in Palestine during her long lifetime. Brought to life in the U.S. premiere of The Shroud Maker at Chicago Dramatists by International Voices Project in collaboration with Intercultural Music, Ahmed Masoud’s play about a burial […]

A portrait of the artist sitting in a wicker chair. She is wearing a pink shirt and smiling at the camera. In the background is a pink umbrella that matches the color of her shirt.

Arts & Culture

Edra Soto’s Graft project comes to the Hyde Park Art Center

by Ally Fouts March 23, 2023March 22, 2023

“Prolific” understates the artworks artist Edra Soto has contributed to the cultural scene, radiating from Chicago and stretching to New York, California, Brazil, and beyond. Born in Puerto Rico, Soto treats her roots as a blueprint, building expansive bodies of work upon the boundless inspiration she finds within them. Over the course of the previous […]

Kaitlyn Andrews hangs upside down from ropes. She is wearing a two-piece purple bathing suit.

Arts & Culture

BCAM brings diversity to the circus

by Kimzyn Campbell March 22, 2023March 22, 2023

The BIPOC Circus Alliance Midwest, a thriving performance troupe in Chicago, played to sold-out audiences in venues around Chicago in February and March. Affectionately called BCAM by their members and fans, they are more than just a collective of circus artists. BCAM is an organization that emerged from the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 […]

Christopher Knowlton, a white man with dark brown hair, stands in front of screens displaying various digital images. He is holding a micrphone.

Arts & Culture

So you think you know dance

by Wanjiku Kairu March 22, 2023March 22, 2023

The Chicago Cultural Center knows how to provide visceral and engaging Chicago-created content. Last year the city celebrated the Year of Chicago Dance, which highlighted our thriving and diverse dance community. During that time, the Chicago Cultural Center Dance Studio installed a new dance floor and provided space, time, and funding for Chicago dancemakers to […]

Meredith Sutton, a Black woman with long braided hair, is photographed from the waist up. She is wearing a gray V-neck sweater and silver hoop earrings. In the background on the left there appears to be some sort of screen or blackboard.

Dance

‘It’s about finding those visceral connections to dance’

by Irene Hsiao March 22, 2023March 22, 2023

On January 6, the dance department at Columbia College announced Meredith Sutton as the interim director of the Dance Presenting Series at its Dance Center. Sutton served as program manager for the Dance Presenting Series since February of the previous year. Before moving to Chicago, Sutton was associate professor of dance at the University of […]

Arts & Culture

Building COMMON ground

by Nora Paul March 22, 2023March 22, 2023

During the second iteration of COMMON canvas, bodies circled around a center point: a pile of clothes in an upstage corner. For a moment, the pile of clothes moved, as if to take a breath, and the bodies around it held still. The performance, which Chicago dance artist and current Hubbard Street member Alysia L. […]

Two men dance onstage. The man on the left is in tan pants, a pale pink tank top, and socks. The man on the right is wearing darker trousers, a light T-shirt, and blue vest. He is also wearing socks. The man on the left is bent over, his arms flung to the sides. The man on the right has his leg extended toward the right of the picture, and is reaching to the left with one hand to grasp the face of the man on the left.

Performing Arts Feature

Spring in our steps

by Kerry Reid, Irene Hsiao and Deanna Isaacs March 22, 2023March 23, 2023

Winter might have been more mild than usual this year, but spring is coming in hot with live performances to light up the season. From remounts of favorites to world premieres, Chicago stages offer an intriguing seasonal bouquet in dance, opera, theater, comedy, and more. Here are 20 shows to consider in the days and […]

Two young white men stand in front of empty bookcases. Danny Fender is on the left, wearing orange trousers, a black T-shirt, and a tan V-neck sweater vest. Adam Crawford is on the right in black trousers and jacket. Danny has red hair, and Adam has dark hair. In front of them to the left is a table covered with tools.

Arts & Culture

The Understudy is ready for the spotlight

by Kerry Reid March 22, 2023March 23, 2023

Almost a year ago, I talked to Danny Fender and Adam Crawford about their plans for the Understudy, a new theater bookstore and coffee bar in Andersonville. At that time, they were aiming for an opening in August 2022. City permits and supply chains being what they are, those plans got pushed back by several […]